Here’s to 600
At a hyper-growth startup, change can seem like the only constant. I joined Robinhood two years ago (almost to the day!) when we were a small but mighty team of 90. Nearly the entire company was crammed into a single space, and I remember taking calls in my favorite and only reliable spot — my car. Today, we have over 600 employees in four offices across two countries. What started as commission-free equities trading has grown to include options and crypto trading (also commission-free!), our own self-clearing platform, digestible financial news through Robinhood Snacks, and the recently-announced cash management feature.
It feels good to reflect on all the changes and growth over the four years since Robinhood launched, but I’m most inspired by what’s stayed the same: our heart and soul.
Robinhood was founded on the idea that the financial tools available to institutions and the wealthy needed to be made available to all people. For so long, financial services has worked well for those already at the proverbial table — and so many have never received an invitation to sit down. This dynamic is entrenched within finance, and disrupting it to create access hasn’t been easy. I won’t pretend that there haven’t been roadblocks along the way, or that we haven’t pulled some late nights at the office. What matters more is that we keep going.
We’re relentlessly resilient.
The torch is carried forward first and foremost by our Robinhoodies (what we employees call ourselves). Most new people I chat with have a deeply personal tie to our mission. Some have parents who immigrated to the U.S. with little to nothing, and who taught themselves to invest to put their kids through college. I remember being confused and anxious about my student loans, and feeling like I couldn’t get started as an adult (much less start thinking about investing). Many Robinhood employees were long-time users of the app before they joined us, and 97% of us found our mission personally meaningful in the last employee survey. Nurturing an environment that empowers people to do the work that inspires them has guided us since the beginning, and is a main driver of our company’s heart and soul.
We work in finance, but we’re far from your typical financial institution. We’re not really into cubicles — but we’re really into cats. It’s part of our lore that the founding members of Robinhood included Vlad and Baiju’s two cats, and you’ll find cat paintings in all of our offices. In addition to having a healthy dose of a little weirdness and silliness, we’re highly collaborative, innovative, and inclusive — words that you might not often hear paired with finance, but that are commonly used by Robinhoodies to describe the culture here.
As our COO Gretchen Howard shared recently, “We always remind ourselves that we are still just at the beginning.” All of the successes and failures we’ve experienced as a team have only served to further fuel our fire, and we won’t stop fighting to democratize the financial system until we’ve seen it through. Which brings me to my shameless hiring plug (I wouldn’t be doing my job without one!): if you feel energized by this mission and are eager to join a passionate, friendly, and welcoming team, we’re hiring across a variety of roles in all four offices (including our new Denver location!).
I’m grateful for all our customers and Robinhoodies who have helped us get to this point, and I can’t wait to see what we’ll accomplish when we’re another 600 strong!
— Davey Nickels, VP of People @ Robinhood
