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A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

blog.coinbase.com

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Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#291

Post by joshgachnang »

chrisseaton wrote: post #243
slow_donkey wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn't you be obtaining the equivalent amount of options at the next job? Let's say your vesting schedule is 4 years w/ 1 year cliff, it's only necessary to stay 1 year. Thereafter you're not 'losing' options by leaving.

You're forgetting the options gain value as the company grows (due to your own hard work which is the whole point!) You're awarded $100k but then it grows to $200k by the time you start cashing it in. When you switch company you get $100k again, not the $200k you threw away.

Sure, but likely, more of those $100k options will be worth $0 than $200k. If you spread it around, you're more likely to hit big.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#292

Post by Pils »

throwaway894345 wrote: post #224
sprt wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which, as your parent seems to not realize, is also a political stance. This dichotomy is exactly what MLK refers to in the Letter from a Bermingham Jail (i.e. positive vs negative peace).

What does this mean? If this is yet another “if you’re not for us you’re against us” argument (e.g. if you don’t discuss police violence in the workplace then you necessarily support police violence), then this is false on its face. If this means “the decision to not discuss politics—especially politics unrelated to one’s work—at work is itself a political decision” then fine, but what’s the point? Is the idea that i…

one inconsistency is that Coinbase is based in SF. Would you consider "sorry, I didn't get a lot of sleep due to police sound grenades going off until 3am" a political statement?

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#293

Post by claydavisss »

yokaze wrote: post #188
redm wrote: post #82

I feel like this is the start of a rising tide. I think Brian's stance is great, companies have missions, they should focus on those missions. Everything has become so political that your work, which occupies a large portion of your life, should not be divisive.

I see it the other way around. (Almost) everything is political. The mission of the company is not disjoint from the society it is embedded in. Things have become divisive by being able to ignore and blend out the opposing views. By not talking and listening to one another. This is just one more step in that direction. Funnily enough, I think it has been extrapolated by Neal Stephenson in Diamond Age. We will end up…

"everything is political" = "people who agree with me can be as loud as they like"

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#294

Post by Kiro »

mtalantikite wrote: post #235
thedevil wrote: post #11

One thought: If you see a resume with Coinbase until October 2020, that's probably someone who prefers political activism in the workplace. That might be seen in a positive or negative light, depending on your stance. I personally am afraid to associate myself too publicly with a political stance, lest I be wrong and/or the environment changes.

“I personally am afraid to associate myself too publicly with a political stance, lest I be wrong and/or the environment changes.” I can understand this fear, but generally if you choose a stance based on compassion for all beings you’ll be in the right in the long run. This particular issue was sparked by Coinbase not taking a stance on Black Lives Matter, which they are wrong about. Standing for dismantling racism…

> but generally if you choose a stance based on compassion for all beings you’ll be in the right in the long run

I like capitalism and the free market because I think it's the best system to give most prosperity to a broad spectrum of society. I believe that I take this stance based on compassion but I can assure you that this view is not popular among other people who are in the compassion camp.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#295

Post by drivingmenuts »

yokaze wrote: post #188
redm wrote: post #82

I feel like this is the start of a rising tide. I think Brian's stance is great, companies have missions, they should focus on those missions. Everything has become so political that your work, which occupies a large portion of your life, should not be divisive.

I see it the other way around. (Almost) everything is political. The mission of the company is not disjoint from the society it is embedded in. Things have become divisive by being able to ignore and blend out the opposing views. By not talking and listening to one another. This is just one more step in that direction. Funnily enough, I think it has been extrapolated by Neal Stephenson in Diamond Age. We will end up…

I tend to treat politics and religion as subjects best dealt with on my own time. The company is paying me to get results for the company, not the larger society. If I somehow disagree with the perceived politics, I’m free to seek other employment. Implicit in this position is that the company doesn’t get to dictate either politics or religion handled in my personal time.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#296

Post by droopyEyelids »

codezero wrote: post #254
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #10

For reference, the severance package was 4 months of salary for employees with =3 years of tenure at Coinbase. The severance also included 6 months of health insurance. (Source: https://www.coindesk.com/coinbase-severance-apolitical-missi... ) What percentage of employees at Coinbase are actively interviewing for other jobs at any given time? 5%? If someone has one foot out the door already, taking a bonus equivalent…

This assumes all roles at the company are equally able to exit the company in the midst of a global pandemic and find opportune work with the same growth opportunities, salary, and locality.

Who knows if official numbers are kept for our industry, but I haven't noticed a decrease in the pace of hiring.

Bitcoin isn't hurting, either.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#297

Post by maximente »

zorpner wrote: post #280
yeetawayhn wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If everything is political, then nothing is.

Could you clarify what you mean by this?

one can also think of what it means if almost everything is unique, or almost everyone is smart, etc.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#298

Post by beervirus »

krzyk wrote: post #123

Is "apolitical" stance a bad thing? Isn't it the default, safe? I lived in country where you had to be "political" to be in management, it didn't end up well (East Europe, Soviet Union), I always (naively?) thought that West countries were wiser. So I prefer companies to not mess with politics.

> Isn't it the default, safe?

Not in tech. If you're not actively competing to be more woke than the next guy, then you're a literal nazi and your silence is violence.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#299

Post by batt4good »

disposekinetics wrote: post #245
linuxhansl wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am beyond sick of folks in the workplace who silently accept the status quo, so I hope this trend does not catch on.

Silence gives us the ability to work together, without silence you get to hear my hardcore religious ideas all day. Silence is our truce.

This is getting down-voted but honestly I agree. Silence is a professional courtesy when it comes to certain ideas. For instance, I don't talk about how I find certain parts of 4chan incredibly hilarious. As a black man, I'd definitely have co-workers blow up if I mentioned this at work - granted they feel more than entitled to talk about all sorts of things that I wouldn't even talk about if I was at a bar with friends (fringe lefty politics and sexually explicit things).

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#300

Post by knorker »

mtalantikite wrote: post #235
thedevil wrote: post #11

One thought: If you see a resume with Coinbase until October 2020, that's probably someone who prefers political activism in the workplace. That might be seen in a positive or negative light, depending on your stance. I personally am afraid to associate myself too publicly with a political stance, lest I be wrong and/or the environment changes.

“I personally am afraid to associate myself too publicly with a political stance, lest I be wrong and/or the environment changes.” I can understand this fear, but generally if you choose a stance based on compassion for all beings you’ll be in the right in the long run. This particular issue was sparked by Coinbase not taking a stance on Black Lives Matter, which they are wrong about. Standing for dismantling racism…

On the other hand working with crimecurrency is always wrong, so already there we can say that every coinbase employee who stays is evil.

> Standing for dismantling racism is always correct.

As opposed to standing against it, yes. As opposed to "we're just building a juicer, man", no.

Not every group of people "must" take an active stance on every social issue. If they did then they would do nothing but that.

This is why I'm hesitant to invest in Silicon Valley stock at the moment. If this trend continues they'll spend 100% of their time "making a stand", and not innovating or trying to fulfil their stated mission.

I have a responsibility to keep my own house in order. To make sure I'm not racist, homophobic, etc... I don't have a responsibility to spend my life on a cause you select for me, even if that cause is just.

If I were to pick a cause it would be that the central organization for a leading religion is actively harboring and protecting child rapists from international law enforcement. But still I would not, like you, say that every organization that doesn't march under that banner are "wrong about" that.

Companies are not "supporting status quo of child rapists" if they don't put up banners on their website. They're just not. That's nonsense.

You can't condemn me for not marching with you. That's fascism.

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