No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups
00:48:35 · Sarah Guo, Vlad Tenev
[00:48:35] S1: Can you talk about what Robinhood is doing to support Trump accounts? [00:48:38] S0: Yeah, so this was like our way of serving our country, which we're very proud of. So Robinhood was selected as the sole initial trustee and broker for the Trump accounts, and we're working with BNY, which is America's oldest and most storied bank, and with Treasury and IRS to make this program happen. And yeah, the idea behind it is can we get every child from birth to own a chunk of The US economy through the S and P 500, through a low cost diversified ETF, and for every newborn child, so everyone born in January 2025 onward for the next three years, they get $1,000 ceded by Treasury. And Michael and Susan Dell, through their foundation, added another over 6,000,000,000 to children in lower income zip codes. And a bunch of other people are following, like Gwynne Shotwell committed a donation in SpaceX shares. Brad Gerstner, is the brains and the architect behind the program, he pushed it forward and also made a really big donation to the citizens of Indiana and their children. And so we're kind of powering the infrastructure, building the app, and we love it because I think it's the best thing for actually getting household stock ownership from 65% to 95%. So when it's successful, I think it'll lead to a much more stable and prosperous society in many decades. Our goal is to make this like the best product the government's ever launched, and the most enduring positive aspect of President Trump's legacy. That's our goal.
00:50:44 · Sarah Guo, Vlad Tenev
[00:50:44] S1: It's an amazing effort. Sign your kids up. So, last question for you. Andrew Reid, who we both know well, described you as a strange combination of, like, unlimited IQ and the steadiest possible hand when working with, you know, the vagaries of the financial markets and PR and large user bases. [00:51:05] S0: Yeah. [00:51:06] S1: How do you keep your level headedness or cool or what advice do you have for the many business leaders that listen? [00:51:13] S0: I think going through a lot of challenges as a child just made me very used to going through challenges, right? And you know, I had a very supportive and amazing family, great parents, but we were kind of in this together, right? We kind of all immigrated to The US at the same time, and I wasn't like a child that was given things, right? It was almost like you're a member of this family, and we all kind of have to figure this out. I had my part, they had their parts. So it was obviously their child, but kind of treated with a lot of autonomy, almost as an equal from a very young age. And we run through a lot of, we come across a lot of business challenges at Robinhood, at Harmonic, at all these things, but you know, when you step back and say, alright, well, does it compare to the threat of deportation? What about, you know, and we talk about inflation here of 5% and freak out about it. What about the 2000% inflation that we went through as children? So, you know, sometimes I think about that with my own kids, right? [00:52:33] S1: Do you create challenge for them?
00:52:33 · Sarah Guo, Vlad Tenev
[00:52:33] S1: Do you create challenge for them? [00:52:35] S0: We try, I mean, I try to construct challenge, but you have to construct it, right? It's a little bit harder, and they get a lot of positives. Like they could have tutors, they could, you know, go to all kinds of museums that I didn't have [00:52:50] S1: They have safety. [00:52:51] S0: Yeah, but they have safety. And I think there's something very important about having to struggle and endure. I try to create that environment as much as possible, but I think I haven't figured it out. So I think that's a big part of it, and also probably as we were talking before, it's a good bit of nature versus nurture. Maybe I was just born like that, and don't know how much of it's the environment either. [00:53:19] S1: I think if we take it away for advice for other leaders, it is just the optimistic take that whatever challenge you're going through will make you more level in the future. [00:53:28] S0: I think Bezos said this, right? The best approach to all of these challenges is just grow thick skin. You can control that about yourself, but you can't control the outside world. So if you can actually do that, I think it seems to be a big superpower that not everyone is capable of. [00:53:44] S1: Awesome. Thanks so much, Vlad. This is great. [00:53:46] S0: Thanks for having me.
00:53:46 · Vlad Tenev, Sarah Guo
[00:53:46] S0: Thanks for having me. [00:53:50] S1: Find us on Twitter at No Priors Pod. Subscribe to our YouTube channel if you wanna see our faces. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. That way you get a new episode every week. And sign up for emails or find transcripts for every episode at no-priors.com.