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1 episodes · 29 quoted claims
Vlad Tenev says Bulgaria went through hyperinflation in 1997 and had the highest inflation rate in the world.
“So when I was a child, Bulgaria had the unfortunate distinction of having the highest inflation rate in the world. I think in 1997, we went through hyperinflation.”
Vlad Tenev says a Bulgarian savings account opened for him at birth held the equivalent of $2,000 but was worth about $10 by 1997.
“okay, when I was born, they put $2 ,000 equivalent in there. And then they added money over time. And then 1997, it was down to like $10.”
Vlad Tenev says his grandfather stored wealth in copper cookware, kept in a closet in his apartment in Bulgaria, during the hyperinflation.
“So we had this closet in his apartment in Varno, Bulgaria, where he just opened the door and copper cookware would fall out. So that was the store of wealth.”
Vlad Tenev says that when Robinhood started, brokerages charged $7.95 to $9.95 per trade.
“When we started, it cost $7 .95 to $9 .95 to place a single trade, which I think was a problem for two types of customers.”
Vlad Tenev says a $9.95 commission on a $100 account would cost about 20% round trip, which kept small investors from starting.
“if $9 .95 is your commission, once you get in and out of trade, that's 20 % drag on your portfolio.”
Vlad Tenev says that for its first several years Robinhood was not self-clearing and cleared trades through Apex.
“We weren't self-clearing, and we were relying on a third party to even route our orders. So we cleared through Apex.”
Vlad Tenev says TD Ameritrade earned about $11 to $12 per trade before zero commissions, roughly $10 from commission and $1 from payment for order flow.
“their average revenue per trade was something like $12. It was like, or maybe $11. $10 of it was commission. $1 was payment for order flow.”
Vlad Tenev says TD Ameritrade was merged into Schwab and E-Trade was acquired by Morgan Stanley after the industry moved to zero commissions.
“They couldn't survive as an independent company. They had to be merged into Schwab. E-Trade got gobbled up by Morgan Stanley.”
Vlad Tenev says Michael Lewis's book Flash Boys came out around the time of Robinhood's 2013 waitlist announcement and tied payment for order flow to retail customers being harmed.
“our initial wait list in 2013, there was this book that came out, Flash Boys. And it was basically like a coincident with the announcement of Robinhood, the Michael Lewis book.”
Vlad Tenev says Robinhood offers a subscription called Robinhood Gold, which is uncommon among brokerages.
“We also have subscription through Robinhood Gold, which is not common in the brokerage industry.”
Vlad Tenev says Robinhood announced Robinhood Banking at its Gold event, with features including cash delivery.
“we announced that at our gold event a couple of months ago with a few innovative features, including cash delivery, which I'm very excited about.”
Vlad Tenev says GameStop was a popular free-stock giveaway for people who joined Robinhood in 2020.
“Now, one of the stocks that was actually very popular at that time was GameStop. So if you joined in 2020, there was a good chance that, you know, GameStop was the stock that welcomed you to Robinhood.”
Vlad Tenev says Elon Musk urged him to be fully transparent during the GameStop trading restrictions.
“Elon was like very intense. He's like, you know, you're being an asshole to the people. You've got to what you've got to do is full transparency, 100%.”
Vlad Tenev says he joined a 1 a.m. Clubhouse session on a spur-of-the-moment decision after the GameStop restrictions.
“I text him after my calls like, I've got this crazy idea. How about I just go on the clubhouse and we lay it all on the line. That was a spur of the moment decision to hop on that 1 a .m. clubhouse.”
Vlad Tenev says Robinhood's last analysis found its customers' investments were mostly new dollars entering the market.
“I think the last time we did it, we found that it was mostly new dollars coming in.”
Vlad Tenev says the gamification narrative began when the industry dropped commissions to zero at the end of 2019.
“I think it actually originated right when our zero commission model became universal. So it was end of 2019. Everyone dropped commissions to zero.”
Vlad Tenev says Robinhood grew its market share and its business three to five times in 2020.
“And in 2020, we grew our market share at an accelerated pace and the business itself grew three to five X.”
Vlad Tenev says Robinhood's tokenized public stocks and its SpaceX and OpenAI offering are backed by holdings on Robinhood's balance sheet.
“So in all cases thus far, which is the tokenized public stock where it's easy and also the SpaceX and OpenAI giveaway, that's backed by holdings that Robinhood has on the balance sheet.”
Vlad Tenev says demand for Robinhood's IPO Access product is typically massively oversubscribed, so customers get only partial allocations.
“Retail expresses interest. We collected. Typically, it's like massively oversubscribed.”
Vlad Tenev argues accredited-investor rules assumed wealthy people could hire professionals, an assumption he says AI tools now weaken.
“And I think the origin of these accredited investor rules, the thinking behind it is, okay, if you have $1 million, you can hire someone.”
Vlad Tenev says Grigor Dimitrov was up two sets to zero and winning the third set in a Wimbledon match while the prediction market was still near even.
“Now, Grigor Dimitrov was up two sets to zero, right? And he was actually winning the third set.”
Vlad Tenev says Polymarket showed about a 92% chance for Jake Paul during the third round of the Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson fight.
“I think I was looking at Polymarket at the time. It was like 92 % Jake Paul.”
Vlad Tenev says Robinhood's founders community consists of the top 150 people at the company by impact, across all levels.
“basically if you're in the top 150 people in the company by impact, across all levels.”
Vlad Tenev says Robinhood announced it was remote-first in 2022 and he regretted the decision almost immediately.
“I mean, we announced we were a remote first company in 2022, and then I regretted that pretty much immediately.”
Vlad Tenev says Robinhood requires executives in the office five days a week, managers four, and individual contributors three.
“if you're a senior leader or an executive, you're five days. If you're a manager, four days. If you're an IC, three days.”
Vlad Tenev says Robinhood noticed around 2019 that a small group of active traders generated a disproportionate share of its revenue.
“I think we noticed fairly early on, maybe as early as 2019, that we have a big active trader business and sort of a disproportionate amount of revenue was generated by a relatively small group of customers.”
Vlad Tenev says Robinhood's cash card was a debit card tied to a money transmitter account, aimed at paycheck-to-paycheck customers, and it did not work well.
“So we had a debit card tied with a money transmitter account.”
Vlad Tenev says he moved Robinhood from a functional organization to a general manager structure to give business lines full accountability.
“We were functionally organized. So at that time, I moved us to a GM structure.”
Vlad Tenev says it took two years for the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem to be certified.
“Like Fermat's last theorem, probably a good example. It took two years for that proof to be certified.”