“Everyone shares a common interest of wanting to make a difference...”
— Kendrick Nguyen

Today’s guest is Kendrick Nguyen, Co-founder @Republic, an investment platform where everyone can invest as little as $10 in cutting-edge startups. Kendrick is a serial entrepreneur, having co-founded two fintech startups prior, and his business experience spans the disciplines of fundraising, ops, product strategy, and investing. He also served as General Counsel at AngelList.

Kendrick is part of an existing, emerging wave of entrepreneurs transforming the platforms of old industries to make the world a more accessible, equitable, and wealthy place to live. More importantly, they are doing it by aligning stakeholders, old and new, and bringing everyone along.

In this podcast interview, Kendrick candidly shares his journey as a founder, his life (and business) philosophies, and his love for building teams with an inherently positive attitude towards everything they do. Anyone can enjoy this! :)

“I could see the potential for a more democratized venture ecosystem.”
— Kendrick Nguyen

Highlights

The inherent human desire to make a difference that is greater than ourselves.
The window to a more democratized Venture Capital (VC) ecosystem.
Fulfillment from growing a startup from day ‘0.’
Educating people on the opportunities for private investment.
Building a professionalized investment that almost anyone can use.
The power of building teams of people with positive mindsets.

Transcript

Kendrick Nguyen

Arjun and Jon thank you so much for having me today. And thank you for the warm intro. So Republic to answer your question, Jon, what started out as a crowdfunding or crowd investing platform, over the past four years now has matured into a full stack investment platform, whereby we curate the best startups and even private equity deals, and bring that to our community. And people can invest from any background, you don't have to be a millionaire, you can be a student, or a teacher and can invest as little as 10 or $20. into the opportunities that we have on the platform.

Jon

Excellent. And so tell us about how you came up with the idea.

Kendrick Nguyen

Question. Yes, a simple question, but it's actually a really complicated question when it comes to Republic. I think all of us, everyone shares a common interest of wanting to, you know, make a difference, right service to people and do more than just ourselves. And I think it manifests in all different ways. Whether you're a parent, whether you're a son, a daughter, whether you're, you know, a spouse, and professionally Of course, so that intention is one thing and then two opportunities in life that happened to come on yourhorizon. And combining the two is how each of us you know, all different ways, capture opportunities and do what we do. So, half of it is luck and half of his intention.

In my case, starting out as an attorney, this is a securities attorney working in finance in New York and I love being a lawyer but it wasn't very fulfilling or adequately fulfilling. So I was a little ADD and went back to academia to teach law for a couple of years in Silicon Valley, and that was still not adequately fulfilling and or at least wasn't fulfilling for me. And I got an opportunity to come work at AngelList pretty early on just right at the time when AngelList rolled out this syndication model.

And it was interesting in that syndication model was the very first time that early stage investing was available beyond a few dozens in crew that, you know, like Arjun obviously is a very well known venture capitalist, but before Angellist, you gotta be you know, Arjun and probably another 30 people just like him to invest. Because what Angellist did is that it opened that up to millionaires or accredited investors, allowing these people with means to co-invest side by side with people.

And I think that kind of opened this window of opportunities for me and, and I could see the potential for a more democratized venture ecosystem. So that coupled with a change of law under President Obama that allows for non accredited investors — you don't have to be a millionaire now to invest privately. And so taking that opportunity adds on my legal background and obviously access to the venture ecosystem by virtue of being an early employee at Angellist. All of that combined together and I was like, hey, there's a potential here to build like Amazon or like Uber for private investing that has tons and tons of people participating as investors and funding more founders. So that's, you know, a little bit long winded of an answer to your question.

Jon Low

Oh, that's fine. And we could hear you talk all day. As you are aligning stakeholders to bring this more democratized approach to investing where, you know, if you have $10, you could still invest in us promising startup choice without having to be a millionaire. What were some of the key maybe people challenges or legal mechanics that you had to navigate to make this even possible for other people?

