When Robinhood launched in March 2015, we converted hundreds of thousands of users from a waitlist, exceeding initial expectations of a 10% conversion rate.

To build anticipation for their product, Robinhood implemented a waitlist system that incentivized early adopters to refer friends, leading to rapid user growth and viral success.

Robinhood successfully launched on Hacker News with a simple message about commission-free trading, gaining thousands of signups quickly.

I was inspired to create Robinhood after witnessing the financial industry's negative reputation and wanting to offer a platform that genuinely helps the average investor. A lot of Robinhood customers start with as little as $10, which was a significant innovation because before Robinhood, trading fees made it impractical to invest small amounts.

Robinhood's early success demonstrated its transition from a financial services application to a culturally relevant consumer application, highlighting its unique value proposition, especially after facing multiple project failures and struggling to achieve product-market fit despite various marketing efforts before launching.

The founders of Robinhood recognized the financial industry's shortcomings and the opportunity to create a new kind of financial services company, driven by the rise of electronic trading and mobile technology.

In early 2021, Robinhood faced a collateral call of $3.7 billion due to increased trading activity, which was unprecedented for the company.

During the pandemic, Robinhood experienced explosive growth in trading volume, leading to significant infrastructure challenges, including a full day of trading outages.

Robinhood transformed stock trading from a cumbersome and expensive process to a free, mobile-first experience aimed at democratizing finance for everyone.