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
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Lecture 1 - How to Start a Startup (Sam Altman, Dustin Moskovitz)
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Lecture 2 - Team and Execution (Sam Altman)
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Lecture 3 - Before the Startup (Paul Graham)
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Lecture 4 - Building Product, Talking to Users, and Growing (Adora Cheung)
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Lecture 5 - Competition is for Losers (Peter Thiel)
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Lecture 6 - Growth (Alex Schultz)
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Lecture 7 - How to Build Products Users Love (Kevin Hale)
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Lecture 8 - How to Get Started, Doing Things that Don't Scale, Press
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Lecture 9 - How to Raise Money (Marc Andreessen, Ron Conway, Parker Conrad)
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Lecture 10 - Culture (Brian Chesky, Alfred Lin)
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Lecture 11 - Hiring and Culture, Part 2 (Patrick and John Collison, Ben Silbermann)
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Lecture 12 - Building for the Enterprise (Aaron Levie)
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Lecture 13 - How to be a Great Founder (Reid Hoffman)
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Lecture 14 - How to Operate (Keith Rabois)
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Lecture 15 - How to Manage (Ben Horowitz)
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Lecture 16 - How to Run a User Interview (Emmett Shear)
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Lecture 17 - How to Design Hardware Products (Hosain Rahman)
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Lecture 18 - Legal and Accounting Basics for Startups (Kirsty Nathoo, Carolynn Levy)
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Lecture 19 - Sales and Marketing; How to Talk to Investors (Tyler Bosmeny; YC Partners)
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Lecture 20 - Later-stage Advice (Sam Altman)
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YC's Summer 2022 Startup Job Expo - Pitches from 30 YC founders & find your next startup
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AMA with YC: Job Searching During an Economic Downturn (Event Summary)
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YC Startup Job Hunt Bootcamp, September 14, 2022
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YC Startup Talks: Understanding Equity with Jordan Gonen, CEO & Co-founder of Compound
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YC Tech Talks: Climate Tech with Charge Robotics (S21), Wright Electric (W17) and Impossible Mining
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YC Women in Tech: Breaking Into Product
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YC Ultimate Job Guide: Startup Stages
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Becoming a founding engineer at a YC startup
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3 tips for finding a job on YC's Work at a Startup
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YC Tech Talks: Defi and Scalability with Nemil at Coinbase (S12)
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YC Tech Talks: Designing Game Characters with Deep Learning, from Cory Li at Spellbrush (W18)
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YC Tech Talks: Designing from Day One: Artists as Founders with Multiverse (S20)
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YC Tech Talks: MMOs in the Instagram Era: Highrise (S18)
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Becoming a founding engineer at a YC startup - Finley short
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Why become a product engineer? -- with Volley (YC W18) & Luminai (YC S20)
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Y Combinator Go-To-Market Jobs Expo, 2022
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Fireside Chat with Tanay Tandon of Athelas
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Fireside Chat with Ivana Djuretic of Asher Bio
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The Past and Future of YC Bio
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What VCs Look for When Investing in Bio and Healthcare
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Finding your next role: Tips from YC's Talent team
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YC Startup Talks: Startup Equity with Compound (YC S19)
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YC Tech Talks: Machine Learning
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FTC Chair Lina Khan at Y Combinator
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AI, Startups, & Competition: Shaping California’s Tech Future
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Y Combinator Little Tech Competition Summit - Washington, DC
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The Exit Interview with Jonathan Kanter
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Founder Demo: Daniel Vega, Co-Founder & CTO of Inversion Semiconductor
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Wither Realignment?
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Founder Demo: Cyril Gorrla, Co-founder & CEO of CTGT
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Founder Demo: Newsha Ghaeli, Co-founder & President of Biobot Analytics
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Fireside with FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson
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Fireside with Boom Founder & CEO Blake Scholl
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Founder Demo: AJ Forsythe & Jordan Barnes of Coop
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Are Techno Optimism and Populism Incompatible?
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Founder Demo: Trevor Mckendrick, Co-founder & CEO of Seis
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Founder Demo: Matt Bolous, Head of Policy & Safety of Imbue
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Fireside with Teresa Ribiera, EVP, European Commission for Clean, Just & Competitive Transition
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Fireside with Epic Games Founder & CEO Tim Sweeney
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Fireside with Former FTC Chair Lina Khan
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Chapters (14)
Intro: A New Kind of Stock Exchange
1:15
The Origin Story
2:45
From Auction Theory to Wall Street
4:30
The Idea Behind OneChronos
6:00
How Trading Actually Works Today
6:45
Going All In: Quitting Jobs, Joining YC
8:45
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
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