Keep pulling the thread on Howard Lindzon.
In 2013, venture capitalists were primarily focused on disrupting asset management with AUM-based models like Wealthfront and Betterment, rather than online brokerages.
Social Leverage's first fund invested $100,000 in Robinhood's seed round at an $8 million valuation.
Howard Lindzon pitched Twitter co-founders Jack Dorsey and Ev Williams on a business model where the platform's real-time feed would be delayed for the public, and financial institutions would pay for priority access.
Approximately 90% of Robinhood's profits come from options trading, which is a larger business for them than cryptocurrency trading.
Howard Lindzon's investment thesis for Robinhood was based on acquiring customers for nearly zero cost, compared to incumbents like Charles Schwab who were paying $150 per customer.
Index Ventures led Robinhood's Series A round with an $11 million investment at a $65 million valuation.
Howard Lindzon is bearish on the venture capital industry, believing its success was largely a product of the Zero Interest-Rate Policy (ZIRP) era and that its value proposition is diminished in a 6% interest rate environment.
Howard Lindzon characterizes the Web 2.0 era as a "goofball era" where non-technical founders could achieve massive scale for free on platforms like Facebook before they implemented algorithmic feeds.
The success of Web 2.0 companies like Uber was dependent on foundational technologies built during the dot-com bubble, such as the iPhone, cloud computing, Google Maps, and fiber optic networks from companies like Global Crossing.
The Grip, a company that sold squeeze toys with corporate logos, generated $60-70 million in sales during the 1990s.
Barry Ritholtz passed on an early investment opportunity in Robinhood, telling Howard Lindzon it was the "dumbest effing idea" he had ever heard.
StockTwits was responsible for hundreds of thousands of early user sign-ups for Robinhood.