As chartered accountants, we envisaged providing tax and financial planning services. NSE India’s 1994 screen trading pushed us in a different direction.
When Sajid and I started our venture together, the idea was much broader.
We wanted to become a one-stop financial partner for individuals. The plan was to offer services in tax, insurance, investments, wills, and personal finance, with stockbroking as one part of that relationship.
The problem was trust.
2 young chartered accountants could offer tax advice, but asking someone to trust you with their insurance, estate, or long-term finances was different. Those relationships took years to build.
Then Indian capital markets changed, and in 1994, the NSE introduced electronic, screen-based trading.
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) later described the change as replacing floor-based trading with nationwide electronic access, opening membership beyond the old circle of floor brokers to people who met the required qualifications and financial standards.
It mattered enormously to newcomers like us.
A new client didn’t need years of history with us before placing a trade, because they could earn our confidence transaction by transaction.
Ventura offered screen-based trading in 1994. Over time, what we imagined as one service became the flagship of our business.
I did not predict that when we started.
Looking back more than 3 decades later, one lesson building Ventura taught me was that our original destination can stay the same even when the route to it changes.
What business did you build, or what career did you eventually follow that looked different from the one you first imagined?
