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This is a pretty vague and poorly thought out petition. It leads with the collapse of NFTs, which has little if anything to do with Coinbase or its execs; it c

This is a pretty vague and poorly thought out petition. It leads with the collapse of NFTs, which has little if anything to do with Coinbase or its execs; it complains about infra/tech debt but says nothing about why that's bad, much less the execs' fault; fluff like "a generally apathetic and sometimes condescending attitude" is not actionable; and much of the phrasing like "the wisdom of the crypto industry" (lolwut) reeks of amateur hour. If the goal is to convince the board or shareholders to vote them out, this is not the way to do it. The one valid criticism is that they had a wildly ambitious hiring plan that they had to scale back in a hurry, resulting in severe fallout. However, any such plan had to be approved by the CEO, it's not clear to me why the Chief Operating, Product and People Officers specifically should be ones falling on their swords here.

username_my1 4y ago
Yeah lots of vc backed startups were overvalued so exceptional risk was needed to be taken to match such expectations. It’s easy to blame people at the top but they’re not the ones evaluating the company and they can’t control: the fed, the war on Ukraine, oil prices While it looks like coinbase had a toxic work culture I have no sympathy for those “mercenaries” joining companies on exceptionally great times then complain when things get back to reality
achow 4y ago
Following seems to be squarely the responsibilities of C-Suite (including CEO). - The over-prioritization of certain products, which has led to a lack of focus on other important issues like infrastructure - Not being able to output any higher or better quality products and services despite aggressively hiring more employees - A generally apathetic and sometimes condescending attitude from the CPO, COO, and Chief People Officer - Initiatives like the Dot Collector and the Performance review system that has led to a toxic workplace culture > ..fluff like "a generally apathetic and sometimes condescending attitude" is not actionable Feedback like 'apathy' and 'condescending attitude' are very legit for employees and even to the interview candidates. Why fluff and not actionable in this case?
- elchupanebre 4y ago
  > The over-prioritization of certain products, which has led to a lack of focus on other important issues like infrastructure It comes down to someone's judgement call. It's usually not possible to quantify if "certain products" should be prioritized over "other important issues" or vice versa. Particularly so for someone who does not have the full picture. > Not being able to output any higher or better quality products and services despite aggressively hiring more employees Is it objective or just an opinion? If objective, how is it measured? > Why fluff and not actionable in this case? Because "Someone anonymous said some of you were generally apathetic and sometimes condescending". "Well, can you give specific examples? No? Then it's fluff and not actionable". The petition is immature and maybe 'condescending attitude' towards petitioner is deserved.
dropnerd 4y ago
coinbase's nft marketplace has <0.01% of the marketshare. they launched without using their key advantage- custodial relationship with the customer. coinbase nft should have been a custodial marketplace. this is definitely on someone in product, though it's unclear whether it's on surojit.
neosat 4y ago
>> It leads with the collapse of NFTs, which has little if anything to do with Coinbase or its execs; it complains about infra/tech debt but says nothing about why that's bad, much less the execs' fault; It has everything to with Coinbase and it's execs. The astronomical compensations at C-suite and leadership is to build strategy and vision around where to invest (e.g. NFTs?), how to differentiate your offering (e.g. vs. Open Sea), and how to minimize risk, and maximize success (e.g. adoption). Investing too much in new initiatives, while not building the right platforms, and tech infra for it, will lead to even higher tech debt and more chaos - so they seem like logically reasonable complaints. Whether they are true or not I have no idea but the points do not seem vague at all.
- thematrixturtle 4y ago
  What I'm saying that even if Coinbase had become the market leader instead of OpenSea, the entire NFT market is rapidly collapsing. Of course you could argue that this outcome was obvious and Coinbase shouldn't even have tried.
donohoe 4y ago
I came here to say this (but not as well put). It’s poorly worded and broadly vague in most places. If the criticism is valid but you’d never know it for lack of details. It just reads as disgruntled workers trying to stir things up.
digianarchist 4y ago
As a former union bargaining-unit negotiator, asking for C-level execs to be fired is too big of an ask, especially done via petition. They'd be better off either trying to form a bargaining unit and attempt to get management to rollback on the performance management changes.

username_my1 4y ago

Yeah lots of vc backed startups were overvalued so exceptional risk was needed to be taken to match such expectations. It’s easy to blame people at the top but they’re not the ones evaluating the company and they can’t control: the fed, the war on Ukraine, oil prices While it looks like coinbase had a toxic work culture I have no sympathy for those “mercenaries” joining companies on exceptionally great times then complain when things get back to reality

achow 4y ago

Following seems to be squarely the responsibilities of C-Suite (including CEO). - The over-prioritization of certain products, which has led to a lack of focus on other important issues like infrastructure - Not being able to output any higher or better quality products and services despite aggressively hiring more employees - A generally apathetic and sometimes condescending attitude from the CPO, COO, and Chief People Officer - Initiatives like the Dot Collector and the Performance review system that has led to a toxic workplace culture > ..fluff like "a generally apathetic and sometimes condescending attitude" is not actionable Feedback like 'apathy' and 'condescending attitude' are very legit for employees and even to the interview candidates. Why fluff and not actionable in this case?

elchupanebre 4y ago
> The over-prioritization of certain products, which has led to a lack of focus on other important issues like infrastructure It comes down to someone's judgement call. It's usually not possible to quantify if "certain products" should be prioritized over "other important issues" or vice versa. Particularly so for someone who does not have the full picture. > Not being able to output any higher or better quality products and services despite aggressively hiring more employees Is it objective or just an opinion? If objective, how is it measured? > Why fluff and not actionable in this case? Because "Someone anonymous said some of you were generally apathetic and sometimes condescending". "Well, can you give specific examples? No? Then it's fluff and not actionable". The petition is immature and maybe 'condescending attitude' towards petitioner is deserved.

dropnerd 4y ago

coinbase's nft marketplace has <0.01% of the marketshare. they launched without using their key advantage- custodial relationship with the customer. coinbase nft should have been a custodial marketplace. this is definitely on someone in product, though it's unclear whether it's on surojit.

neosat 4y ago

>> It leads with the collapse of NFTs, which has little if anything to do with Coinbase or its execs; it complains about infra/tech debt but says nothing about why that's bad, much less the execs' fault; It has everything to with Coinbase and it's execs. The astronomical compensations at C-suite and leadership is to build strategy and vision around where to invest (e.g. NFTs?), how to differentiate your offering (e.g. vs. Open Sea), and how to minimize risk, and maximize success (e.g. adoption). Investing too much in new initiatives, while not building the right platforms, and tech infra for it, will lead to even higher tech debt and more chaos - so they seem like logically reasonable complaints. Whether they are true or not I have no idea but the points do not seem vague at all.

thematrixturtle 4y ago
What I'm saying that even if Coinbase had become the market leader instead of OpenSea, the entire NFT market is rapidly collapsing. Of course you could argue that this outcome was obvious and Coinbase shouldn't even have tried.

donohoe 4y ago

I came here to say this (but not as well put). It’s poorly worded and broadly vague in most places. If the criticism is valid but you’d never know it for lack of details. It just reads as disgruntled workers trying to stir things up.

digianarchist 4y ago

As a former union bargaining-unit negotiator, asking for C-level execs to be fired is too big of an ask, especially done via petition. They'd be better off either trying to form a bargaining unit and attempt to get management to rollback on the performance management changes.