We were recently joined by Zerodha’s CEO & Co-Founder Nithin Kamath and CTO Kailash Nadh for a candid conversation about growing a tech company.
Read on for a few of our favorite insights from the talk, or watch the full livestream below:
Know How To Sell
“I think the most important skill a business person should have is knowing how to sell.”
Nithin Kamath began the conversation by highlighting the importance of sales experience in entrepreneurship.
Dedicate Time to Creative Pursuits
“Though it seems out of left field, taking on creative pursuits like learning how to play an instrument or making pottery or even playing a sport can help you run a business.”
Kamath discussed creative pursuits and how they can help entrepreneurs develop the business skills needed to run a tech company.
Pick a Specialization
“You also need to pick a specialization. You need to find something that you love and venture deep into it. For me, that’s the market.”
Entrepreneurs may have a variety of interests, but Nithin Kamath declared that entrepreneurs should pick a key business area to specialize in.
Be Adaptable
“Markets are all about uncertainty and volatility so it’s in our DNA as a company to be vigilant and nimble.”
Markets are constantly changing and companies need to consistently adapt to remain competitive, so Kailash Nadh proclaimed the need for businesses to be adaptable.
Make the Right Business Decisions
“Even if you have the most talented developers or the most sophisticated infrastructure, an executive-level team that doesn’t have deep expertise in tech being in charge of tech decisions means the business might just collapse.”
Nadh explained that having the best tech and developers alone doesn’t guarantee success, and experienced executives need to make the right decisions to ensure their company is successful.
Deconstruct Every Idea
“All of us in the tech team get excited by many features that other companies are implementing but we objectively deconstruct every product idea, business idea and feature idea, by involving everyone in the company and deciding, based on objective questions, whether it’s worth doing.”
It’s easy for product teams to be influenced by what other companies are doing, but Kailash Nadh detailed Zerodha’s process of deconstructing every feature idea before deciding what to develop.
Prioritize Accessibility
“We want to make our app as user-friendly as possible to as many people as possible, so that naturally means that accessibility is a key part of our product philosophy.”
User-friendly apps have higher adoption rates and accessible apps are more user-friendly, so Nadh affirmed the business value of prioritizing accessibility in product development.