Shane🇨🇲

Enjoy writing. Founder @consultoafrica & Cloudigital. 🇨🇲 angel investor.

[Shane🇨🇲 @ShaneWrites]

@markessien Economies of scale

[Shane🇨🇲 @ShaneWrites]

@UnkleAyo Brought a tear to my eye.

[Shane🇨🇲 @ShaneWrites]

CEOs one-uping one another in ways to frame headcount reduction is a nest X pastime. What does
"rebuilding Coinbase as an intelligence, with humans around the edge aligning it" even mean?

[Brian Armstrong @brian_armstrong]

This is an email I sent earlier today to all employees at Coinbase:

Team,

Today I’ve made the difficult decision to reduce the size of Coinbase by ~14%. I want to walk you through why we're doing this now, what it means for those affected, and how this positions us for the future.

Why now
Two forces are converging at the same time. We need to be front footed to respond to both.

First, the market. Coinbase is well-capitalized, has diversified revenue streams, and is well-positioned to weather any storm. Crypto is also on the verge of the next wave of adoption, with stablecoins, prediction markets, tokenization, and more taking off. However, our business is still volatile from quarter to quarter. While we've managed through that cyclicality many times before and come out stronger on the other side, we’re currently in a down market and need to adjust our cost structure now so that we emerge from this period leaner, faster, and more efficient for our next phase of growth.

Second, AI is changing how we work. Over the past year, I’ve watched engineers use AI to ship in days what used to take a team weeks. Non-technical teams are now shipping production code and many of our workflows are being automated. The pace of what's possible with a small, focused team has changed dramatically, and it's accelerating every day.

All of this has led us to an inflection point, not just for Coinbase, but for every company. The biggest risk now is not taking action. We are adjusting early and deliberately to rebuild Coinbase to be lean, fast, and AI-native. We need to return to the speed and focus of our startup founding, with AI at our core.

What this means
To get there, we are not just reducing headcount and cutting costs, we’re fundamentally changing how we operate: rebuilding Coinbase as an intelligence, with humans around the edge aligning it. What does this mean in practice?

- Fewer layers, faster decisions: We are flattening our org structure to 5 layers max below CEO/COO. Layers slow things down and create coordination tax. The future is small, high context teams that can move quickly. Leaders will own much more, with as many as 15+ direct reports. Fewer layers also means a leaner cost structure that is built to perform through all market cycles.

- No pure managers: Every leader at Coinbase must also be a strong and active individual contributor. Managers should be like player-coaches, getting their hands dirty alongside their teams.

- AI-native pods: We’ll be concentrating around AI-native talent who can manage fleets of agents to drive outsized impact. We’ll also be experimenting with reduced pod sizes, including “one person teams” with engineers, designers, and product managers all in one role.

In short: AI is bringing a profound shift in how companies operate, and we’re reshaping Coinbase to lead in this new era. This is a new way of working, and we need to leverage AI across every facet of our jobs.

To those who are affected
I know there are real people behind these decisions — talented colleagues who have poured themselves into this company and our mission. To those of you who will be leaving: thank you. You’ve helped build Coinbase into what it is today, and I am sincerely grateful for everything you've done.

All impacted team members will receive an email to their personal account in the next hour with more information, and an invitation to meet with an HRBP and a senior leader in your organization. Coinbase system access has been removed today. I know this feels sudden and harsh, but it is the only responsible choice given our duty to protect customer information.

To those affected, we will be providing a comprehensive package to support you through this transition. US employees will receive a minimum of 16 weeks base pay (plus 2 weeks per year worked), their next equity vest, and 6 months of COBRA. Employees on a work visa will get extra transition support. Those outside of the US will receive similar support, based on local factors and subject to any consultation requirements.

Coinbase prides itself on talent density. Our employees are among the most talented people in the world, and I have no doubt that your skills and experience will be highly sought after as you pursue your next chapters.

How we move forward
To the team that is staying, I know this is a difficult day. We’re saying goodbye to colleagues and friends you've been in the trenches with. But here’s what I want you to know as we move forward together:

Over the past 13 years, we have weathered four crypto winters, gone public, and built the most trusted platform in our industry. We’ve made it this far by making hard decisions and by always staying focused on our mission. This time will be no different – nothing has changed about the long term outlook of our company or industry. And most importantly, our mission has never been more important for the world. Increasing economic freedom requires a new financial system, and we’re building it.

The Coinbase that emerges from this will be more capable than ever to achieve our mission.

Brian

[Shane🇨🇲 @ShaneWrites]

@africatechie There's clearly astroturfing going on.

[Shane🇨🇲 @ShaneWrites]

@DavidHundeyin @augustinennann8 I've never understood how 27 years of imprisonment came to be understood as victory but the world works in mysterious ways.

[Shane🇨🇲 @ShaneWrites]

@DavidHundeyin Great tweet. Seriously, @DavidHundeyin, one of your best. And that's not an easy fest given the body of work!

[David Hundeyin @DavidHundeyin]

The basic issue with P.O. is the same issue I had until 2024 - he refuses to acknowledge that his platform is fundamentally anti-imperial. The idea of moving Africa's largest population "from consumption to production" is a fundamentally anti-imperialism idea.

The existence of Nigeria as a consumer-import-dependent, natural resource exporter that spends resource export revenues on imported finished goods without having an industrial base to manufacture its own, is not an accident of "poor leadership" - it is the direct goal of neo-colonialism.

When instead of manufacturing goods, Nigeria instead haemorrhages its natural resources and human talent, and only receives some insufficient USD resource rents in return, this ensured that Nigeria and its African contemporaries remain artificially poor, while people who live in places where for 6 months every year, the ground freezes solid and daily sunshine is only 5 hours, remain artificially wealthy.

