In this episode of The Abstract, you’ll meet Viraj Joshi, who left the conventional path of big law to explore public policy, finance, and ultimately leadership at Zerodha. Viraj shares how curiosity guided his career moves, the value of cross-functional collaboration, and what makes Zerodha’s culture unique. He also opens up about investing through Rainmatter, scaling a bootstrapped unicorn, and why legal tech can transform how businesses operate. Whether you’re a lawyer, operator, or founder, Viraj’s story is a reminder that careers don’t have to be linear; following your interests can lead to the most meaningful opportunities.

Key Insights:
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1. Following Curiosity Opens Doors You Can’t Predict

Joshi’s path was anything but linear. After law school, he stumbled into big law “by accident,” driven more by financial independence than passion. His turning point came when he followed his curiosity into public finance projects — writing cold emails, teaching himself investment basics, and landing a policy role with India’s Ministry of Finance. That one side project, he says, “became the wedge that changed everything.”
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2. The Best Lawyers Think in Data, Not Just Words

At the Ministry, Joshi was the only lawyer among economists and data scientists — a “culture shock” that forced him to quantify risk and justify every argument with data. He calls it the foundation of his current cross-functional mindset: “Law is just structured risk-reward thinking — and that applies everywhere, from business to policy.”
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3. Communities Create Career Serendipity

His move to Zerodha began with a WhatsApp group called Lawyers Not Lawyering — a safe space for lawyers exploring unconventional careers. The community became a professional lifeline where members mentored, connected, and shared unfiltered advice. That’s how he met Zerodha’s leadership and eventually joined during the pandemic boom.
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4. Zerodha’s Culture Runs on Trust, Not Targets

Unlike traditional brokerages, Zerodha scaled from $50M to $500M in revenue — fully bootstrapped. Joshi credits this to founder Nithin Kamath’s “do-right-by-the-customer” philosophy: no sales quotas, no short-term incentives. “If you do the right thing, the results take care of themselves,” he says.
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5. Rainmatter Is Venture Capital, Reimagined

Through Zerodha’s investment arm, Rainmatter, Joshi supports founders in fintech, health, and climate — without exit pressure. With a 15-year fund horizon and no external LPs, the focus is patient, values-aligned growth. “You can’t build great Indian businesses in five years,” he says. “It takes a decade or more — we’re here for that journey.”
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6. Legal Tech’s Real Barrier Is Culture, Not Code

Joshi sees most legal teams as “the last to adopt tech.” He attributes delays to two things: risk aversion and perception. “Legal is seen as a cost center,” he says. “If sales drives revenue, it’s easy to fund tools. But legal’s ROI isn’t as obvious — even when faster contracts could mean faster growth.” He advocates a risk-based automation model, where standard NDAs and low-value contracts are automated to free legal teams for high-impact work
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7. Closing Insight

In legal ops and in life, mindset beats methodology. Smith’s story proves that resilience, gratitude, and hope are the real drivers of lasting change—on the field or in the GC’s office.

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