nithin kamath: Zerodha surpasses 1 crore customer base, Aadhaar’s biggest cut-off point: Nithin Kamath

“Looking back, the biggest bottom line is Aadhaar to open an account online. Can’t thank the government & Sebi & exchanges & custody enough for making this happen,” said Kamath.

Started 12 years ago by Nithin Kamath with merchant and brother Nikhil KamathThe Bengaluru-based company disrupted the brokerage industry in India, turning two brothers into billionaires.

“The plan to rely on word of mouth and offer a single product to all customers has brought benefits that we never thought of in the first place. Economies of scale grow not only in technology but also across support and operations — team size remains the same as we move from 20k customers to 1cr,” Kamath said on Twitter.

He said when customers are referred by family or friends who are existing customers, they also tend to help bridge the knowledge gap about the platform in the first place. “A big challenge for consumer apps in a business as complex as ours,” he said, adding that they start by charging an account opening fee to cover the cost.

“We soon realized that fees also create a sense of seriousness; Trading is risky & not like installing a game app. Also, only those who intend to open an account, reducing the compliance costs of inactive accounts,” said Kamath.

Zerodha’s business model is unique in that they have a lean team and don’t spend money on marketing or advertising even as competition increases in the discount brokerage industry.

“Don’t do to others what you don’t want to do to you, is at the core of everything we do. This means no spam calls, emails or push notifications to open an account or trigger a trade. This also helps us gain credibility, the biggest challenge in the brokerage business,” he added.