Deepak Shenoy, the CEO of financial advisory firm Capitalmind, has praised online stock trading platform Zerodha founders Nikhil Kamath and Nithin Kamath for building their business without funding from venture capitalists.
Shenoy said he wished Zerodha went public at some point in time so that stock market investors, such as himself, could get to participate in the business.
“I supremely respect Zerodha for this. They did not take any VC money. They did not take third party money. They built their business. And if they were to go IPO today, man there would be takers for it. But they don’t want to go IPO right now. At least they haven’t stated an intention to go IPO,” he said in the podcast The Neon Show.
“One day I hope, they will, and I hope we all get a chance to participate in that business. He [Nikhil Kamath and Nithin Kamath] built this business without relying on external capital and I must say I really respect them.”
Shenoy referred to the Kamath brothers while giving an insight into late stock market icon Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s trading strategy and policy of not using other people’s money. He flagged people were mistaken when they believe Jhunjhunwala created wealth holding stocks for long-term, especially Titan. He cited Warren Buffett’s example to drive home the point.
“It’s like saying Warren Buffett has always held stocks for the long term. No, his average holding period was six months or something like that. He used to make statement ‘we should buy stocks only for the long term’. So, you’d think he used to buy stock only for the long term. That’s the wrong assumption. You should see what people do and not say.”
“Rakesh himself was also a trader and an investor. He used to have short positions for the longest time. I think we make a legend out of his long positions, but I think his legendary thing was also cutting positions and going short. He was amazing in that and we don’t give him enough respect there.”
Shenoy emphasised that Jhunjhunwala created wealth without borrowing money. “He’s doing his own money. It’s not our money, not public money, that he’s doing. And over a period of time he has built this magnificent thing (portfolio),” he added.
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