Robinhood: Vlad Tenev

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Guy Raz | Wondery

Business

4.8 • 31.1K Ratings

🗓️ 12 April 2021

⏱️ 83 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Before Robinhood became one of the most loved and most hated stock trading platforms in the U.S., it was just another tech startup, launched by two mathematicians with an audacious idea: make stock trading mobile, make it fun, and make it free—with no commissions, and no minimum balances. In 2013, Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt decided to pursue this idea full-time. They sidelined their first business—selling software that shaved milliseconds off high-speed trades—and began building an app aimed at anyone with a smartphone and a few extra dollars to invest. After launching in 2015, Robinhood steadily attracted users and rave reviews, but soon drew criticism for its business model, which came under even more scrutiny after the GameStop trading frenzy in January. Despite these challenges, Robinhood has grown to 13 million users and is now poised for a lucrative IPO.

How I Built This Summit - information and tickets at:
http://summit.npr.org

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to how I built this early and ad-free on Amazon Music.
0:07.0	Download the app today.
0:09.0	New Year's is here, and with it brings the possibility of change.
0:13.0	As one behavioral scientist put it, first starts are really powerful.
0:17.0	So as you head into 2023, LifeKit is a great resource to help you plan your life and tackle changes, both big and small.
0:24.0	Listen to the LifeKit podcast from NPR.
0:31.0	Venture Capitalists, angel investors had concerns about many things, right?
0:36.0	Could this team of mathematicians build this beautiful consumer product that they're talking about building?
0:43.0	It's an extremely competitive space with like gigantic incumbent competitors that spend billions of dollars a year on marketing.
0:52.0	These guys are telling us that they can make it work, not charging a commission.
0:57.0	How's this thing going to make money?
0:59.0	From NPR, it's how I built this.
1:08.0	A show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists, and stories behind the movements they built.
1:15.0	I'm Guy Raaz, and on the show today, how two college friends built an easy on-ramp to Wall Street by launching Robinhood,
1:24.0	and a stock trading app that even in the midst of controversy has grown to 13 million users.
1:33.0	One of the most common arguments made by promoters of social media is that these products make it easier for people to connect in a meaningful way.
1:42.0	Whether it's Facebook, Twitter, or TikTok, or the latest iteration clubhouse, these are all examples of how technology has leveled the playing field, democratized it even.
1:53.0	Now of course, you could also argue that all of this has had a really destabilizing effect.
2:00.0	But either way, these technologies are disruptive on a historic scale.
2:05.0	And one of the latest entrants into this world of disruption is Robinhood. It's an app that allows anyone to trade stocks.
2:13.0	You don't need a minimum balance to open an account. There are zero fees or commissions to trade.
2:19.0	And it's got a simple, easy-to-use interface that can instantly turn anyone with a few extra dollars into a stock trader.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Guy Raz | Wondery, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Guy Raz | Wondery and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.