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Uncapped #33 | Vlad Tenev from Robinhood

Shownote

Vlad Tenev is the co-founder and CEO of Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD), which transformed financial services by introducing commission-free stock trading and democratizing access to the markets for millions of investors. As of Q3 2025, the company is doing $1.27...

Highlights

In this episode, the conversation dives into the transformation of financial markets through technology and shifting generational attitudes. The discussion traces the evolution of online brokerage platforms and explores how innovation continues to reshape how people engage with money, investing, and risk.
00:27
E-Trade started when two guys in Palo Alto used an Apple II to trade stocks from home
04:20
Robinhood offered an optimistic alternative by promoting people's participation in the financial system as investors.
12:04
People don't 'graduate' from trading to investing; they maintain active trading as wealth grows.
14:23
Robinhood has 11 businesses each generating over $100 million in revenue.
24:56
Prediction markets are more accurate than polls due to skin-in-the-game incentives.
25:54
Price discovery through speculation adds value in markets where outcomes are uncertain.
33:50
Trading commissions have dropped from $100 per trade to zero, showing how technology can rapidly reduce financial barriers.
35:21
Tokenization will be the future of private equity in the U.S.
42:10
AI-generated code contributions are increasing per engineer per month, with data showing more lines of code correlate with higher-quality output.
46:12
An AI agent could read documents, make calls, and access emails to move brokerage accounts automatically
46:59
Company values should match personal values.

Chapters

Intro
00:00
History of online brokers
00:27
The rise of Robinhood
04:15
Changing sentiment among generations
09:15
Incentive alignment with customers
14:18
The emergence of prediction markets
18:47
Economic value vs entertainment
25:50
Growing degree of risk taking
28:26
Tokenization and private markets
35:21
The impact of AI on Robinhood
39:33
What excites Vlad about AI
43:35
Reflections on being a founder
46:59

Transcript

Vlad Tenev: We call it vibe trading. So, you know, there's vibe coding. I think there will be vibe trading, which sounds a little flippant. Jack Altman: Well, but, you know, the thing you said that we're not a trading platform. It's like, you know, it's l...