00:00 Vlad Tenev
One of the biggest problems, I think the biggest problem in capital markets today is that retail investors don’t have access to private companies. I think it’s one of the greatest inequities that is in the world of finance today. And what you’re seeing is private companies raising capital and getting up to valuations in the hundreds of billions or more, completely outside of public markets where normal people can get access to them.
00:36 Vlad Tenev
So the days of being able to buy an Amazon or a Microsoft and get in at valuations in the hundreds of millions, potentially see, you know, a thousand X or more return in the public markets if you’re a retail investor seem to be getting further and further away.
01:05 Vlad Tenev
And uh, Robin Hood Ventures really aims to solve that problem by opening up access to private companies for retail investors, and not just opening them, but I like to say blowing the doors off the hinges so that they can’t be closed again. So, it’s going to be a long journey. It starts with the single first step of Robin Hood Ventures Fund 1 going public on the Nice. And, you know, we’re we’re contributing a seed portfolio uh with companies like Databricks and Stripe, which we recently signed, Ora, I’m wearing the ring right now, um, Murco and Boom uh Supersonic, which which is making a a nice jet. So we’ve got some frontier companies uh at the at the frontier of their industries. And with the new capital, we’ll continue to invest and and accelerate that activity and keep working hard to open up this elusive asset class to to the mass market.
02:12 Interviewer
Glad, you know so many founders in tech or and just founders in general. When you talk to them, why are some of these companies staying private for longer? Isn’t it isn’t it exciting to go public? Yeah, I know you got to do quarterly earnings calls. You guys have managed to reinvent your earnings call and I tip my hat to you. I mean, you guys have done a great job of that. But but why aren’t more companies going public?
02:41 Vlad Tenev
Yeah, I mean, the fact of the matter is there’s two problems. One, no, most founders are not excited about going public and if you go around in these circles, everyone’s just complaining about uh the potential of having to do it. And and some people are saying they never want to go public. They want to stay private forever. I think there’s a branding problem and also some legitimate problems with, you know, you have all sorts of restrictions, the legal hurdles, the expenses. Um, you know, it’s it’s not easy. Um, I, of course, we’re a proud public company, we kind of stand for public access. Um, so we’re trying to do it a little bit differently.
03:41 Vlad Tenev
And and we think we can help at all stages of the journey. So we offer products for companies that want to make their earnings calls more exciting. You you might have seen a couple months ago, Open Door actually live stream their earnings um, on Robin Hood app and also used our say technology to take questions from retail investors. We have our IPO access offering, which allows retail to access IPOs, which was was actually used for Robin Hood Ventures. And then of course, Robin Hood Ventures itself, which even if you don’t want to go public, um, we we would like to open up private markets for retail exposure. So we’re trying to attack this systematically from all aspects. And you know, the New York Stock Exchange, the administration, they’re all uh interested in solving this problem.
04:50 Vlad Tenev
Matter of fact, just last time I was here on the New York Stock Exchange floor, there was a uh a panel discussion with Chair Atkins called make IPOs great again. So, we’re we’re obviously pro IPO and uh and uh even even if companies choose to delay that, we think retail investors shouldn’t be left behind and we’re working to change that.
05:22 Interviewer
Amen to that Vlad. Talk to me a little bit about, um this has been a big week for you. had the the platinum card drop. Uh that’s it’s a heavy card, it’s made with real platinum. Uh that is another that joins your other cards you had too. But talk to me about this family hub that you guys are focused on.
05:43 Vlad Tenev
Yeah, the family hub, I think is the most exciting product that we actually unveiled. I mean, it’s the most exciting for me. I’ve got a bunch of kids and, you know, I’m tired of using another financial firm with with my family. So I’d like to bring all of that activity to Robin Hood. Finally, I can do that. And a lot of our customers have felt the same. It’s not just, it’s not just me as the founder and first customer. But um, yeah, basically what it allows you to do is uh share your finances with your family members, open up accounts for your children, you’ll be able to open up accounts for your spouse, for parents, and everyone’s finances can be viewed in one hub.
06:39 Vlad Tenev
Uh and you can even, you know, manage other people’s accounts. You might have seen in my demo, you know, we we have the ability to, if you link your spouse’s account, uh, place trades with their with their knowledge. You can’t do it secretly, but uh but place trades in in accounts of your family members. So, I I think that it’s one more step in our journey of making Robin Hood even better for you when your whole family’s on it. We see a big opportunity because over 100 trillion in assets are going to be changing hands from older generations to younger.
07:31 Vlad Tenev
And that’ll just be simpler if they’re all on Robin Hood already. So that’s that’s what we’re working towards. And, you know, we’re we’re getting there. For the past 12 quarters or so, we’ve had net inflows from all of our brokerage competitors. We expect this to just be a a further tailwind to that.
07:54 Interviewer
Well, I I’m listening to you and I I can’t help but to think, wow, I really got screwed as a kid because we had none of this innovation back in like 1984. Maybe we did and my parents didn’t know about it. Um, lastly, one thing I know we didn’t have when I was a kid are these Trump accounts. And um, tell me if I’m wrong, but I view July, I think when these Trump accounts become available as a, a real seminal moment for investing, uh, for investors, for the next generation of investors. Uh, what are your thoughts on these Trump accounts and will Robin Hood play any role in them?
08:37 Vlad Tenev
We’ve been a supporter of the Trump Accounts initiative from the very beginning. Um, I remember actually on Robin Hood’s uh road show, we spoke to uh Brad Gner at Altimeter Capital, ended up becoming an investor. This was back in 2021 and he was talking about how, you know, he had this vision of every newborn in the country getting an account funded by the government so that they could start their investing journey and that it’s not just, you know, uh good for the individual, but also good for society to have more people buying into our capitalist system.
09:30 Vlad Tenev
So, you know, uh hats off to to Gner and with with the support of Michael Dell and many others, they persevered. Here five years later, we uh this this thing is real. And we’re lucky to be a part of the initial Trump Account Summit at the White House last year. And uh I’ve said to the president personally that, you know, Robin Hood is here ready to support the program, however we can be helpful, you know? And um, we have technology resources and and and people that can uh do whatever is necessary to make the program a success.