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Emilie Choi

President & COO, Coinbase · 2 appearances on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

executiveoperatorinvestor@emiliemc ↗coinbase.com ↗

Choi serves as President and Chief Operating Officer at Coinbase, where she oversees global business operations and helped establish Coinbase Ventures. Previously, she led corporate development at LinkedIn, executing major acquisitions including Lynda.com, SlideShare, and Pulse.

41statements → 15claims → 5claims resolved → 40%fully supported → 4/5average certainty → 1.93/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated → 17said about them ↓

2 supported 1 partly supported 2 contradicted 10 not checkable as stated how the 15 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

1 prediction · 14 assertions · 1 opinion · 19 insights · 6 disclosures · every statement was checked. The prediction and assertions are the 15 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 5 are resolved, and 10 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Emilie argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Coinbase Conducts All M&A Using RAPID With Single Decision-Makers
“We're not a committee. We're not a consensus based culture. There has to be one decision maker at the end of the day. If you have the right people as part of that rapid, you're going to be so buttoned up about how you can run fast on making quick M and a decis…”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 20:37 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C

Their most notable contradicted claim

Assertion Contradicted
Coinbase Limits All Job Interview Blocks to 30 Minutes Maximum
“There is no interview longer than 30 minutes.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 13:08 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
none yet certainty 3
25% certainty 4
67% certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

How they sound: speaking style how? →

253 words/min while actually speaking · 0.3 um and uh per 1k words

No argument clarity score for Emilie Choi: no usable question→answer exchanges on raw tape (a fair score needs 8+). We do not score a sample that small. Roundtable and news formats yield far fewer direct exchanges than interviews. Their coarse estimate from 32 exchanges on the produced feed is ≈4.5/5, shown at half point precision because the sample is small and produced tape scores higher.

Measured by listening to 11,889 words across 2 episodes, but every recording we have of Emilie Choi is the aired feed, and an editor cleaned that audio before release. Some of the hesitation was cut before we ever heard it, so read these as floors: the true rates are at least this high. These are measurements of speaking style, not scores. How it's measured →

How the interview went all their pushback → series average →

Across 2 rated episodes:

