The Startup Powering Billions In Trades Every Day

When Kelly Littlepage and Steven Johnson launched OneChronos in 2022, they weren’t just launching a new stock exchange — they were rewriting the rules of how markets work. After more than a decade of obsessing over an obscure auction theory from their undergrad days, and six years of quietly solving deep technical and regulatory problems, they built a new kind of trading venue from scratch — one that now handles billions of dollars in trades every day, accounting for over 0.3% of all U.S. equity volume. In this episode, they talk about growing up hacking computers in the suburbs, their unlikely path through Caltech and hedge funds, and the long road to convincing Wall Street to embrace a radically better way to trade. Chapters: 00:00 - Intro: A New Kind of Stock Exchange 01:15 - The Origin Story 02:45 - From Auction Theory to Wall Street 04:30 - The Idea Behind OneChronos 06:00 - How Trading Actually Works Today 06:45 - Going All In: Quitting Jobs, Joining YC 08:45 - Solving Two Deep Tech Problems 10:00 - The Regulatory Gauntlet 14:00 - Launching: From 200 Shares to Billions 15:15 - Sticking With It for 6 Years 17:00 - What Makes the OneChronos Model Unique 23:45 - The Future of Markets & Infrastructure 27:00 - Should You Leave a High-Paying Job to Build? 30:45 - What It Takes to Build for Wall Street

Jared FriedmanhostKelly LittlepageguestSteven Johnsonguest

Jun 30, 202533mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: June 30, 2025
Duration: 33m
Channel: YC Root Access
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

When Kelly Littlepage and Steven Johnson launched OneChronos in 2022, they weren’t just launching a new stock exchange — they were rewriting the rules of how markets work. After more than a decade of obsessing over an obscure auction theory from their undergrad days, and six years of quietly solving deep technical and regulatory problems, they built a new kind of trading venue from scratch — one that now handles billions of dollars in trades every day, accounting for over 0.3% of all U.S. equity volume. In this episode, they talk about growing up hacking computers in the suburbs, their unlikely path through Caltech and hedge funds, and the long road to convincing Wall Street to embrace a radically better way to trade. Chapters: 00:00 - Intro: A New Kind of Stock Exchange 01:15 - The Origin Story 02:45 - From Auction Theory to Wall Street 04:30 - The Idea Behind OneChronos 06:00 - How Trading Actually Works Today 06:45 - Going All In: Quitting Jobs, Joining YC 08:45 - Solving Two Deep Tech Problems 10:00 - The Regulatory Gauntlet 14:00 - Launching: From 200 Shares to Billions 15:15 - Sticking With It for 6 Years 17:00 - What Makes the OneChronos Model Unique 23:45 - The Future of Markets & Infrastructure 27:00 - Should You Leave a High-Paying Job to Build? 30:45 - What It Takes to Build for Wall Street

SPEAKERS

Jared Friedman
host
YC partner and host/interviewer for the episode.
Kelly Littlepage
guest
Co-founder of OneChronos (smart markets/combinatorial auction-based equity trading).
Steven Johnson
guest
Co-founder of OneChronos with a background in cybersecurity and large-scale data/market systems engineering.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of YC Root Access, featuring Jared Friedman and Kelly Littlepage, The Startup Powering Billions In Trades Every Day explores oneChronos applies combinatorial auctions to modernize institutional stock trading infrastructure OneChronos is a new U.S. equities exchange that, within three years of launching, handles over 0.3% of daily U.S. equity volume—billions of dollars—despite being largely unknown outside institutional circles.

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