Where does Vlad Tenev work?

Vlad Tenev is Co-founder & CEO of Robinhood and Co-Founder, Chairman, CEO at Bitbuy and Co-Founder and Executive Chairman at Harmonic.

What companies did Vlad Tenev found?

Vlad Tenev founded Robinhood, Harmonic.

Where did Vlad Tenev go to school?

Vlad Tenev studied at Stanford University (Bachelor’s Degree, Mathematics); UCLA (Master’s Degree, Mathematics).

Vlad Tenev

Investor2× unicorn founder

Co-founder & CEO at Robinhood · Co-Founder and Executive Chairman at Harmonic · Co-Founder, Chairman, CEO at Bitbuy

Menlo Park, CA

FoundedRobinhood$99.3B Harmonic$1.4B

30 Under 30 2022 · Hall of Fame

Find your path to Vlad

96 people in our graph share verified history with Vlad — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.

Jan HammerunlockedVlad: together at Robinhood (2013–2021)

×11Vlad: together at Robinhood

About

Vlad Tenev co-founded Robinhood in 2013 on commission-free trading, forcing the entire US brokerage industry to drop commissions within six years, and took the company public in 2021. Bulgarian-born and Stanford-educated, he led the company through the GameStop trading halt of January 2021 and the congressional hearings that followed, and has since expanded Robinhood into retirement accounts, crypto and prediction markets.

Likely email· guessed from name + firm domain, not firm-published

v•••@harmonic.funreveal75% confident

Beyond investing

Education: Read mathematics at Stanford and took a master's at UCLA, leaving its mathematics doctorate in 2011 to start a company.
Family: Born in Varna, Bulgaria in 1987 and joined his parents in the United States at five; both worked at the World Bank.
More: Built two trading-software companies with Bhatt before Robinhood — Celeris in 2010 and Chronos Research in 2011.

Mentioned above: the UCLA mafia → · the Robinhood mafia →

From published sources — common ground for a warm intro.

Co-founder & CEO at Robinhood

Intro paths

→

In turn, Vlad can intro founders to Robinhood's investors below.

Robinhood's investors · 49

1/1 CapitalMiami Beach 9Yards CapitalNew York · $100K – $10M checks ACME CapitalSan Francisco AlgerNew York Amplo VenturesSpring Andreessen HorowitzMenlo Park · $500K – $50M checks at.inc/San Francisco BLN CapitalBerlin · $55K – $550K checks CapitalGSan Francisco · $50M – $100M checks Celesta CapitalMenlo Park · $5M – $20M checks ChamaeleonSilicon Valley · $1M – $5M checks Commonweal VenturesNew York · $500K – $2.5M checks Draper AssociatesSan Mateo · $500K – $5M checks ElefundMountain View Firestreak Ventures Founders Circle CapitalSan Francisco Friends Family CapitalSilicon Valley Graph VenturesNew York · $5K – $5M checks GreenoaksSan Francisco · $1M – $50M checks ICONIQSan Francisco Index VenturesSan Francisco · $540K – $10.8M checks Inertia VenturesNew York · $2M checks IVP (Institutional Venture Partners)San Francisco · $15M – $75M checks JuniperoMiami Kleiner PerkinsMenlo Park · $500K – $15M checks Kortschak Investments L.P.Aspen LAUNCHSan Francisco · $100K – $500K checks MastrySan Francisco MDT VenturesChicago Menlo GroupMenlo Park Moonshots CapitalAustin · $5K – $2.5M checks Multicoin CapitalAustin · $1M – $50M checks Muse CapitalLos Angeles · $100K – $1M checks New Enterprise Associates (NEA)Menlo Park · $200K – $40M checks NKM CapitalSan Francisco Pathlight VenturesOld Bridge · $500K – $5M checks PruVen Capital PartnersLos Altos · $100K – $10M checks Rainfall VenturesSan Francisco · $100K – $1M checks Rogue Insight CapitalMarkham Rothenberg VenturesPalo Alto · $500K – $10M checks Slow VenturesSan Francisco · $50K – $1M checks Social LeverageScottsdale · $1M – $2M checks Sound VenturesSanta Monica SquareOne CapitalMiami Susa VenturesSan Francisco · $1M – $5M checks The Players' Impact Toba CapitalIrvine · $1M – $10M checks Unusual VenturesMenlo Park · $1M – $15M checks W venturesBerlin · $696K – $64M checks

