Baptism by Fire

It’s been 45 days since my joining Coinbase and almost 45 days since the world has been brought to a screeching halt. Again and again the same question has been directed at me: How has this change been for me in such a topsy turvy world? I cannot lie, it has been difficult. I cannot find any positive in this situation except for the spirit shown by so many people around us. All the way from the, always hallowed, medical professionals to the, often overlooked, grocery store workers. 

Back in India, during Flipkart days, I often heard the term VUCA to describe the business landscape in India. VUCA stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. What an equalizer this virus has been that this seems like an apt description for the entire world in these times! This means that all of us have to be ready to change our approach at a moment’s notice. At Coinbase we seem to have been able to create that fluidity and flexibility. It’s been a pleasant surprise to see how quickly Coinbase has been able to adapt to the changing requirements as the Coronovirus crisis exploded in the last several weeks. It goes to show that you do not have to be a massive company with lots of resources to tackle a crisis effectively. Few learnings so far on how to survive the new extreme VUCA world:

Lean On Me- metaphorically, of course. Right now now there is no literal physical leaning! Leaders in every group need to really listen and be there for their teams. Emotional support is extremely important in times like this when the feeling of vulnerability and uncertainty is at an all time high. Focus on the people and all else will follow - I’ve always believed that happy and engaged teams build the best product. Nothing can be more true when your employees are worried about their personal and financial safety. If there is a time to take care of your people it is now. Start every meeting, every 1:1 by checking in with your team on how they are feeling. See how we can help each other through this crisis before jumping in to do any business.

Keep Calm and Carry on - At Coinbase we’ve taken the approach that the best way for us to respond to the crisis is to continue to carry on our business, to maintain, at least, a semblance of normalcy. while taking into account the new realities of working remotely. Few quick examples: 

• We spent an enormous amount of time during our quarterly planning cycle preparing for contingencies. For product managers in the team, this meant diligently thinking about the right priority (P0, P1, P2) for every single project we are working on. As contingencies are coming in we know which projects to pause to make space.  
• As a growing business we cannot stop hiring. This means we had to quickly adapt to a hundred percent remote hiring process. Of course, such a transition comes with built-in hiccups. But with modified expectations, we have been able to keep it pretty smooth.
• Continue to host all hands and team events - We had our first ‘all remote’ quarterly all hands last week. I was surprised to see how well it worked out given the situation. We’ve continued to host our weekly ‘ask me anything’ or AMA meetings remotely and teams have been organizing virtual offsites and team fun events. 

Of course, we do not have all the answers. We continue to learn and improvise our way through this crisis. 

Finding Light in Darkness- Crisis can create new and unexpected opportunities. Bitcoin was created in the middle of the last financial crisis. Bitcoin’s genesis block contains the headline from The Times, “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks”. We’ve seen record trading days in the middle of massive market volatility. As governments print more money to handle the crisis, people are, increasingly, looking at Crypto as an alternate asset class to put their money into. I believe this crisis will usher in a new era for digital currencies worldwide. We want to do our bit to help everyone through these hard times.

Stop and Smell the Roses- This is something we can all bear to do a little more of. Now that I am locked in the house all day long I appreciate face time with my colleagues a lot more. I have more time to go out with walks with my children and I realize how much I have missed doing this as everyone, including me, in my family has gotten busier. I smile at my neighbors more, even if from across the road, because they are the only non-family, non-virtual human interaction I get. My hope is that as we return to normalcy (and we will!) we do not completely forget these things.