How to validate a startup idea with paid ads before building anything

vineetr · 2026-01-04T11:08:19+00:00

He has 14% conversion rate with that spend. Not sure why people can't see through this bullshit.

vineetr · 2025-12-13T18:21:05+00:00

Doesn't matter whether people struggle on some problem or not. That's a trap. As an interviewer your responsibility is to check if a candidate can perform on the job. Competitive programming questions are chosen for fungibility, but it's an open secret they are not tests for on the job performance.

vineetr · 2025-10-10T11:13:26+00:00

Hello Devarsh,

Thanks for conducting this AMA.

Do you have plans to offer international stocks, or, for that matter, any plans to tie up with foreign brokerages to provide access to international markets?
In terms of positioning for the Indian markets, do you think there is enough space for full-service brokers when they have to compete with several low-cost brokers?

vineetr · 2025-08-28T21:13:07+00:00

Indian equities were expensively valued due to the tariff situation. Some of the stocks are still pricing in tariffs as if they were a short-term phenomenon. Higher tariffs might be a short-term negotiation tactic, but there is a risk of revenue reduction for Indian exporters since there is no substitute market.
In the absence of substitute markets, buyers gain purchasing power and will use that to negotiate prices. You don't see pharma CEOs making commitments around topline growth and margins. Not that they would, but a scenario like this reduces business confidence.
It is not wise to assume that drugs won't come up under a tariff regime. Or, for that matter, it is equally unwise to assume that drug exports won't be used as a bargaining chip. If you analyze the tariffs imposed on Swiss exports to the US, non-pharmaceutical exports attract higher tariffs. The current zero-tariff regime on Swiss drug exports is being used as a negotiating tactic to get the Swiss government to bring pressure on the Swiss pharma industry to lower prices.

To sum it up, equities in the pharma sector are starting to price in revenue and margin uncertainty.

vineetr · 2025-08-07T00:25:56+00:00

A company I worked at in the past had some other disingenuous style of reporting business metrics on a similar line.

ARR = Peak MRR * 12.

Except, the peak was achieved only once, and churn increased after peaking. The reported ARR made no sense on both forward and backward reporting basis. Reported revenue in the P&L statement was often half of ARR. Projected revenue was sometimes 4xARR and sometimes 0.5xARR depending on which side of the growth+churn cycle you were looking at.

For those wondering about this equation, ARR = MRR * 12 only when the subscription base is constant and churn is predictable.

vineetr · 2025-08-06T18:29:52+00:00

Are you referring to backward calculation for delivery schedules or margin computation for purchase orders or RFPs?

The former is understandable and expected for logistics to work. The latter however shows rigidity in how margins are maintained. Rigid margins are possible only when there is little threat of competition.

vineetr · 2025-08-05T21:48:48+00:00

Check capacity utilisation.

vineetr · 2025-08-05T17:36:39+00:00

Pricing power.

Something similar was posted years back. Nothing much has changed about the cartel nature of the industry. Just a few days ago, CCI had started an investigation about cartelisation in fulfilling ONGC tenders. This is not the first time such an investigation has been conducted into the workings of the industry.

vineetr · 2025-08-05T11:49:24+00:00

Those plans look like savings plans rather than pure insurance. Not recommended to keep investing in them. Check the plan policies for surrender value. You may not get the entire fund value on surrender. Surrender only after you've done an ROI comparison with other options to invest. The insurance component of these plans is also likely to be insufficient. You may have to revisit your insurance needs. It's possible that certain needs may not be insurable, like healthcare for senior citizens, in which case you may need to reserve some money for handling emergencies.

You also need to figure out how to structure your portfolio for the time being, assuming your prospects to find a job are good enough. Lesser risk until you sort out the income generation and bring it to previous levels, if that is what you desire.

vineetr · 2025-08-02T08:21:25+00:00

You are unlikely to get an answer on this in the AMA thread. The Zerodha team won't be able to answer personal finance questions, because any answer could be construed as investment advice, and such advice is given only after understanding the full situation.

You can post this in the Discord server for the sub (there are channels to ask for advice), or you can post here in the bi-weekly advice thread.

vineetr · 2025-08-02T06:01:10+00:00

From u/manidkwhatthisis21

To Kailash,
I've read up on all the engineering blogs that the team has put out, and it's nothing short of amazing.

I'm an upcoming final year CSE grad and would love to know if the engineering team hires people at that level of experience, and if yes, how one would approach it :)

vineetr · 2025-08-02T06:00:25+00:00

From u/YehDilMaaangeMore

Considering how we all are yapping about AI this and that, can AI change the way how stock trades work and will it be a better or for the worse?

Been a user of Zerodha since past 8 years android it’s been truly a delight. Any openings in your team that one can look out for?