host pushback ▾ 1/10
pushed back at the host 1/10
setup questions received 70%

Everything Emilie Choi said on 20VC that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Insight
Choi: Acquirers Should Focus on Target Quality Over Deal Price
“Mike Volpe, who was famously that head of Corp Dev at Cisco during the heyday of Cisco M&A, he once said something to me, which I never forget. He said, never get the right deal, get the right company. And I think that that really holds true today.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 17:56 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Coinbase Expects New Hires to Deliver Within 30 Days or Leave
“We're going to want to see real action, and that means that if you really don't do something amazing in the first 30 days, you're probably not going to be a fit here, and it's actually the most compassionate thing to say, you know what? Bad on us, because we p…”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 38:35 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Insight
Choi: Tech giants copy startup features to avoid acquisition hassles and regulation
“One is that the tech giants have in many cases gotten really good at copying emerging startup products, so they don't need to deal with the hassle of acquiring, not to mention the hassle of potential regulatory scrutiny for M&A.”
Emilie Choi Jan 15, 2018 ▶ 5:28 20VC: LinkedIn's Head of Corp Dev on Why and When Startups Should Start Relationship Building With Corp Dev, What The Structure of M&A Traditionally Looks Like & How To Mitigate The Biggest Risk of M&A, Integration Risk
Insight
Choi: Startups should build ongoing corp dev relationships, not transactional contacts
“I'm a big fan of Mark Souster's line about, it's about lines, not dots. In other words, it's about long-term relationship and a series of dots, not just one transactional conversation. So don't just come to us when there's a transaction going on. Knowing the c…”
Emilie Choi Jan 15, 2018 ▶ 8:03 20VC: LinkedIn's Head of Corp Dev on Why and When Startups Should Start Relationship Building With Corp Dev, What The Structure of M&A Traditionally Looks Like & How To Mitigate The Biggest Risk of M&A, Integration Risk
Insight
Choi: In Tech M&A, Acquiring the Right Company Matters More Than Price
“I truly believe that the most important thing is buying the right company and not getting the right deal, and I think that there's a lot of different examples of companies that have said that they're going to go after the potentially weaker asset for a lower p…”
Emilie Choi Jan 15, 2018 ▶ 17:42 20VC: LinkedIn's Head of Corp Dev on Why and When Startups Should Start Relationship Building With Corp Dev, What The Structure of M&A Traditionally Looks Like & How To Mitigate The Biggest Risk of M&A, Integration Risk
Insight
Choi: M&A fails when CEOs and CorpDev heads make decisions alone
“The recipe to fail in M&A is that it's the head of CorpDev and the CEO who make the decisions, right? It has to be deeply integrated into the process of how product and engineering work at the company.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 19:13 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Assertion Supported
Coinbase Conducts All M&A Using RAPID With Single Decision-Makers
“We're not a committee. We're not a consensus based culture. There has to be one decision maker at the end of the day. If you have the right people as part of that rapid, you're going to be so buttoned up about how you can run fast on making quick M and a decis…”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 20:37 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Choi: Brian Armstrong Stamped Out Political Culture and Side-Lobbying at Coinbase
“Brian Armstrong, there's no political culture here, and I don't just mean that about his apolitical post. I mean about, you don't lobby people on the side. You don't have this thing where you talk about Somebody in the room one way, and then after they leave t…”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 23:04 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Disclosure
Job Candidates Inspired by IBM Are Not a Fit for Coinbase
“I will often ask people that I'm interviewing, what other companies would you interview at? What other companies are you inspired by? Now, no offense, but if they say something like IBM, which I've definitely had, they're not going to be a fit for Coinbase. If…”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 37:08 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Insight
Managers Should Lead Performance Reviews Directly With Critical Feedback
“Just go in and just jump to Harry. We got to talk about this Because you're not going to be successful here unless you can nail these three things. I start with the hard stuff because everybody dreads it on both sides. That's my recommendation to you. Like, do…”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 40:43 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Insight
Choi: PE cost-cutting in tech buyouts degrades R&D and product quality
“My concern is that the focus on cost cutting can eat into R&D investment, which can translate into subpar products over time.”
Emilie Choi Jan 15, 2018 ▶ 6:43 20VC: LinkedIn's Head of Corp Dev on Why and When Startups Should Start Relationship Building With Corp Dev, What The Structure of M&A Traditionally Looks Like & How To Mitigate The Biggest Risk of M&A, Integration Risk
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Choi: Top consumer acquisitions boost target R&D, marketing spend 30-40%
“What's really interesting on the consumer side, what really stands out from the most successful ones is that they were really left alone. The acquiring company typically provided them with a bunch of backend help and Legal and other GNA services, but they usua…”
Emilie Choi Jan 15, 2018 ▶ 19:42 20VC: LinkedIn's Head of Corp Dev on Why and When Startups Should Start Relationship Building With Corp Dev, What The Structure of M&A Traditionally Looks Like & How To Mitigate The Biggest Risk of M&A, Integration Risk
Insight
Choi: Weathering a crypto winter prepares tech leaders for anything
“It's much harder to do than to actually say that, but I think once you've weathered like a crypto winter, you are ready for anything.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 6:14 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Insight
Choi: Lateral career moves can trigger exponential career growth
“Sometimes you'll have a situation where you're taking on a lateral move, but if you take on that lateral move and you crush it, you could kind of take things exponentially higher than you would have if you had just been kind of slow and steady up and to the ri…”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 7:32 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Insight
Choi: Showing vulnerability in key moments creates deeper employee connections
“What I learned in that moment was that in these select moments where something really matters to You kind of show yourself to be vulnerable. You create so much connection with people.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 10:03 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Disclosure
Choi Pressure-Tested Armstrong's M&A Commitment Before Joining Coinbase
“I pressure tested this with Brian. Cause I really wanted to make sure if I was going to come over to head up corp dev at Coinbase that Brian genuinely wanted to do M&A.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 11:14 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Insight
Founders Frequently Hire Corp Dev Leaders Without Actually Doing M&A
“Founders like the idea of M&A, but In many cases, what they'll do as they kind of unpack M&A and do due diligence is they'll say, you know what, actually we can build this ourselves. We don't necessarily need to buy it. And so I've just seen this too many time…”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 11:26 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Insight
Choi: Companies doing only acquihires do not need senior corp dev lead
“Talent is a great way to do M&A, but in that case, you probably don't need like one dedicated senior head of corp dev.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 12:13 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Assertion Contradicted
Coinbase Limits All Job Interview Blocks to 30 Minutes Maximum
“There is no interview longer than 30 minutes.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 13:08 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Assertion Partly supported
Coinbase Interviews Require a 20-Minute Presentation and 10-Minute Q&A
“Finally, we actually have a presentation part of our interview process, and this is the hallmark of Coinbase. And I can tell you a lot of really amazing senior people kind of have a It's 20 minutes of presentation. It's 10 minutes of Q&A.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 14:03 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Insight
Choi: Clear and concise communication is the key to succeeding at Coinbase
“The hallmark of successful people at Coinbase is they are excellent presenters. They are excellent communicators. They are pithy. They're strong. They get their message across.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 15:23 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Insight
Choi: Great corporate development executives build lifelong relationships with founders
“I want to know that founders freaking love you, and that they would just do anything for you, and that they want to work with you. The way that I have seen this manifest in my own career is that a lot of the entrepreneurs we acquired at Companies that I've bee…”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 17:10 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Insight
Choi: Corp dev value comes from gathering ecosystem insights through relationships
“The whole thing about corp dev is you're an external facing person. Who can get invaluable insights if you have amazing relationships with the whole ecosystem.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 25:29 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C
Insight
Choi: COO Role Is Clearing Operational Environment for Product to Ship Fast
“COO to me means I am here to create the absolute best Environment for product and engineering to ship everything they need to ship as quickly as possible, because we are a product and engineering led company.”
Emilie Choi Aug 23, 2021 ▶ 26:24 20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the Best Performing Funds with 0 Employees, How Coinbase Thinks Through Internal Resource Allocation and Prioritisation & Why, When and How To Hire Your COO and Head of C

Show 17statements(17 left)

The other half of the tape: Emilie Choi's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 17 times in 6 episodes on 20VC. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 15Darian Shirazi 1Brian Armstrong 1

Every mention by year

tap a year for its mentions
005110220182019202020212022episodesmentions
01220182019202020212022episodes it came up in
005110220182019202020212022episodesmentions per episode
2022 2 mentions in 2 episodes 1 per episode
2020 3 mentions in 1 episode
2019 9 mentions in 1 episode
2018 3 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode

Appearances (2)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
20VC: Coinbase President & COO Emilie Choi on Building Coinbase Ventures into One of the B Aug 23, 2021 32m
20VC: LinkedIn's Head of Corp Dev on Why and When Startups Should Start Relationship Build Jan 15, 2018 19m
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