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Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

blog.coinbase.com

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Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#341

Post by taffronaut »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #297
boringg wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend of mine's manager had to lay him off but the manager was the nicest guy and was basically in tears through the exit process. My friend essentially had to do the break up. We felt for the manager but also, keep your isht together. If you can't then you are putting that on the individual that you are letting go.

That's exactly the thing. Don't make it about you! How much of telling employee "this is bullshit, I could't sleep over this" is actually doing for them? Vs absolving yourself of guilt, having them like you, and making you look like the victim you definitely aren't? Respect and support and empathy and sincerity are the key, always. Deflecting blame and ranting are not long term helpful.

Absolutely this. It was my misfortune to lay off teams of 20+ 3 times. You are the instrument. In that moment, they will want to hate you and you shouldn't try to deflect it. Do everything you can constructively behind the scenes to improve the situation before and after the announcement but, in that moment, it's not about you.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#342

Post by khuey »

bad416f1f5a2 wrote: post #157
Maxious wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> California’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN Act). Under this Act, the right of employers to lay workers off for reasons bordering on business necessity is curtailed. Employers who plan to lay 50 or more employees off within a 30-day period must give them a 60-day notice before taking such actions.

I'm not sure about California, but the federal WARN act and many state laws have an exemption for "unforeseen business circumstances" – a hole big enough to drive a truck through.

California's WARN Act does not have that exception.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#343

Post by shippintoboston »

blocked_again wrote: post #284

Is there a single YC company which is doing good in public market? It seems like all YC companies are net loss making investment for the retail investors have they bought the stocks in IPO.

The decade plus of easy money from the government is ending. Unsure but we might start seeing a major cull of all these unprofitable companies that have been propped up.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#344

Post by wutbrodo »

livinginfear wrote: post #141
Barrera wrote: post #60

> If you are affected, you will receive this notification in your personal email, because we made the decision to cut access to Coinbase systems for affected employees. I realize that removal of access will feel sudden and unexpected, and this is not the experience I wanted for you. Given the number of employees who have access to sensitive customer information, it was unfortunately the only practical choice, to ensu…

Asking as a layman to macroeconomics, if you think that the current rash of crypto companies collapsing heralds a greater economic catastrophe, do you have any advice on how to best survive another dot-com style crash?

I'm also a layman, though one of my degrees is in economics, which tbh isn't that helpful here beyond understanding the fundamentals.

My current working model is that there are multiple simultaneous effects, mostly separable but interrelated. In order of decreasing acuteness:

a) asset bubble popping due to imminent rate increases. Crypto the obvious candidate for a correction that IMO was predictable? Future of the industry unpredictable (by me)

b) Tech stock correction and hiring freeze, due to skyrocketing value growth and some overextension during the pandemic. This is a good thing, and a healthy pullback on very recent overestimate of value gains. Fundamentals largely unaffected

c) More secular pullback of tech value into a lower equilibrium. High-growth stocks do well in historically low-rate environment, that we're potentially exiting

d) General recession expected. Marginal tech startups wiped out, bigtech generally still a great place to get paid a ton and buy the market while it's low

I'd love to hear if anyone has anyone else has any disagreements with my working model! I'm far from an expert, but using it for my own decision-making. Eg, I just quit my job, but I was planning to go back to bigtech so I'm not especially worried (plus I have tons of savings and frankly don't care about $ that much). OTOH, I'm not taking much time off, because I expect hiring and possibly salaries to start tightening even in bigtech.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#345

Post by cdiddy2 »

Nextgrid wrote: post #143
golergka wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Crypto is a zero sum game How come? The same network effects that work for social networks work here, as more people and businesses use crypto, it's value proposition raises quadratically.

Nobody's using crypto for its intended purpose - its value proposition when it comes to payments is just as dubious as it ever was. The vast majority of the attention for crypto has been for its speculative aspect.

There are tons of people using it for its apolitical and censorship resistant nature. Afghanistan/Ukraine/Lebanon/Argentina/Venezuela/Nigeria/Turkey/Belarus/Mexico to name a few countries where it is very relevant and useful

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-60715707

https://www.financialinclusion.tech/

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#346

Post by xnorswap »

iamacyborg wrote: post #331
Closi wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK you have to provide employees with a consultation period, which is typically done while the employee is still carrying out their day-to-day jobs (dependent on the reason for the redundancy). I believe it is similar in other EU companies. See here: https://www.gov.uk/redundancy-your-rights/consultation Revoking access and not allowing users to complete their jobs would often be seen as a failure to consult (…

This assumes that the employee has been working for the company for more than 2 years. If it's less than that, they have no such protection and can be fired for any reason whatsoever.

There are different rules if you're dismissing a single employee vs making multiple employees redundant.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#347

Post by wil421 »

synu wrote: post #137
a_chris wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is absolutely untrue. In Europe we work several days/weeks after the layoff notice. You can fire people from the night to the morning only in US

In Europe you have to keep paying the person, but it's not uncommon for them to be told not to come in anymore.

It’s the exact same in the US. Most companies pay a decent severance that is tied to tenure and is meant to avoid lawsuits. If you resign and they don’t want you to stay for 2 weeks then they will still pay you.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#348

Post by fullshark »

soumyadeb wrote: post #281

Why would they announce a hiring freeze and do this after two weeks instead of doing only one. As if one bad PR isn't enough. you need two!!

Presumably they wanted the distance from layoffs to communicating exactly who was laid off to be as small as possible and that required more work than simply freezing hiring and rescinding offers. They were likely discussed in parallel and announced as quickly as possible.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#349

Post by caminante »

andyjohnson0 wrote: post #293

What struck me about this announcement was that the CEO states a couple of times that he is accountable for the decision, but doesn't say what form that accountability takes. I try not to be cynical, but I suspect in this case that there will be no actual, real accountability.

What do you have in mind for "real accountability?"

He could've deflected responsibility or hid behind a proxy, which happens all the time. Now, he gets more judgment good/bad directed at him from shareholders, the board, and customers.

Re: Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs

#350

Post by bko »

xiphias2 wrote: post #292
bko wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree and am in general a big fan of FTX and the guys that work there. The CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried one of these HFT guys from Jane Street and his net worth shot up from 0 to $24 billion in just a few years. He kept things super lean and focused. But in the last few months it looks like he's hired a PR team and is all over the place: podcasts, obviously planted news stories, etc. He even hired a head of fashion and l…

Why is being a celebrity BS? After a few tens of millions (or maybe $100M) dollars money doesn't matter at all, it's all about status, and money is just a tool to achieve it.

Sure, for some people. But I was hoping the Sam Bankman-Fried had higher aspirations like building a product and team he could be proud of. I don't think celebrity status is good for you. It's very unnatural to be surrounded by yes men and people that just want to use for your money or status.
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