Article · blog post

Z-Connect: Business Updates & Why We Do What We Do

Nithin Kamath · zerodha.com Free Intermediate India

A primary-source, founder-written account of how India's largest and most profitable brokerage actually makes money and thinks about business design. Rare candor on pricing, transparency, and building profitably without VC, from Nithin Kamath himself.

  • Low-margin, high-volume flat pricing disrupted a whole overcharging industry
  • Charging fairly and transparently can itself become a durable moat
  • A profitable, bootstrapped model gave Zerodha total freedom over its direction
Open on zerodha.com ↗

It answers 4 questions

  1. Can I really build a successful startup without raising money?
  2. How did Zoho and Zerodha bootstrap to billion-dollar companies?
  3. Bootstrapping vs raising VC, how do I decide?
  4. How does Zerodha make money without charging brokerage on delivery trades?

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  2. 37signals wrote the playbook for building profitable software without VC, and Getting Real is free to read online. Their... 37signals.com Book · book (free online) Getting Real (and the 37signals bootstrapping philosophy) 37signals (Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson)
  3. Lenny's Newsletter is the most trusted operator-written resource on product, growth, and monetization, drawing on data from... lennysnewsletter.com Article · newsletter archive Lenny's Newsletter, Growth, Business Models & Monetization Lenny Rachitsky
  4. The definitive India-focused profile of Zoho's decades-long bootstrapping journey, told through Sridhar Vembu's decisions.... yourstory.com Article · long-form article The Turning Point: How Sridhar Vembu-led Zoho Bootstrapped to a Global SaaS Giant YourStory
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