# Robinhood uses retail demand data to price IPOs

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/robinhood-uses-retail-demand-data-to-price-ipos/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Vlad Tenev](https://realalpha.app/people/vlad-tenev/) · Vlad Tenev is co-founder and CEO of Robinhood. · Co-founded Robinhood in 2013, then steered it from a $500M loss in 2023 to a $1.1B profit.
- Host: [Alex Heath](https://realalpha.app/people/alex-heath/) · Founder & host, Sources · Left The Verge to start Sources in 2025; it has made over $1M since, mostly from sponsors.
- Show: Sources
- Episode: [Robinhood’s CEO on letting AI trade your money](https://realalpha.app/v/rkTMQ3oHzFE/), Oct 13, 2026
- Moment: 35:36 to 38:17 of the episode (3 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/robinhood-uses-retail-demand-data-to-price-ipos/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/rkTMQ3oHzFE/?t=2136

## Quote

> “a **precise demand curve** at every price, which is data we get”
> — [Vlad Tenev](https://realalpha.app/people/vlad-tenev/) at [37:57](https://realalpha.app/v/rkTMQ3oHzFE/?t=2277) · Sources

## Takeaways

1. Robinhood aims to be the default retail option for IPOs.
2. App activity gives issuers demand estimates across prices.
3. The firm says it lacks an edge with large institutions.

## About this segment

Robinhood sees retail distribution as an advantage in IPO underwriting. Its app can show issuers retail demand at different offer prices.

From “Robinhood’s CEO on letting AI trade your money”, Oct 13, 2026. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/rkTMQ3oHzFE/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[35:40](https://realalpha.app/v/rkTMQ3oHzFE/?t=2140) I'm curious how you're, I mean, we just had, we had SpaceX, right? But I'm curious how you're thinking about Anthropic and OpenAI and looking at those coming down the pike. Well, of course, we see an opportunity because we have such a large retail customer base and we can very much be the voice of retail and help these companies at each. stage in their life cycle, you know, pre-IPO with Robinhood Ventures. Now we're an underwriter in IPOs. We announced Aura, which is the first IPO that we're underwriting. I assume that's just the beginning. You want to do a lot more underwriting? Oh yeah, yeah. We intend to be disruptive in the space too. The problem is too, like a lot of these underwriters charge high fees. So I think we can be kind of like the retail distribution experts. How do you break that underwriting cabal really

[36:28](https://realalpha.app/v/rkTMQ3oHzFE/?t=2188) is what it is. Yeah. Well, I mean, uh, to be fair, there's some, uh, it's important. It's an important job. I mean, I'm not trying to downplay the importance of it, but yeah, yeah, there, there's actually some things that we're not really well positioned to do and we probably won't focus on at least for the foreseeable future. So I don't think we have any particular competitive advantage going and getting a bunch of large by-side institutions or sovereign wealth funds to be connected to the company as investors. Goldman, JP Morgan, all these other guys, they're great at that. We don't have private wealth to nearly the same degree, but what we do have is everyday people and large numbers that love investing in these companies.

[37:20](https://realalpha.app/v/rkTMQ3oHzFE/?t=2240) And so I think we can be the default retail option and we can kind of represent retail as a part of the shareholder base. We also have really good data. You know, the IPO process has been very, very manual. You sit down as a CEO and you're having the pricing discussion. Where should we price this thing at? A lot of it is just, you know, finger in the air. I don't know. So, you know, Cathie Wood might not be willing to pay that price and you want Cathie Wood, right?

[37:53](https://realalpha.app/v/rkTMQ3oHzFE/?t=2273) Yeah. Which, you know, is important to people. But what we give people is what we give issuers is just a precise demand curve at every price, which is data we get because everything is, you know, automated N10 for that offering. So through IPO access and underwriting, we can help companies at that stage.