Scott Sandell, Managing General Partner, and Rick Yang, General Partner and Head of Consumer Investing was featured on The Twenty Minute VC for a conversation around our original investment in Robinhood.

In this episode with Scott Sandell and Rick Yang you will learn:

1.) How Rick came to meet Vlad, Robinhood Founder, for the first time? What impressed Rick most in that first meeting? How did the internal discussions proceed at NEA? Was it a unanimous decision to make the investment?

2.) The Market:

• How did Rick and Scott evaluate the market at the time? Bottoms up, top down?
• How did the market change and evolve both in ways they did and did not expect?
• How do Rick and Scott evaluate market timing risk today when investing?
• How did Rick and Scott approach outcome scenario planning with Robinhood?

3.) The Traction:

• What core signals and datapoints made Rick realise Robinhood had product-market-fit?
• How did Rick and NEA analyse Robinhood’s early organic customer acquisition? How did the board advise on how to spend their first marketing dollars?
• How does the cost structure of the business compare to Charles Swaab and eTrade? Why is Robinhood such a superior model?

4.) The Team:

• How has Vlad evolved and developed as a leader over time?
• How did Vlad handle the 36 hours in Feb 2021 when he had to go and raise $3BN+?
• Who is the unsung hero of the Robinhood team? What have they done to deserve this?