First they called him Nithin, then WTF flipped the script: Nithin Kamath’s birthday wish as Nikhil turns 40

For years, Nikhil Kamath was often mistaken for his brother Nithin Kamath. But that changed dramatically over the past three to four years, as Nikhil’s profile grew with the success of WTF, the venture capital initiative associated with Nikhil Kamath.

Nikhil Kamath co-founded WTFund, which focuses on supporting young founders and startups.

In a birthday post for his younger brother on X, Nithin said he is now called Nikhil “exponentially more” than before. It is no longer limited to people addressing him by the right name in person. Nithin said he now receives emails, LinkedIn messages and tweets addressed to Nikhil every day.


For Nithin, though, Nikhil has always been the person people turned to. “Right from when he was maybe 15 or 16, he was always the guy to go to for anything,” Nithin wrote, adding that his brother somehow always had connections, with the quality of those connections improving over time.

He recalled one example from their younger years. If Nithin wanted to go out drinking, he would ask Nikhil where to go. Nikhil would point him towards certain places and tell him there would be no entry fee, as long as Nithin told the bouncer his name.

That memory, shared with a laughing emoji, was followed by a very different realisation for the elder brother: Nikhil has turned 40.

“Damn, I can’t believe he’s 40,” Nithin wrote, adding that his brother turning 40 made him feel much older.

Kamath’s first appearance 15 years ago

Zerodha founder and CEO Nithin Kamath recently recalled the discount broker's first appearance in the press 15 years ago, saying the article helped lift account openings from a few hundred a month to nearly 500 and made him believe he had found an early growth hack.

In a post on X, Kamath said the company first appeared in the press on September 5, 15 years ago. The story came at a time when Zerodha was still in its early sales-led phase, and Kamath was speaking to clients under the pseudonym "Sachin".

"I first spoke to Nikhil as Sachin, my pseudonym for speaking to clients during sales calls. You didn’t want the CEO making sales calls," Kamath wrote, adding that he had even met customers pretending to be Sachin in Zerodha’s early days.

Kamath said he once picked up a call as Sachin, only to realise that the caller was a journalist from The Economic Times. "I was shocked. I had to suddenly switch from Sachin to Nithin," he said, adding that he faked a different accent so that he would not be recognised.

The article, according to Kamath, had an immediate impact. "When this story came out, our account openings suddenly went from a few hundred accounts a month to almost 500. I was convinced I had discovered a growth hack," he said.

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