Monday, May 25, 2015

Pinching Reminder ~ Execution beats novelty of ideas ~ Story of the start up "Zerodha"


Today morning, I heard the story of Indian startup Zerodha - a brokerage firm with discount brokerage fees and had a rush of mixed emotions. Reason? Zerodha started in 2010 based on a very simple and a basic thought that why should stock market brokerage firms charge more for trades of greater amount if the effort remains the same regardless of the trade amount?!! What pinches me is that I thought about the exact same thing 3 years before Zerodha started and did nothing. And I'm so sure that there are other dozens like me who thought of this even before I did and did nothing. Looking at the startup and BSE/NSE awards Zerodha has won it looks like the founder Kamath has done a stellar job. Zerodha today carries around Rs:5000 crores of trades daily, grossly $1 billion through it's solid 42000 customer base. I'm happy that finally such a brokerage firm is born and is helping lots of small investors to invest their money.

I am myself to blame for not acting on the thought I had. This wasn't a novel idea I knew very well even then and the founder of Zerodha also agrees, but there was a dire need of such a service. Need of the market beats novelty. I was actively trading in stock markets in 2007 through Sharekhan so I was aware that such an service would flourish. I wonder what stopped me. Self doubt. May be.

It is so important to learn the right lessons in life. Reading about the mind blowing success of Zerodha today morning at 4am and then not being able to sleep is a wonderful experience & a right lesson. Thinking for a couple of hours why I didn't take the next step is the right lesson. What stopped me is the right lesson. Introspection is a great learning.

Entrepreneurship isn't about novel ideas, but it's about passionate execution of simply ideas which the market needs direly.

Here are some interesting articles that would tell you more about Zerodha -