Vladimir Tenev is the co-founder and CEO of Robinhood, a free brokerage service offering access to financial systems and security exchanges. Vladimir Tenev co-founded Robinhood with Baiju Bhatt. Under Tenev’s leadership as co-CEO since the beginning and then solo CEO since 2020, Robinhood has attracted over 22 million users and reshaped the entire brokerage industry. The app powered the meme stock mania of 2021, allowing a new generation of retail traders to take on hedge fund giants at their own game.

Born in Bulgaria, Vlad Tenev immigrated to the United States with his parents at age 5, settling in Virginia, where his mom and dad worked as economists at the World Bank. Though they had professional jobs, money was tight in those early years. “I remember always thinking about finances, being aware of them – and recognizing that if you were in control of your finances, that’s a superpower,” Tenev recalls.

That financial consciousness planted the seeds for what would eventually become Robinhood, the zero-commission stock trading app that disrupted Wall Street. But first, Tenev had to find his way. A brilliant math student, he studied the subject at Stanford and started down an academic path, earning a master’s degree before realizing he didn’t want to be a professor after all.

Instead, Tenev partnered with his Stanford friend and fellow immigrant son Baiju Bhatt to launch a fintech startup focused on high-frequency trading. That first venture failed, as did a second one selling trading software. But those failures set the stage for Robinhood’s birth in 2013. “I wish I’d been more patient,” Tenev says now about that chaotic early period. “I was keen to get out there and start talking right away…and I just wasn’t really sleeping.”

Disrupting Wall Street: The Robinhood Phenomenon

From those humble beginnings of two friends dreaming big, Robinhood became a phenomenon. Its free trading model and user-friendly app opened investing to a new generation of mostly younger “meme stock” traders. The app’s popularity sparked a revolution, with over 22 million users getting in on the action by early 2023.

“From the very beginning, we started Robinhood with the idea that we should challenge the status quo,” Tenev stated. “Brokerages were charging expensive commissions, they had account minimums, and Robinhood came in there and changed the entire business model.”

The meme stock mania peaked in early 2021 when Robinhood traders helped drive up the stock price of struggling video game retailer GameStop, squeezing hedge funds who had shorted the stock. It was a watershed moment pitting the little guy against Wall Street’s elite. “If you watch the movie Dumb Money closely, you understand that the term ‘dumb money’ is being used somewhat ironically,” Tenev says about the portrayal of retail traders. “I don’t think they are dumb money.”

Tenev was criticized for restricting GameStop trades at the height of the frenzy as Robinhood struggled to meet capital requirements. But he remained unapologetic about Robinhood’s mission. “Technology, on average, makes things a lot better and leads to more wealth across the board,” he argues. “It has to be managed appropriately, but I don’t think it should be stopped.”

Championing Financial Empowerment

Robinhood is now expanding into new products like retirement accounts and credit cards as it pursues Tenev’s vision of becoming a full-service financial platform for the mobile generation. “Our customers are getting older, and they’re growing with us, depositing more of their funds with us,” he says. “We think we can be a great home for that customer.”

“We have lots of shareholders. We’re a company that is all about democratizing access to public markets and cryptocurrencies, so happy to have shareholders involved,” Tenev says.

His creation, Robinhood, shook up the old Wall Street guard through pure grit, technology, and a commitment to democratizing investing for the masses. And he’s just getting started: “I’d like to think that over the long run…my brand is synonymous with the Robinhood brand,” Tenev says. “I think it’ll improve as Robinhood’s brand continues to improve and vice versa.”