Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of Zerodha, has built an empire in India's financial sector, but his path has been anything but conventional. Kamat, who leaves school at 15 or 16, has openly discussed the challenges and insecurities of skipping formal education.
In a conversation with LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky, Kamath admitted that “dropping out of school and not having a formal higher education had its drawbacks.” He admitted that the lack of a structured educational framework made it more difficult to gain credibility and knowledge. “I was able to compensate for my lack of formal education by reading widely,” he said.
Kamat's distaste for traditional academics was evident early on. “I hated school. Always did,” he shared, reflecting on his rebellious youth. While studying in the 9th grade, Kamath stumbled upon his first entrepreneurial venture: mobile phone trading. 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, flushed the phones down the toilet and destroyed his inventory. “It was the end of my first campaign,” 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 make amends, he devoured books and found practical knowledge to bridge the gap left by formal schooling. “I was quite an insecure young lad at that time as my classmates were in college,” he candidly shared.
This persistence to learn and grow eventually sets the stage for his collaboration with his brother Nitin Kamath. Together, they founded Zerodha, a business that disrupted India's stock broking industry and made Nikhil one of the country's youngest billionaires.