Nikhil Kamath, the co-founder of Zerodha, has built an empire in India’s financial landscape, but his path was anything but conventional. Dropping out of school at 15 or 16, Kamath has openly discussed the challenges and insecurities that came with skipping formal education.
“Dropping out of school and not pursuing formal higher education had its drawbacks,” Kamath admitted during a conversation with LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky. He acknowledged that the absence of a structured educational framework forced him to work harder to gain credibility and knowledge. “Reading extensively allowed me to compensate for my lack of formal education,” he said.
Kamath’s aversion to traditional academics was apparent early on. “I hated school. Always did,” he shared, reflecting on his rebellious teenage years. While still in 9th grade, Kamath stumbled upon his first entrepreneurial venture: trading mobile phones. After making a profit on his first sale, he reinvested the earnings and grew his side hustle.
However, his budding business came to an abrupt end when his mother discovered his activities and destroyed his inventory by flushing the phones down the toilet. “That was the end of my first business,” Kamath said, looking back on the moment with humor and perspective.
Despite this setback, Kamath’s decision to drop out of school pushed him to adopt a disciplined approach to self-education. Feeling the need to overcompensate, he devoured books and sought practical knowledge to bridge the gap left by formal schooling. “I was a fairly insecure young boy because my classmates of the time were in college,” he shared candidly.
This relentless drive to learn and grow eventually set the stage for his collaboration with his brother, Nithin Kamath. Together, they founded Zerodha, a venture that disrupted India’s stockbroking industry and made Nikhil one of the country’s youngest billionaires.