Kendrick Nguyen

I have heard this feedback from no less than a few dozen VCs, that the model in the early years that the model that we set out to do is an incredibly challenging model because it's a two sided marketplace, in an industry that was very didn't exist and is still very nascent, and you convincing people to do things that they've never done before.

So, in the case of Uber, even though people didn't take taxis every day, everyone knows what taking a cab means. Even today, virtually no one knows what private investing means, right? Even a retired doctor who's a reasonably wealthy individual had never invested privately. So you got to educate and deliver a message in a way that he is simple enough and quick enough to get people to understand and join and so that that that process of reaching for mainstream adoption and get the message out there has been and will continue to be the biggest challenge and potential for what we're for what we're building.

Jon Low

And so far with the efforts, you and the team have made to communicate this, what you have noticed has been working well, in terms of connecting and educating.

Kendrick Nguyen

You know, we live in a very unusual time, just, you know, pandemic that is still ongoing, but in many ways is good for platforms that aim to do virtual education, before the pandemic allegedly somewhere reported that the average attention span someone had probably still has is about nine seconds. So by the time you're done saying, equity, crowdfunding, marketplace, startup investing, you don't.

But now people are spending more time than ever they got to be at home. So we have had the opportunity to deliver a message through webcast webinars. And that has been quite effective. So business has been going very well. But the fact is the message is one is very relatable. If you look at the year, 20, 30 years from now, Boston Consulting Group estimated that 75% of Fortune 500 companies in the year 2030 have yet to exist today. So, all of these household brands in the future in the near term, they will dictate how we live and work. Now, in someone's garage, it's someone's heads. So if you have an opportunity to put what is a pitcher of beer nowadays or a cocktail $10, $20 in innovation that you think maybe one of those, why wouldn't you that's one from the economic perspective. Do you just want the banks and Sequoia to have the word to tell you which household brands will be in the future or which you want to have a chance to participate? So, I think that is a message that particularly for millennials, more and more people will want that level of engagement. So I think it is an easy message to get through once you can reach and get the attention span. So we hope that as things become more normalized, that we will continue to be able to deliver the message and right now we have 700,000 community members, but the hope is that it's going to be 700 million at one point right. So yeah, which is still very early on in this journey.

Jon Low

Yes, very early and just to change things up a bit— previous to Republic on top of being a general counsel, what are some of the things as a CEO do you most enjoy? And what are some of the things you feel like, you're probably growing into a bit more?

Kendrick Nguyen

Yes, it actually is. It's a very flat structure. So, internally, everyone is an adventure hacker and you got to, you know, do everything right. And before that, I was a CEO for, you know, a multi-family office. And so I was familiar with operating but never as like the bucket stop with me type role. I gotta say the most fun aspect, not so much being a CEO, but being just a founder is that you get to see what is the vision taking form and, and delivering, you know, one step at a time. And in that process is also building a family.

And so given that, I mean I don't have I've cleaned out my personal life so that I can dedicate all in on this. So, I don't have a like, aside from my parents and my siblings, Republic is actually more of like a family. People use that word in the context of work is truly a family. But, you know, my analogy is this. If someone gives you an orchid and they buy it from Whole Foods, or Costco is really nice and you really enjoy it, but you actually don't enjoy it as much as if someone gives you that orchid and then no longer flowers but you keep watering it and then like one day, there's just one like you know, just yet scraggy stem coming up and one flower comes out somehow that flower is so much more satisfying and enjoyable then this beautiful orchid is someone buy from the store and delivered to you and sit in your living room right?

So, in very much the same way when you try a larger organization and step in and do the things you do there's a lot of like pride and joy that comes with it. But doing your own startup doesn't matter if it's a first shop or barber shop or something like Republic— every day that little growth that delivers just amazing satisfaction in the studios today. Yeah,

Arjun Dev Arora

Beautifully said that's really nice.

Jon Low

Yeah, that is nice. You describe how Republic and your team there and what you're building is like your family now. What are some of the unique ways you describe the Republic family? If I walked down the street and we met someone, we'd be like they are definitely a Republic person.

