Robinhood co-CEO Baiju Bhatt has a lot of responsibility. The online trading platform he co-founded in 2013 is worth billions, has 5 million brokerage accounts and is planning to go public.
He also has big goals for the Menlo Park, California-based start-up, which rolled out its zero-fee trading platform aimed at millennials about three years ago: "We see in five years, Robinhood being one of the largest financial institutions, if not the single largest, in the United States," Bhatt tells CNBC Make It.
His ambition has certainly paid off so far. In May, Robinhood closed a $363 million series D funding round, which valued the company at $5.6 billion. Since Bhatt and his co-founder Vlad Tenev own about a third of the company together, their equity stakes each became worth $1 billion, according to a report by Bloomberg.
So how does he set himself up for success? Here's a look at Bhatt's morning routine.
He wakes up early
"I wake up in the morning usually around 6:45 a.m.," he tells CNBC Make It. "The sun comes right in my window so I don't have all that much say in the matter."
But the decision to wake up early is also strategic.
"I like beating the Bay Area traffic by getting into the office early, plus I get at least an hour most mornings to work on personal projects before I'm pulled into meetings," Bhatt told Lifehacker in 2017.
It's a strategy many successful people use, psychologist Josh Davis tells The Wall Street Journal.
"When you have peace and quiet and you're not concerned with people trying to get your attention, you're dramatically more effective and can get important work done," Davis explains.
He exercises
After a cup of coffee, he spends time working out.
"I have a new routine recently where I try to do 30, hopefully some day 50, push ups in the morning to kind of get the blood flowing," Bhatt says.
He also tries to escape the office for some fresh air during the work week.
"I run outside almost every day of the week. I'll usually step out during lunch for an hour-long jog around the neighborhoods of Palo Alto and through Stanford campus," Bhatt told Lifehacker. "It helps me clear my head and put all the things I've been thinking about back together in creative ways. Also, by the time I get back, I'm energetic and generally feeling awesome."
A majority of wealthy people, 76 percent, make time to exercise for at least 30 minutes every day, according to Tom Corley, author of "Change Your Habits, Change Your Life." And, spending time outside can help you refresh and recharge.
He skips breakfast
"One of the things that my co-founder Vlad and I have started doing this year is we're doing an intermittent fasting routine," Bhatt says. "We both skip breakfast and we stop eating at 8:00 p.m. every night. It's not the easiest thing to keep up on vacations but during the week we try to do that."
Intermittent fasting — skipping meals for hours and sometimes days — has been a growing trend in Silicon Valley, popular among executives aiming to increase their focus and productivity. Research has shown the practice often benefits weight loss, but experts aren't clear about what long term risks may be associated.
As for Bhatt, "It's overall made me feel much better now, I I like it a lot."
He checks the news
"When I get up in the morning I usually check Twitter," Bhatt says. "I don't use Facebook very much anymore, and usually Twitter is the way that I get to places like CNBC, sometimes CNN and sometimes The New York Times, and sometimes The Wall Street Journal."
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