That is the core of the Euro-American imperial system. The military branch of this imperial system is called NATO. The governance/policy arms are called IMF/World Bank. The economic arm is called WTO. The academic/social arms are the Foundations, NGOs, policy research institutes and universities. This is what P.O. is actually up against.

So if P.O. says he wants to "move Nigeria from consumption to production", it is the same thing as declaring war on Europe, its sugar daddy in Washington, and its spiritual leader in Tel-Aviv. And if you're going to do that, you need to be fully locked in, and you need to be prepared to lose everything of yours that is under the empire's control.

I finally realised this in June 2024, and that's why I quit my £40,000/year project management job in Newcastle, packed up all my shit, withdrew all my money, gave up my 5-year UK visa, and bought a 1-way ticket back to Accra. As I am now, if and when I end up in a position of power, there is zero leverage that any white man anywhere on earth can use to blackmail me into maintaining this imperial system. I don't have property in their countries. I don't have money in their banking systems. I don't have children in their schools and universities. The most they can do is ban me from their social media.

P.O. does not want to do the same. His children are comfortable and integrated pseudo-westerners. He has property in the UK. He has money in their banks. He enjoys that regular suite at the Hilton Paddington too much. He's trying to run on a revolutionary, anti-imperialist platform while pretending that he is a friend of the Western world who doesn't want to pick a fight with them.

The problem with this is that oyibo people don't play those games. These people murdered Patrice Lumumba over a speech. You might not see yourself as their enemy, but they DEFINITELY know on what side their bread is buttered, and they know that a Nigeria where ships berth everyday, offload consumer goods, and sail away only with natural resources or empty, is a Nigeria that remains strategically poor and profitable to their empire.

They KNOW that a Nigeria under Peter Obi where education and health are properly funded, where Chinese-inspired industrial policy is enacted, where railways and steel production move to the top of national priority, and where those ships eventually start sailing from Nigeria laden with manufactured goods for export to the world, is the Nigeria that will destroy their entire parasitic way of life.

And I'm sure P.O. knows this too, but he's invested in pretending that he can play both sides, the same way Patrice Lumumba wasted valuable time doing "I am not a Communist" and trying to play nice with the same people until they killed his ass, dissolved him in sulphuric acid, and kept his gold tooth as a souvenir.

That's why I've moved on from the Obidient thing. Both he and his supporters don't know what they want and I'm exhausted.

Even his Bible says "How long will you be limping between two opinions?"

[Shane🇨🇲 @ShaneWrites]

@tientusdelors Pourquoi vous parlez toujours de la cnps comme ci c'est même une bonne chose d'être inscrit là bas ? Je comprend rien.

[Shane🇨🇲 @ShaneWrites]

@AWSSupport Done.

[Shane🇨🇲 @ShaneWrites]

@AWSSupport bad actor got into our account and all users have lost all permissions to everything. You suspended the account and sent an email out wjrb steps that literally cannot be accomplished in our situation. Have created a support case and really need help now.

[Shane🇨🇲 @ShaneWrites]

@SimonHoiberg All 3 are pull-your-hair-out boring to live in, however. Wonder what says about crime and "high standards of living".

[Shane🇨🇲 @ShaneWrites]

@ankurnagpal Life is fraud. Get with the programme.

[Shane🇨🇲 @ShaneWrites]

@stchibie That's everywhere in the world except the US.

[Shane🇨🇲 @ShaneWrites]

@tonye237 Les grands hommes se levent pour les grands combats. Ils toquent clairement à la mauvaise porte.

[Shane🇨🇲 @ShaneWrites]

@Un_Gar_Eton Israeli intelligence.

[Shane🇨🇲 @ShaneWrites]

@Geek2Van Rebecca est plusieurs fois la personne que tu es. Reste sur Twitter; dans le vraie vie, ça se sait.

[Rohit Mittal @rohitdotmittal]

First time founder vs Second time founder:

first time founder: guards idea like state secret
second time founder: shares idea freely, knows execution is everything

first time founder: hires fast to look like a real company
second time founder: stays skeleton crew until absolutely necessary

first time founder: gets office space to feel legitimate
second time founder: works from apartment until bursting at seams

first time founder: chases TechCrunch coverage
second time founder: chases revenue and user growth

first time founder: panics when competitor raises money
second time founder: sees competition as market validation

first time founder: romantic about original vision
second time founder: pivots on weak signals

first time founder: raises maximum possible at highest valuation
second time founder: raises what’s needed with clean terms

first time founder: hides problems from investors
second time founder: radically transparent in updates

first time founder: takes every meeting request
second time founder: ruthlessly protects calendar

first time founder: tracks vanity metrics
second time founder: obsesses over 2-3 metrics that actually matter

first time founder: messy cap table with advisors getting equity
second time founder: clean cap table, minimal parties

first time founder: optimizes for highest valuation
second time founder: optimizes for control and favorable terms

first time founder: waits for perfect product
second time founder: ships broken and iterates

first time founder: recruits on vision and potential
second time founder: recruits on traction and momentum

first time founder: overengineers for scale
second time founder: duct tapes until product-market fit

first time founder: tries to boil the ocean
second time founder: dominates tiny niche first

first time founder: seeks consensus on decisions
second time founder: decides and moves fast

first time founder: takes all advice equally
second time founder: filters advice through own framework

first time founder: splits equity equally with cofounders
second time founder: splits by contribution with vesting cliffs

first time founder: comfortable until 3 months runway left
second time founder: raises next round at 12 months runway

[Shane🇨🇲 @ShaneWrites]

@iam_Uchenna @ideniyor Oga you stupid die.

[Shane🇨🇲 @ShaneWrites]

@BassongArmel On est pas dans vos détails là. On va gérer ça après Biya.