Robinhood Co-founder Baiju Bhatt on the Journey to $40B, Building Space Solar Power with Lasers

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Jan 16, 2025

Baiju Bhatt, co-founder of Robinhood and founder of Aetherflux, shares his journey from finance to space with infectious enthusiasm. He reveals ambitious plans for harnessing solar power via satellites and laser technology. Baiju candidly discusses the ups and downs of launching Robinhood, from facing hundreds of investor rejections to accidental product launches. With insights on blending creativity in engineering and user research, he illustrates the balance of innovation and determination in building groundbreaking ventures.

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ANECDOTE

Family History

Baiju Bhatt's father, a physicist, dreamt of studying physics in America.
He moved to the U.S. with his family, including Baiju, after getting a job at NASA.

ANECDOTE

Building a Kit Car

Baiju Bhatt built a kit car during COVID, assembling a Factory Five Racing Shelby.
This sparked his interest in physical product creation.

INSIGHT

Aetherflux Inspiration

In college, Baiju and Vlad Tenev worked on disproving Einstein's theory of relativity.
This led them to the concept of "aether," a fictitious medium for light, inspiring the name Aetherflux.

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You’re probably familiar with Baiju Bhatt’s work as the co-founder of Robinhood. But he’s also obsessed with space, and recently started Aetherflux, a space solar power company.
We get into the physics of using lasers to beam solar power to the Earth, Aetherflux’s early roadmap, and how he went from zero to one going from building software to physical products.
We also talk through the early days of Robinhood, getting turned down by hundreds of early investors, the accidental launch, how to know if you really have product market fit, how Aaron Levie at Box helped get Robinhood.com, the value of creativity and design, Baiju’s philosophies on combining qualitative and quantitative user research, and his favorite animal and classic car. He also tried to cut my hair.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(02:31) Aetherflux: a space solar energy company
(02:50) Origins of space solar power in the 40's & 70's
(10:31) Safely beaming energy from space to Earth with lasers
(13:46) Building floating space solar farms
(21:27) Aetherflux's early roadmap
(27:08) Growing up with dad as a Physics professor
(32:18) Going zero to one building physical products
(35:15) Baiju's favorite car, attempting a haircut, contemplating mustaches
(38:27) Trying to prove Einstein wrong
(41:42) Meeting Robinhood Co-founder Vlad at Stanford
(44:10) Starting an algorithmic trading company
(46:41) The beginnings of Robinhood
(52:04) Getting turned down by hundreds of early investors
(56:49) How they convinced Tim Draper to invest
(59:39) Getting Robinhood.com because of Aaron Levie
(01:01:28) Accidentally launching on a Friday afternoon
(01:03:09) How to know if you have Product Market Fit
(01:06:35) Combining qualitative and quantitative user research
(01:14:23) Loving cats despite being allergic
Referenced:
Robinhood: https://www.robinhood.com
Aetherflux: https://www.aetherflux.com/
TechCrunch coverage: https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/09/billionaire-robinhood-co-founder-launches-aetherflux-a-space-based-solar-power-startup/
Seinfeld mustache scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzZsLaLChRg
The Michelson–Morley experiment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelson%E2%80%93Morley_experiment
Episode with Aaron Levie @ Box: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLn_tqPvNf4

Follow Baiju:
X/Twitter: https://x.com/BaijuBhatt
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bprafulkumar
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak
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