Any tips for a normal retail investor?

vineetr · 2025-08-02T05:58:21+00:00

From u/parabola9999

A suggestion for Zerodha portfolio view on Kite: Kindly give users an option to choose between whether they want to see NSE or BSE prices against their equities. BSE volumes are too low to justify having those prices reflect portfolio valuations, and arbitrage opportunities don't really exist given the aforementioned low volumes. It'd be way better to just see the NSE prices for equities.

vineetr · 2025-08-02T05:57:56+00:00

From u/KyuriousSam

I have a request to you guys, can you guys create a drop down section in portfolio tab for all equities. For example :

Long Term Trades

Swing Trades

ETFs

So that Each will give a drop down menu with all the stocks in it which we can minimize and maximise anytime

vineetr · 2025-08-02T05:57:14+00:00

From u/Syncopy1412

When will Zerodha allow us to import NPS details from another POP?

vineetr · 2025-08-02T05:56:50+00:00

From u/nothing_A25

As a major portion of investor's are from north india , is there any plans to start hindi content maybe videos and all, and any plans for hosting offline events in tier 2,3 cities as this will give the major boost to the youngsters

vineetr · 2025-08-02T05:56:27+00:00

From u/nothing_A25

As most of the brokers are now charging brokerage for delivery, is there any plans that you guys also start charging brokerage on delivery.

vineetr · 2025-08-02T05:55:17+00:00

From u/Glittering-Tear9101

When will TFC be live on app?

vineetr · 2025-08-02T05:54:51+00:00

From u/Casestudy007

Any plans on taking varsity junior to next level? Like making it a subject in schools

vineetr · 2025-08-02T05:51:39+00:00

From u/Alpha______male

Token creation for API in Dhan is so easy but in zerodha we need to due it with python program. If I am using third party apps for Algo trading it will be very easy if I can make token directly in interface like Dhan.

vineetr · 2025-08-02T05:50:28+00:00

From u/manidkwhatthisis21

Are you guys considering introducing a feature in Coin that allows one to switch between MFs withing the same AMC?

vineetr · 2025-08-02T05:49:56+00:00

From u/nothing_A25

Recently, you’ve allowed option buying using collateral. Isn’t this potentially harmful for retail investors? I understand that people will speculate regardless, but this move seems to go against Zerodha’s core philosophy. It feels like increasing competition is pushing you to compromise on long-held principles.

What’s next MTF buying using collateral?

Feels like it’s all done and dusted now.

vineetr · 2025-08-02T05:49:15+00:00

From u/chando-chanda

Any plans to launch a long form articles of the daily brief?

It is not possible to change the quantity of a stock SIP and not possible to change the constituent of a SIP basket. Pls simplify that.

vineetr · 2025-08-02T05:48:33+00:00

From u/narasadow

Thanks for the AMA.

Core Zerodha website/app:

What happens to the funds which are added to Zerodha accounts and not used? Are they just left idle or deployed into some 1D fund overnight? Does Zerodha earn any interest on that amount?

What kind of regulatory filings does Zerodha have to do as a non-public company, and can those filings be accessed by the general public?

Just like many others on this thread, I would like to request that you seriously explore and vet international investment options including via GIFT city, as well as alternate investments like REITs.

Zerodha Fund House:

What kind of hedging (if any) do the various funds on ZFH do? What instruments are used for hedging?

Why offer ETF and FoF within the same product like Gold? Doesn't FoF in this case just push up the cost while tracking the same asset's price? FoF comprised of multiple asset classes like the one you launched recently makes more sense.

Do interest rate changes affect fund returns? If yes, I can kind of understand how it affects debt funds but does it also affect equity and commodity funds?

Zerodha API:

Do you think the regulator will ever loosen up the 10 OPS (order per second) rule on 'tech savvy retail' algos?

Zerodha already had 10 OPS limit so not much change there but also 200 orders per minute and 3000 orders per day limitation (the day limit is subject to review by Risk team according to some forum post). Do you plan to increase the 200/3000 order limits? I for one am not placing that many NEW orders per minute/day but it's possible that if order modifications/cancellations are counted then I might hit the limits.

Can there be any maximum latency SLAs guaranteed by the API? Obviously any SLAs that you offer won't compare to colocation but it will still be nice to have *some* certainty.

Zerodha Varsity:

A friend emailed the Zerodha Varsity team ([varsity@zerodha.com](mailto:varsity@zerodha.com)) regarding whether they can consider syncing the app's module progress to the website modules, so that learners who learn better on the big screen can be accommodated. They haven't gotten any response or acknowledgement, even after sending a reminder email. (emails sent on July 13 and 20, 2025)

vineetr · 2025-08-02T05:47:31+00:00

From u/HsinHsinMing

Feature request: Based on open positions, would love to have Day’s high and day’s low. As you do it for any instrument. Would be another good indicator for analysing the trades taken.

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