The Incredible Double Interview: Superhuman and Robinhood | E2090

Update: 2025-02-27

Description

Today’s show: Jason interviews Rahul Vohra, CEO and founder of Superhuman, and Vlad Tenev, CEO and co-founder of Robinhood. This is a packed episode featuring founder tips, fun stories about how Superhuman and Robinhood got their start and much more!

Timestamps:

(0:00 ) Episode teaser(2:13 ) Product market fit and founder journeys(3:25 ) Jason's investment in Superhuman and market positioning(5:14 ) AI's role and features in Superhuman(10:25 ) Lemon.io. Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist(14:37 ) Targeting users and competitive advantages(22:23 ) Evolution and new features of Superhuman

(20:52 ) Northwest Registered Agent. Get more privacy, more options, and more done—visit northwestregisteredagent.com/twist today!

(24:37 ) Tackling spam with Superhuman's AI

(27:05 ) Custom auto labels and email classification

(29:47 ) Vapi. Go to Vapi.ai and use code Twist200 to get $200 in credits

(32:03 ) Superhuman's auto reminders and drafts

(34:14 ) Vlad Tenev and the origins of Robinhood

(39:31 ) Product design philosophies of Robinhood and Superhuman

(49:29 ) Scaling design principles and investment decisions(

52:31 ) Subjectivity in product design

(55:14 ) Customer feedback in product development

(1:00:00 ) Superhuman's subscription model and customer acquisition

(1:05:11 ) PR strategies and news hijacking

(1:12:06 ) Investment experiences with Robinhood

(1:13:35 ) Navigating company valuation fluctuations

(1:15:03 ) Influences on Vlad Tenev and new Robinhood desktop product

(1:22:02 ) Company resilience and employee reorganization

(1:25:52 ) Crypto regulation and startup mentality

(1:30:05 ) Investment trends among Robinhood users

(1:31:12 ) Retail benefits for startups and capital raising challenges

(1:34:04 ) Accreditation for private investing and solutions

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Links from this episode:

Check out Superhuman: https://superhuman.com/

Check out Superhuman’s blog post that details all of the new features Rahul went over in the demo: https://blog.superhuman.com/the-next-superhuman-ai/.

Check out Robinhood Legend: https://robinhood.com/us/en/legend/

Article “How Superhuman Built an Engine to Find Product Market Fit”: https://review.firstround.com/how-superhuman-built-an-engine-to-find-product-market-fit/

Check out Rick Rubin’s book: https://www.amazon.ca/Creative-Act-Way-Being/dp/0593652886

Article on Bezos and Washington Post: https://www.newsweek.com/bezos-makes-big-change-washington-post-opinion-focus-endorsed-musk-2036618

Media Bias Chart: https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-chart

Check out “Working Backwards” book about Amazon insights: https://www.amazon.ca/Working-Backwards-Insights-Stories-Secrets/dp/1250267595

Check out Rahul’s article on acquisition: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rip-mailbox-founders-how-stop-worrying-love-being-acquired-vohra/

Follow Rahul:

X: https://x.com/rahulvohra

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulvohra/

Follow Vlad:

X: https://x.com/vladtenev