Ep 52: Kendrick Nguyen (Co-Founder of Republic) - on Creating the Amazon of Private Investing

Kendrick Nguyen is the co-founder & CEO of Republic - one of
the US’s top equity crowdfunding platforms where over USD$ 100
million has already been raised in just 2021 alone. And boasts a
heavily curated list of startups that, according to Kendrick, is
harder to get into than Harvard!





Before Republic, Kendrick was a trading and securities lawyer at
Wall Street. Knowing that this wasn’t for him, he eventually
transitioned into becoming a Stanford teaching fellow and COO of
Kanbar Enterprises. He later became the General Counsel of
Angellist (also its first non-engineering hire!) and
simultaneously spearheaded Angellist’s expansion into Canada and
Europe and the launch of various products. 





That is, until the JOBS Act passed, which changed the investment
landscape and allowed non-accredited investors (i.e. anyone
regardless of net worth) invest in startups. 





With the blessing (and investment!) of Angellist before him,
Kendrick decided to launch his own startup, Republic, with the
ultimate aim of becoming the Amazon of private investing. Where
anyone can invest in the next potential Uber or Airbnb for as
little as $10.  





Highlights:


3:26 Studying neuroscience & law at Berkeley and Oxford

4:38 Becoming a securities & patent litigator 

7:20 Becoming a teaching fellow at Stanford University

11:48 Joining AngelList as its General Counsel & first
non-engineering hire

14:22 The JOBS Act

16:04 The vision for Republic to become the Amazon of private
investing

17:51 Telling the AngelList board that he wanted to quit
& launch his own startup

19:46 Getting 2 investments out of 250 VCs in 8 months

25:12 Republic’s curation process

28:25 The different lens between Republic and VCs

31:38 Allowing a 12-year-old founder to raise funds on
Republic?!

34:48 Getting deal flow

37:43 Why startups would raise on Republic & not from
other VCs

39:47 Republic’s business model

42:12 Hallmarks of successful campaigns on Republic

43:53 How Sahil Lavingia (founder of Gumroad) raised USD $5
million in 12 hours from just under 7,000 investors

45:51 How founders can activate their community

51:06 Distinguishing Republic from other competitors

52:54 Republic Notes - launching Republic’s own digital
tokens

54:29 Partnership with Meet the Drapers television show

1:00:21 Use of Republic’s recent $36 million for Series A






Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/52 





 Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter:
https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605