Kendrick Nguyen

Well, also a question that should be easy to answer and yet in our case, in my case is harder to answer. Maybe I just haven't had enough coffee today. You know, I'm not sure that there is only one common trait is that all of us believe in doing good and do well and then the notion of wealth equity, but I think a lot of people believe in that.

And so if you see someone on the street who passionately believes in you know, just accessing inclusion, it'd be a little you know, grandiose of me to say that that's like a Republic thing is a lot of people will share that mission.

Aside from just great and mission driven and intelligence, the reason is that what we are building the model for the Republic is so large and difficult and ambitious, and it requires literally the support of all different sub-sectors of the ecosystem. And I would say if you look at our advisory board, and as similar to our team members composition to a lesser degree, we have not just, you know, well known venture capitalists and those who have been investing for a long time in tech.

We have people from impact, you know, like she's a head of the Malala Fund with people from the government, and Jack Bianco.. We rely heavily on media, Daddy's TV shows and radio and, quite frankly, if Kim Kardashian ever will promote Republic I’ll tattoo her name on my forehead, right. So, we really don't over prioritize any specific mode.

It's a very non-Silicon Valley way I can say this and probably my friends at Angellist wouldn't like this too much. But at the time when I was at Angel list, if you have an MBA or if you come from traditional finance, it is probably a disqualifying element. And at Republic, we gotta be able to build relationships with traditional finance, as well as those in LA together with folks in Silicon Valley to make it work. And so our team members come from all of these different ecosystems. We have equal depth in terms of team representation from finances we do from impact from Tech. So I gotta say that aside from intelligence, and just belief in the mission, that we have what we are building and that grit.

Jon Low

Well, thank you for sharing that. Very helpful and insightful. Totally agree. Having such a diverse set of people from both in terms of expertise, where they come from, and and you know what, and probably not just geographical, but probably age and gender diversity. Do you find or have you observed that the rate of learning within your team is rather exponential just because you're bringing together so many diverse perspectives, from people in all sub sectors of the industry?

Kendrick Nguyen

When it comes to learning, I think it is such a subjective thing that I can only reflect on my own experience. It's hard for me to say which one my colleague has been learning more or less. But I know that I personally have been learning from every single new member joining the company, including interns and people who are very new. And it does come with also a not a burden but a challenge of making sure that people get along and listen to one another's ideas. And I think the one learning that all of us at Republic and I think in society at large is that if you're a diverse group, from experiences and expertise in age group, or whatnot, and come to work together, and inevitably you learn to be more patient, and you got to learn how to listen to different ideas more in a more positive fashion, because you have to do it in order to, to move to one common thing for words. So yeah, probably patience is the one thing that all of us, you know, have been learning more and more.

Jon Low

And you also see, you also see a lot more like healthy conflict, debating, given that you bring such diverse perspectives together to solve a very challenging problem, arguably, one that requires contrarian thinking?

Kendrick Nguyen

You mean, confrontation or what do you mean healthy disagreement?If I may share a little bit about our values and it's very short we would love it. And it took awhile for us to come up with it in something that's simple and relatable. But things that really matter to us did a piece on doing your role well and trying to help one another or two things that are important I think that does seem at any company.

But the single most important I think value for me, in fact, it is a firing offense. If you go so far against it is positivity. That is it doesn't matter what you do or disagree on. The only way to optimally help and make sure that you enjoy your own experience and that your colleague enjoys you and experience is that you got to be positive. So, if you disagree in positivity, it naturally going to be, you know, additive, you know, constructive and the moment that you disagree but with that lens of negativity, I mean, you gotta stop go grab a cup of coffee and resume later.

So, there is no prescription on how to do that except that I think in life in general and particularly in a work environment where you spend so much of your awake time interacting, that at no time at all, almost at all costs to be relentlessly positive. In behaviors in communication style, and in communication on slack. Most important thing is that I myself still try to be better at it. And I really do encourage, if not mandate that people at Republic approach that process internally and externally.

Jon Low

Thank you, thanks for sharing your values and, and for us. As you've been practicing and getting better at it yourself, is that something you often reflect on, you know, after your work day? Do you have your own rituals around it?

