V lad Tenev is a Bulgarian-American billionaire and the co-founder and CEO of the financial services company Robinhood. Born in Bulgaria, he immigrated to the United States with his family as a child. In 2013, he and his Stanford University classmate, Baiju Bhatt, founded Robinhood with the stated mission to 'democratize finance for all'. They launched a mobile-first stock trading app that pioneered commission-free trading for retail investors.

This disruptive model, combined with an easy-to-use, gamified interface, proved to be a massive success, attracting a huge user base of young, first-time investors. The company became a household name and a cultural phenomenon, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent 'meme stock' trading frenzy. He took the company public on the Nasdaq in 2021, a move that made him and his co-founder billionaires. However, his tenure has also been marked by significant controversy, including criticism over the company's business model (payment for order flow) and its role in the GameStop saga.