Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev on stock's first-day decline: 'I'm used to being doubted'

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev on Thursday brushed off the first-day performance of the trading app’s stock, which ended the day lower despite making its public debut with much fanfare.

Shares of Robinhood, a company that was the subject of both public and congressional scrutiny amid the meme stock frenzy earlier this year, closed 8% lower after listing on the Nasdaq.

“I’m used to being doubted, personally, I think, from the very beginning,” he told Jim Cramer in a “Mad Money” interview. “We felt like underdogs here at Robinhood and, you know, we’ll see underdogs hopefully evolving into comeback kids.”

The stock priced at $38, the low end of its range, valuing the company at about $32 billion. It closed the session at a share price of $34.82 and a market cap of $29 billion.

Tenev, who co-founded Robinhood, took the decline on the chin, arguing that daily gyrations can take stocks up or down. The company is focused on adding more products to its offerings that will drive growth with a runway that spans “multiple decades,” he said.

“We’re building a long-term business, so you have to ignore these short-term fluctuations,” he said. “We feel very well-positioned with this company to keep delivering value to our customers.”