Co-founders at Robinhood

Baiju BhattCo-founder

Co-Founder and Executive Chairman at Harmonic

Intro paths

→

In turn, Vlad can intro founders to Harmonic's investors below.

Harmonic's investors · 9

DST GlobalGeorge Town, Grand Cayman · $100K – $200M checks Firestreak Ventures GreatPoint VenturesSan Francisco · $250K – $20M checks Index VenturesSan Francisco · $540K – $10.8M checks Kleiner PerkinsMenlo Park · $500K – $15M checks ParadigmSan Francisco · $1M – $100M checks Rainfall VenturesSan Francisco · $100K – $1M checks Sequoia CapitalMenlo Park · $4.4M – $214M checks Storm VenturesPalo Alto

Co-founders at Harmonic

Tudor AchimCo-Founder and CEO

Experience

HarmonicCo-Founder, Executive Chairmancurrent2023 — presentPalo Alto, California, United States
RobinhoodCo-Founder, Chairman, CEOcurrent2012 — presentPalo Alto, CA

Skills & more

Strategy3Machine Learning20Algorithms15Data Mining5Image Processing2Physics2Computer Vision4High Performance Computing1Optimization1Software Engineering8Distributed Systems2Entrepreneurship6

+6 more

Start-upsBusiness StrategyProduct ManagementPythonMatlabR

From Vlad's professional profile.

Podcasts & interviews

featuring Vlad Tenev

Vlad Tenev’s Vision for the Future of Robinhood

Future Investing

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev reflects on his journey from immigrant to CEO

CNBC Television

A Conversation with Robinhood co-founder and CEO Vlad Tenev

The Knowledge Project Podcast

Robinhood’s Vlad Tenev on AI, Prediction Markets, and the Future of Trading | Ep. 33

Uncapped with Jack Altman

Watch CNBC's full interview with Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev from Bitcoin 2025

CNBC Television

Why Vlad Tenev and Tudor Achim of Harmonic Think AI Is About to Change Math—and Why It Matters

Sequoia Capital

Colleagues at Bitbuy

Aaron Evans

Founder at OneShop

Dara Treseder

Chief Marketing Officer, Autodesk, Inc. at Autodesk Foundation

Sarah Pinto

Partner at Emerson Collective Investing

Susan Segal

Investor at Salkantay Ventures

Frequently asked questions

Who is Vlad Tenev?: Vlad Tenev co-founded Robinhood in 2013 on commission-free trading, forcing the entire US brokerage industry to drop commissions within six years, and took the company public in 2021. Bulgarian-born and Stanford-educated, he led the company through the GameStop trading halt of January 2021 and the congressional hearings that followed, and has since expanded Robinhood into retirement accounts, crypto and prediction markets.
Where does Vlad Tenev work?: Vlad Tenev is Co-founder & CEO of Robinhood and Co-Founder, Chairman, CEO at Bitbuy and Co-Founder and Executive Chairman at Harmonic.
What companies did Vlad Tenev found?: Vlad Tenev founded Robinhood, Harmonic.
Where did Vlad Tenev go to school?: Vlad Tenev studied at Stanford University (Bachelor’s Degree, Mathematics); UCLA (Master’s Degree, Mathematics).
What podcasts and interviews feature Vlad Tenev?: Tracked appearances include "Vlad Tenev’s Vision for the Future of Robinhood", "Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev reflects on his journey from immigrant to CEO", "A Conversation with Robinhood co-founder and CEO Vlad Tenev", and 3 more.