#226 President & COO Coinbase, Emilie Choi: Through the Storm

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Jan 20, 2025

Emilie Choi, President and COO of Coinbase, discusses the volatile cryptocurrency landscape post-FTX, highlighting her leadership during crises. She emphasizes taking an aggressive stance against regulators like the SEC, portraying it as a mix of bravery and urgency. Emilie shares innovative hiring practices that focus on resilience, grit, and cultural fit, while outlining the importance of aligning company goals with personal growth. She also offers insights on investing in crypto with a long-term mindset, urging a proactive approach to navigating regulatory challenges.

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ADVICE

Recruiting Warriors

Look for warriors when recruiting.
These individuals thrive in challenging environments and adapt to new situations.

ANECDOTE

Founder-Candidate Compatibility

Jubin spent 70% of his time assessing candidate-founder compatibility.
Finding the right chemistry requires significant effort from both sides.

ANECDOTE

Investing in the Relationship

Emilie and Brian Armstrong used a coach to improve their working relationship.
The process involved difficult conversations but ultimately strengthened their bond.

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Guest: Emilie Choi, president & COO of Coinbase

After the collapse of FTX in 2022, “the whole industry was tarnished,” recalls Coinbase COO Emilie Choi. “Politicians came out criticizing crypto, saying it was a fraud.”

But unlike FTX, Coinbase was a public company in the U.S. So when the SEC served it a Wells notice, announcing its intent to charge the company with violating securities laws, the executive team took an unusual step: They went on the offensive, publicly calling BS on the agency.

“Well-regarded CEOs from TradFi, they were like, ‘You don’t do that,’” Emilie says. “’You don’t antagonize your regulator.’ ... It was a combination of chutzpah and maybe desperation that we were like, ‘We have to go tell our story, because if we don’t, nobody else will.’”

Chapters:

(01:14) - Working with founder CEOs
(04:12) - Mission first
(07:16) - Reviewing candidates
(09:48) - Unusual hiring
(11:22) - Crypto after FTX
(16:29) - Operation Choke Point 2.0
(19:19) - Grin and bear it
(21:24) - Channeling negativity
(24:21) - Going to war with the SEC
(26:20) - Donald Trump and Gary Gensler
(28:38) - Was it worth it?
(31:19) - Shipping challenges
(34:03) - OKRs and personal goals
(36:41) - Brian Armstrong and structure
(40:56) - The COO guidebook
(43:30) - Removing bureaucracy
(46:50) - Investing in crypto
(49:41) - After Coinbase
(53:03) - Constantly on
(54:53) - Favorite interview questions
(56:28) - Who Coinbase is hiring
(58:28) - Standing for something

Mentioned in this episode: Google Chat, executive coaches, Mark Zuckerberg, LinkedIn, Jeff Weiner, speed reading, Warner Bros., Elizabeth Warren, Sam Bankman-Fried, Wells notices, Paul Grewal, Chris Lehane, Airbnb, OpenAI, FOIA requests, Balaji Srinivasan, Dan Romero, Kevin Scott, Microsoft, Patrick McHenry, Ritchie Torres, Fairshake PAC, A16z, Ripple, Stand With Crypto, Dogecoin, Robinhood, Charles Schwab, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Paul Ryan, Faryar Shirzad, Kara Calvert, Elon Musk, Earn.com, Ben Horowitz, Bain Capital Ventures, Claire Hughes Johnson and Scaling People, Directly Responsible Individuals, Fidelity, BlackRock, Yahoo!, Stewart Butterfield, Brad Garlinghouse, Alibaba, Flickr, cognitive tests, and Loom.

Links:

Connect with Emilie

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Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm