6 A.M. With...The CEO of Robinhood

Regular sweat sessions help Vlad Tenev feel confident and in control even when the stock market is all over the place.

- By Ginny Graves

Vlad Tenev, CEO and president of Robinhood, the commission-free trading platform, is in the firm's basement gym in Menlo Park, California, firing off jabs and uppercuts at Adam Azevedo, his trainer. It's cathartic, Tenev says, grinning, after several furious rounds, brushing a sweaty fringe of black hair off his face. Training improves my mood. Lowers my stress. The fact that there is a routine makes me feel like I'm more in control of myself and my surroundings. Given the volatility of the stock market, it's easy to see why he craves control. Work is nonstop strategizing, building and testing new products while also problem-solving, he says of Robinhood, with its $7.6 billion valuation and more than 23 million users. In the gym, where Tenev, 36, trains with Azevedo three days aweek, he brings the same intense focus to his workouts.

I've always been competitive, he says. As a kid, I wanted to get the best grades and be the best at soccer, basketball, and baseball. My family moved from Bulgaria to Delaware when I was five, and they worked really hard to stay. My parents would always tell me, 'Our future in this country is uncertain.' As an immigrant, I felt like I had to work ten times harder than everyone else.