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1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

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Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#571

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coinbase has an rsu policy where you are not granted some number of shares each year but rather some dollar amount. So if my offer letter says I get $50k worth of rsus each year, and then Coinbase’s stock increases 10x, i’m still just going to receive 50k

Is that not the case for most companies? At FAAMG I've seen yearly stock grants be in dollar figures and not number of shares.

They are expressed in dollars, but converted to stocks at the grant-time value, and vested in number of stocks.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#572

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The reason it’s absurd in Europe is because Europe is a very “left” leaning region (its more that America is just so wildly conservative and in the pockets of capitalists). Many European countries do not have a political party that is even as right leaning as the Democratic Party within the USA. Europe isn't "left" leaning at all. Most of Europe is culturally conservative. It's just like unlike the USA, Europeans b…

Kinda misses the whole point about how America has almost no social safety nets and this is why these critiques come up so much in the workplace... If everyone was not so worried about their wellbeing - these critiques wouldn't be as charged. Socially - there might be some conservative people in Europe but end of the day - people aren't dying in the streets the same way. In the USA - people die all the time due to th…

No I'm not missing any point. You are making up a point that has absolutely nothing to do with the actual situation at Coinbase.

The political debate at Coinbase was never about "safety net" at all. It's about petty identity politics. You are trying to make the discussion about "safety net" when that discussion has nothing to do about "safety net" at first place.

What do employees demanding a company makes a statement about "Black Live Matters" or "Free Palestine" has to do with "safety net"? Absolutely nothing.

We're talking about US Tech workers here, which are already well compensated by their employer.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#573

I think the reality is that Coinbase is so obviously a rocketship that the CEO could say anything and they’d have no trouble with recruitment or retention. Existing employees have stock grants worth millions, and new employees are getting great offers. The people who will take these jobs are generally going to be bullish on crypto. If you expect crypto to become a bigger piece of the economy in the future, it would b…

It's a story as old as time: investors (and employees with equity) will put up with just about any yahoo and their dictates (and noxious politics) as long as the money keeps rolling in. The pathetic handwringing here about "virtue signaling" and Coinbase's struggles is the height of farce.

> It's a story as old as time: investors (and employees with equity) will put up with just about any yahoo and their dictates (and noxious politics) as long as the money keeps rolling in.

It's a tech company, it's not a YMCA nor a progressive PAC. Obviously, a large number of people here just can't tell the difference anymore, but that's only a cultural issue, not a technical one.

The only thing obnoxious here is the people not realizing they can't have their way everywhere and can't impose their stupid petty identity politics everywhere they go.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#574

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the CEO shares your politics and is only allowing your brand to express themselves at work you want to work there. I mean I understand the feeling but can we stop pretending that this isn’t entirely political?

What 'brand of politics' is it to suggest that politics shouldn't be a major factor at work. Also, to your OP's point ... I think it's reductionist to suggest that 'companies are an exchange for labour' - this is too much. Almost all educated workers derive some meaning and dignity from their work beyond salary or benefits. So 'what we work on matters'. That said, even if we work on 'some new currency that can help t…

> What 'brand of politics' is it to suggest that politics shouldn't be a major factor at work.

Let’s apply this to say the stereotypical 50s “Mad Men” office, gender gap and everything. To be political in that time and say hey women shouldnt just be secretaries and stay at home parents wouldn’t fly, it’s political. That’s what I think is meant by “a no politics rule means acceptance of status quo”. That doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of people happy with the status quo, or who think it’s fair and equitable as is.

Not that the ones being “political” are necessarily correct completely or in part right now, but there were plenty who liked the status quo just fine back then too.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#575

Earlier quoted context omitted.

COIN has lost 25% since IPO (in that time, GOOG, FB, MSFT, AAPL, HOOD are up, PP is even, and SQ is down marginally), and their offers aren't particularly better than , so it doesn't seem like this is true. Like, even if you think crypto is going to be super relevant, there's tons of other cryto startups. Coinbase has or had first mover advantage, but that's no longer an enormous advantage.

If you got stock for free because you work for coinbase, does it matter much it went down? I mean it's still around $250 each, that quickly adds up. > their offers aren't particularly better than citation needed, I mean 'anywhere' is a big space. I'm seeing north of $100K on a quick google, that's a lot more than most places pay. Or are you speaking from a privileged, SF-blinkered position?

What do you mean by stock for free? Do you only consider the base salary as the actual salary and stocks as bonus which could be $0? Because that doesn't make any sense...

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#576

So does a "Championship team" mean you get paid like a champion? Or does it just mean you have to work like a champion, and get a 1% raise when you're working like crazy? Just curious because I don't know coinbase that well.

Everyone I know at Coinbase is not only doing well but working less hard than at Facebook.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#577

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coinbase has an rsu policy where you are not granted some number of shares each year but rather some dollar amount. So if my offer letter says I get $50k worth of rsus each year, and then Coinbase’s stock increases 10x, i’m still just going to receive 50k

Is that not the case for most companies? At FAAMG I've seen yearly stock grants be in dollar figures and not number of shares.

There are two different ways companies give RSUs.

1. You get $X of stock grant when you join. This gets converted to number of stocks based on the value of the stock when you join and then the stock vests over the next 4 years. So if you get a stock grant of $400k when you join and the price of the stock at joining is $1000, you get 400 stocks that vest over the 4 years.

2. You get $X of stock grant when you join. This grant gets divided into $X/4 over the next 4 years. The number of stocks then gets decided each of those 4 years based on the value at the start of that year. So let's say you get a stock grant of $400k. So you get stock worth $100k every year. If the stock is at $1000 for the first year you get 100 stocks for the first year. If the stock goes up to $2000 at the start of second year, you get only 100 stocks. If it goes down to $500 for the third year, you get 200 stocks. So upside is capped. You will only get stocks worth $100k each year.

2. is what followed by Coinbase and Stripe. Some other companies are moving that direction as well. 1. is followed by FAAMG.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#578
post #571

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that not the case for most companies? At FAAMG I've seen yearly stock grants be in dollar figures and not number of shares.

They are expressed in dollars, but converted to stocks at the grant-time value, and vested in number of stocks.

Coinbase is different. The conversion to stocks doesn't happen at grant-time value for all of the grant. The conversion happens at the start of every year of the grant life. So if the stock goes up in the first year, you get fewer stocks for the second year (equaling to grant/4 in value). See my other sibling comment in this thread.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#579

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coinbase has an rsu policy where you are not granted some number of shares each year but rather some dollar amount. So if my offer letter says I get $50k worth of rsus each year, and then Coinbase’s stock increases 10x, i’m still just going to receive 50k

50k is the grant amount and usually reflected by a 30 day average look back from grant date. From grant date your 50k worth of stock can go up on down based on the stock price. This should be explained in any offer letter.

Coinbase is different - see my comment here - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28808455.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#580
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

COIN has lost 25% since IPO (in that time, GOOG, FB, MSFT, AAPL, HOOD are up, PP is even, and SQ is down marginally), and their offers aren't particularly better than , so it doesn't seem like this is true. Like, even if you think crypto is going to be super relevant, there's tons of other cryto startups. Coinbase has or had first mover advantage, but that's no longer an enormous advantage.

> there's tons of other cryto startups. Where in your analysis do you talk about how these other crypto startups have (1) easier onboarding/KYC than COIN, (2) access to more coins to trade (3) better tooling (4) better fees (5) etc. etc. ?

Except that the upside is capped by the new Coinbase vesting policy - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28808455
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