Ryan Knudson

Lots of them have traveled from over the country and the whole room is kind of buzzing.

Then the lights go dark and these sort of green lights start flashing and the bass starts thrumming.

And Vlad strolls onto the stage and beams at the crowd.

He's wearing this race car driver's jumpsuit with the Robin Hood logo on the back and these green and black customized Nike sneakers that I later find out have Vlad sort of etched across the tongue.

He basically says, I've often compared trading to playing the violin because you have to practice and you have to put in the reps and sort of learn the markets that way.

But actually, I've thought about it, and I think trading is a lot more like driving a race car.

And that's what Robinhood is here to do.

He essentially says, we are the race car that is going to help you win this race.

Risk-taking is kind of back for individual investors, and they're getting rewarded for it.

And there's not a lot of people doing more to stoke those spirits than Vlad and Robinhood.

The company's critics say that Robinhood might be spurring a new generation of investors to view playing the markets as a kind of quick-hit game that more closely resembles a casino than, say, a long-term pathway to build wealth.

And the big way that they initially make waves is that not only do they build this stock trading app for millennials, but they're going to let their customers trade for free.

And that was really innovative at the time.

Most brokerages charged commissions, you know, a fee that you had to pay every time you trade.

And this is a really tough moment.

It thrusts Robinhood into the national spotlight in a way it hadn't been before.

And it's in the hot seat in a lot of ways.

And Vlad is in the hot seat in a lot of ways.

Robinhood customers are furious.

Wall Street is mad.