'If somebody's a son, daughter of very rich man...': Zerodha's Nikhil Kamath reveals what makes him wary of investing in startups

When it comes to investing, Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath is never taken by an entrepreneur who comes from entitlement. Kamath, in his podcast series, said that this realisation came late but that he is wary of entitled entrepreneurs. Kamath was talking about privilege, upbringing and rebelliousness in his podcast series. In the episode ‘WTF is E-commerce’, Kamath had founder of Future Group, Kishore Biyani, Meesho co-founder Vidit Aatrey, and B2B player Udaan’s founder Sujeet Kumar as guests. 

Talking about entitlement, Kamath said, “We all invest in startups, all of us. I didn’t realise it for a long time but very organically we have formed a filter – by we, I mean the funds that I am a part of – that if somebody was a very entitled guy or if somebody was the son or daughter of a very rich man, you would have this thing in your subconscious, which would make you wary of investing in that startup.” Vidit Aatrey responded that he feels the same way. 

However, Kishore Biyani said that that is not something he agrees with. “But they can excel in something else that nobody else can do. Abundance creates something else and shortages create something else but rebelliousness definitely creates something. As a rebel you would want to create something and destroy something.” 

Talking about rebelliousness, Kishore Biyani said that he was known as the black sheep of the family and always held contrarian views. He was an atheist born in a very religious family, he said, adding that he had no plans to join his family’s wholesale fabric trading business. Biyani also said that in his five years of college, he attended classes once. 

When Kamath asked if there is any correlation between rebellious kids or kids who grew up with some sort of insecurities to how well they do in life, Biyani drew a thin line of distinction. “I was not born to democratic parents, but my children are. I was born in the ‘shortage’ era. I think shortages and inequity definitely makes you work harder. But abundance can also create something else,” he said. 

Aatrey said that he found his sense of independence when he joined college, before which he was a very compliant child and would follow whatever his parents asked him. The Meesho founder said that his parents used to make him perform puja every day but he became an atheist when he joined college. “If you do things by the book, it is very difficult to challenge things that have been happening for years,” he said.

Sujeet Kumar pointed out that every generation thinks that they had a tough time and that the following generation has grown in abundance and has access to a lot of things. He pointed out that middle-class is very regimental in nature and usually believes that if things are not done in a particular order, there will be consequences. 

Also read: '3 months to open company bank account': Zerodha's Nikhil Kamath shares the difficulty of doing biz in Dubai

Also read: 'Growing debt, did not have strong balance sheet': Kishore Biyani on what went wrong with Big Bazaar