Growing up in a typical middle-class Tam-Brahm household, two topics were absolutely off-limits: sex and money.
You just... don't bring them up. It's the unspoken rule.
So you follow the script instead. School, then college, maybe your masters if you're ambitious. Then you land your first job. You start earning. And that's when things get interesting.
Because suddenly, that taboo topic? The one nobody wanted to discuss? It's sitting right there in your bank account. Real monies. Your money. Money you worked for.
And guess what...you're magically supposed to know what to do with it.
How to budget. How to save. How to invest. How to not blow it all on that Goa plan with friends and impulse buys. All those things nobody ever taught you? You're just expected to figure them out.
Spoiler alert: I did not have ANY clue...and guess what most of us don't have a clue.
We weren't taught this stuff. Not at home, not in school, not anywhere. We spent years memorizing that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell (useful, obviously), but managing the money we'll earn for the rest of our lives? Bruh.
That realization hit me hard. And when I started talking to friends, colleagues...I realized this wasn't just my problem. This was everyone's problem.
And that's exactly what Satyajeet and I set out to solve.
The Aha Moment/ The "Kuch Karte hain" moment
We realized how massively underserved the entire younger, just-starting-to-earn generation is.
Go ask any young person on the streets if they want to invest. The answer is always YES.
The intent is there. The intent is very high.
But the ball drops when you ask how to invest.
The Existing "Solutions"
You open the Growws and Zerodhas of the world, and you're immediately overwhelmed. Too many graphs, numbers, jargon flying at you from every corner of the screen.
This is just too intimidating thus leading to high drop-offs.
Ask anyone you know about Mutual Funds and everyone knows the tagline: "Mutual Funds Sahi Hai."
But here's the problem...they associate it with retirement, buying that dream home, their kid's education....whatever Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar has been saying in those ads for a while now. Long-term stuff.
This generation is not thinking that far ahead. They want things now. They want to see results now. They want to feel empowered now.
Enter Deciml
This was exactly why we started Deciml back in 2020.
The concept was simple but powerful: You do you.
No one is asking you for a large lump sum every month. You continue doing what you do—fill fuel, pay for your cigarettes, chai, coffee, Swiggy orders—and invest the spare change for every spend that you do automatically.
₹51 for coffee? We round it up to ₹60 and invest the ₹9.
₹847 for fuel? Round up to ₹850, invest ₹3.
₹195 for matcha? Don't drink that shit.
Building the Habit
This is where the magic happens.
Seeing ~₹3,000-3,500 saved and invested at the end of every month—without feeling the pinch—was a sense of empowerment for youngsters beginning their investment journey.
They weren't sacrificing their lifestyle. They weren't intimidated while reading charts and graphs. They were just... investing. Automatically. Effortlessly.
And slowly, a habit was being built.
The Bigger Picture
More often than not, ideas stem from observations around you.
More on the tech side of building this in some future blog. Stay tuned.