Billy Hult: 27 Years of Compounding Growth Leading to the Market Leader with $1.4BN in Revenue|E1134

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

March 29, 2024

Duration

1h 5m

Channel

The Twenty Minute VC

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Billy Hult is Chief Executive Officer of Tradeweb Markets (Nasdaq: TW), as Billy puts it, they are the “electronic interface that connects Citadel and Goldman”. They are also one of the most under the radar but incredible businesses of the last 20 years. Through no glitz acquisitions or specific moments, TradeWeb has compounded organic growth for the last 27 years to today, with a market cap of $22BN. ----------------------------------------------- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (01:03) Billy’s Career Journey (06:22) The Path to CEO (12:30) Leadership and Management Insights (20:15) Cultivating a Talent Brand (23:53) Strategy in Positioning and Branding (31:35) Work-Life Harmony (34:09) Parenting with Ambition (37:37) Valuing Money, Fame, and Power (38:28) Wealth’s Influence on Leadership (41:19) Public Company Pros and Cons (42:49) Stock Performance and Well-being (43:54) Betting on People as a Leader (49:53) Young Generation Work Ethic (54:28) Balancing Hiring Strategies (56:12) Financial Market Challenges (Assigned to Luca) (59:23) Quick-Fire Questions ----------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode with Billy Hult:

1. From Betting Shop Worker to Public Company CEO: How would Billy’s teachers and parents have described the young Billy? Why does Billy think it is so important to have a hard first job when growing up? What does Billy know now that he wishes he had known when he started?

1. What it Takes to be a World-Leading CEO: How does Billy define the role of the CEO? What are the core tenets? What has been the single hardest element of CEOship to learn? Does Billy care about being liked? How does that impact his management style? Why does Billy think it is so important for CEOs to make “big bets”? What have been his biggest?

1. Hiring World-Class Teams in 2024: What have been some of Billy’s biggest hiring mistakes? What did he learn from them? How does Billy weigh IQ vs EQ and hustle? Which wins? Why? Does Billy think this generation of millennials is too soft? What are the single biggest lessons Billy has on when to delegate vs when to retain control?

1. Money, Power and Family: How does Billy approach his relationship to money today? How has it changed over time? Fame, power or money, rank them from 1-3. How does Billy rank them? How does Billy describe his own style of parenting? How has it changed over time? ----------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Tradeweb on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tradeweb Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vchq Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact ----------------------------------------------- #20vc #harrystebbings #billyhult #tradeweb #ceo #venturecapital #businesstips #investing #businessstrategy

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Billy Hult

  guest

• Harry Stebbings

  host

• Narrator

  other

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of The Twenty Minute VC, featuring Billy Hult and Harry Stebbings, Billy Hult: 27 Years of Compounding Growth Leading to the Market Leader with $1.4BN in Revenue|E1134 explores billy Hult on ego, grit, and scaling Tradeweb into a giant Billy Hult, CEO of Tradeweb, reflects on his trajectory from a gritty first job in a Bronx betting shop to running a $1.4B‑revenue public markets platform. He emphasizes that success is far more about resilience, street smarts, and emotional engagement than pedigree or polish. The conversation dives into what makes an effective CEO, how to balance ego with authenticity, how to bet on people, and how to lead a high‑performing culture without fear. Hult also explores parenting in a wealthy family, generational work ethic, navigating trauma and macro shocks, and the dangers of complacency as Tradeweb scales globally.

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