Zerodha’s founder trades PowerPoint for power play to keep stress at bay

When your job is all about keeping a track on volatile stocks, it takes a toll on your health and life. Couple that with running a business and stress levels can shoot through the roof.   

Nithin Kamath who runs the country’s third largest brokerage firm, Zerodha, finds that the story is no different for him.  

But, thank god for sports!

His philosophy with sports and fitness has kept him afloat even during the tough days of running a business.

“When you go and sweat it out through sports and fitness, it helps you quite a bit. And I don’t know how I would have survived the volatility if not for sports.” 

Nithin Kamath

Nithin believes that the attitude with which one plays a sport rubs off on your work life as well. 

“You don’t have to be the most skilled guy around, but what matters is how much effort you are putting in,” explains Nithin.

So, what attitude defines Nithin on the field?  

He says, that he would call himself a competitive guy, rather an aggressive one. As a teenager, he was always on the field playing some sport or the other. 

“Right now, with Zerodha, we may be hurting a lot of brokers but we are doing it with a smile and a competitive spirit and without being rude.” 

Mastering the art of disconnecting

The 38-year old founder says there is no particular sport or fitness activity he swears by; it continues to be a mix of running, playing a sport or swimming. 

“In a world where we all have smartphones, it is so difficult to disconnect from work. So, in real time when I can disconnect for an hour or two is when I am playing a sport or doing a fitness activity,” he says.  

But he agrees that sometimes, even these activities don’t necessarily help. He jokes that while he loves swimming, he cannot help think about work and his day during the laps around a pool. 

“It’s like saying I sprint to think about work,” jokes Nithin. 

His favourite, however, is basketball, even after the cement courts have stressed and injured his knee. He has also rekindled his passion for football by playing on cushioned turf. 

The days are fixed. On Thursday, it is football with his office colleagues. Saturdays are reserved for basketball with old friends and family.  

But Nithin’s adrenaline rush doesn’t stop at physical sports. He loves Poker as well, which continues to be complementary to his natural instinct and skill set and to understanding trading and market trends.  

“When I am playing poker, my mind is fixed on the game, and I am trying to figure out what everyone is thinking. So, it helps with the distraction. We can draw many parallels to poker even in entrepreneurship. On a good hand, you need to know how to make money.”

“If I am anxious, it will flow through the entire organisation…” 

Nithin Kamath

With age, playing a sport everyday continues to be tough and these days, Nithin finds that games like poker consume too much time. 

So Nithin invests time in High Intensity Training (or HIT) on a daily basis, which is a mix of intense bursts of activity and fixed periods of less-intense activity or even complete rest, which forces the heart to pump faster. 

And, when the heart is beating fast, the brain cannot get distracted. He does HIT close to three to four times a week. 

However, nothing has affected Nithin’s love for physical activity. “The activity levels are all adjusted over the years. Earlier it was a lot of basketball, now it has been replaced by swimming because it’s easy on my knees,” he says. Luckily for Nithin, his wife Seema is also a fitness enthusiast and she helps keep him on track. Having a gym and pool inside his home also helps.

On needing to check his phone constantly

Besides showing the world that real businesses can be built without any capital, what is an important aspect of his persona? “I think all successful people have done things which are natural to them,” says Nithin. “Running a brokerage can be very volatile. Here, the forces are changing every second. From politics to major world changes, anything can affect the markets and hurt us in the process. The reason I keep looking at my phone is to know whether something is happening, and that itself is a huge universe.”

“Just like in Poker, you need to know the maximum chips you can lose in any situation.”

Nithin Kamath

Nithin agrees that the only way to run and thrive in this volatility is to remain calm and not give in to anxiety. 

“If I am anxious, it will flow through the entire organisation,” he says. His innate calm has ensured that the initial team which built Zerodha continues to be with the company even after years. 

“But just like in Poker, you need to know the maximum chips you can lose in any situation. For example, if an incident has happened, we need to understand what the potential damage is. And once I know the value or the non-rupee value and then you just accept and make your peace with it.”

A weakness for chocolates and being extra nice to people

So, if anxiety doesn’t affect Nithin much in a volatile business like brokerage, what is his biggest shortcoming? “Being extra nice to people, which can lead to being taken for granted,” he says. 

A colleague in the room rightfully prompts, “Nithin never says ‘no’.” 

The entrepreneur responds with a quick comment, 

“I agree. As long as I know it isn’t such a big deal, I keep saying yes. So, sometimes it happens and then I have to reverse positions because I said ‘yes’ without thinking about the consequences.”  

Nithin has a weakness for chocolates and good food but his love for sports keeps him fit. 

Here’s wishing Nithin even more success as he continues the arduous task of educating individuals on the benefits of stock trading and looking to grow his legacy even further, even as he keeps himself fit and fabulous for the journey.