Kendrick Nguyen

I do, I do. And it goes to slight personal philosophy in a way that people do things for different reasons. I think that the reason why we do what we do is because we want to be happy and feel pleasant. And that process is a very personal process. But the goal is indeed at least on my end that I never have a day, whereby more than 10% that day that I feel much less angry or much less unhappy. And I think I feel very fortunate that my life is such that I 90%+ of the time can meet that benchmark that out of a day of 90% or more of feeling pleasant.

That combination of I tried to meditate, I'm still so bad at it. It's an incredible thing. And it's so helpful, but I'm just a little ADD and so I do not do it well. But I mix in some working out and, you know, drinking with friends and colleagues. So all of these things are no recipe, but I think it's just something that all of us should be a little bit more in touch with.

I see a lot of people in New York in particular, when I take the subway to work back before this whole lockdown thing and you walk into a subway in Manhattan. And it's literally packed like sardines with like maybe 100 150. And you do a quick scan of everyone's faces. And it's like 80% have this late long sad face. And I don't get it is like you are a healthy professional in this awesome city. And why does everyone look so down and I think it is really all in their mind. And I think if he is a little bit more aware of it, it doesn't matter what you do, whether you're a doctor or a custodian or a lawyer who's working 80 hours a week is obviously your own choice to be happier. And that's very much within your power. So yeah, I just do something that I try to be mindful of almost like every day.

Jon Low

That's right. Thank you for sharing that. That's awesome.

Arjun Dev Arora

Yeah. So Anything else that you'd like to share anything else around kind of what you're building that you'd like to let the audience know, before we wrap it up?

Kendrick Nguyen

Yes, we actually introduced something that's cool and is truly the first of its kind ever in the US up until now, that's not something that we could say. But with this product, it is truly the case, we are rolling out digital securities, basically a token that has profit sharing, right.

So essentially, when a company on Republic sees a successful exit, there's going to be a small payout to every token holder. And it happens to be, again truly the first time widely available to both accredited and non accredited investors. So, you can even earn it, but the token sale is gonna happen on July 16. But whether you earn it or invest if you hold 10 tokens, 100 tokens or 100,000 tokens. When a company goes IPO, all of a sudden you can see a dividend payout as a token holder.

Jon Low

So, check it out on Republic.co. Everyone calendar it for 16th of July. They have plenty of educational resources to understand how you can get involved at any level that suits you specifically, and thank you Kendrick for being on the show. This is the first feature he has on the show and I hope it won't be the last and we hope to see you soon.

Kendrick Nguyen

Jon and Arjun— is really such a pleasure and can't wait to come back whenever you would have me. Thanks.

DISCLAIMER

Republic Core LLC, a Delaware limited liability company is testing the waters to gauge interest in a potential securities offering pursuant to the Regulation A exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act, including opportunities to “reserve” Securities as indications of interest in any potential offering, please note that (i) no money or other consideration is being solicited thereby, and if sent in response, will not be accepted, (ii) no offer to buy the Securities can be accepted and no part of the purchase price can be received until the offering statement for the potential offering is qualified by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, (iii) any such offer may be withdrawn or revoked, without obligation or commitment of any kind, at any time before notice of its acceptance is given after the qualification date, and (iv) an indication of interest is non-binding and involves no obligation or commitment of any kind. Prior to any investment in any such Securities, you should review a copy of the current offering circular relating to those Securities, which will be included in the offering statement relating to those Securities filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Once any such documents are filed, you may access them by clicking on the following link: Republic Core LLC CIK#: 0001794805. Any securities offered on or in connection may be sold only to (A) investors who are (i) "Accredited Investors", as defined in Rule 501 under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or (B) certain eligible investors who are not "U.S. persons" as defined in Rule 902 under the Securities Act, or (C) investors who are otherwise legally eligible to invest. Accredited Investors will be required to provide supporting documentation evidencing their accredited status. All investors (whether prospective or actual) using the Offering Pages must acknowledge and accept the high risks associated with any investment in the securities.