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Part 5: Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev on Becoming a Billionaire in 2020
Part 3: Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev Agrees with DJ Vlad:Stock Trading Riskier than Long Term Investing
Part 1: Vlad Tenev Dropped Out of College & Launched 2 Stock Trading Companies Before Robinhood
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In this VladTV conversation, DJ Vlad asks Robinhood co-founder and CEO Vlad Tenev how a scrappy fintech startup raised its earliest checks before major Silicon Valley backing arrived. Tenev recalls taking $50,000 and $100,000 investments through AngelList at a $10 million valuation cap, pitching everyday investors — even people in Iowa — alongside firms like Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins and Andreessen Horowitz. With Robinhood’s market cap cited at $103 billion, he says some seed backers who held through the 2022 downturn may have turned initial stakes into nine-figure gains.
The discussion expands to Robinhood Ventures, IPO Access and public-market access to startup investing through funds like RB1 and RB2, with exposure to companies such as OpenAI, Stripe and Y Combinator startups. DJ Vlad also discusses investing in Jeff Bezos’ Project Prometheus and Amazon, while Tenev critiques accreditation rules that allow meme coins but restrict access to private companies like Anthropic and SpaceX.
