There are a lot of unique people in this world, but this week’s guest is truly one of a kind. How does someone major in neuroscience at Berkeley, become a lawyer, and then end up as the CEO and co-founder of a wildly-successful investment platform? In this week’s episode, you’ll hear from Kendrick Nguyen on how he made key choices along his insanely untraditional path.
Ken was born in Vietnam and moved to the US as a kid-having to learn English as a second language and adjust to new cultural norms. While this isn’t easy for anyone, he had additional challenges when he “skipped a bunch of grades” and attended Berkeley when he was only 12. So in case you couldn’t already tell-he’s pretty fucking smart.
In this episode, we talk about how he never wanted to learn about the brain but always wanted to be the brain behind something meaningful. This led him to his role as CEO and co-founder of Republic-an investment platform that connects investors to private deals. Listen in to hear how this incredible human being’s story has unfolded so far-and how there’s still a lot left to tell.
Favorite Moments
| Cultural adjustments: 7:46 | Building Republic: 22:15 |
| Attending Berkley: 11:16 | Favorite city: 34:10 |
| From law to business: 16:55 | Definition of success: 50:25 |
About Kendrick Nguyen
Kendrick is CEO and co-founder of Republic, an investment platform connecting both accredited and non-accredited investors around the world with private investment opportunities, from startups to real estate to game financing. Republic counts AngelList as an institutional co-founder and is backed by Binance, Blockchain Ventures, Passport Capital, and other noted venture firms. Prior to Republic, Kendrick served as general counsel and venture hacker at AngelList and, before that, a fellow of both Stanford Law School and the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University. Formerly a securities litigator, Ken frequently lectures on topics at the intersection of law, finance, and entrepreneurship.