Coinbase CTO Rob Witoff uses an internal AI tool called Coinbase Coach for candid feedback on communication and strategy, saying it gives him some of the best advice of his career.
No one wants to hear from a colleague that they monopolized a meeting or failed to get their point across. Colleagues rarely want to deliver that message either.
Coinbase CTO Rob Witoff is now getting that kind of candid advice regularly from a source he doesn't have to worry about workplace dynamics with: an AI agent.
"That's the kind of feedback I'm getting every single day now," Witoff told Business Insider.
The crypto exchange recently rolled out a beta version of "Coinbase Coach," an internal AI tool embedded across data sources employees have access to, including Google Docs, meeting transcripts, Github commits, and Slack messages. The tool provides private feedback based on interactions with people throughout the company. The reports are not used in performance reviews or available to managers, Witoff said.
Employees can opt in during the beta. The tool reviews meeting transcripts alongside Slack interactions and activity across other internal tools to generate weekly feedback.
When Coinbase linked its internal AI models to company data sources, employees began building their own agents to automate tasks and get feedback. That experimentation helped inspire Coinbase Coach. The company built an early version in March for a small testing group before rolling out the beta internally in June.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong discussed his own usage of the tooling in an episode of the "All-In Podcast" in January. He said he uses the AI assistant through what he calls "reverse prompting." Rather than giving the model a task, he asks it what he should do based on the data it has gathered across the company. It might flag a disagreement within a team over strategy.
Armstrong also said he asked the model questions about what he has changed his mind about most, or how he could become a better CEO. The model might analyze how he spent his time over the previous quarter and compare that with how he intended to spend it.
Witoff said the tool is part of a broader effort for the company to rethink what it means to improve efficiency.
"We are moving toward a culture of proactive coaching," Witoff said.
The cryptocurrency platform laid off 14% of its staff, roughly 700 workers, in May, eliminating "pure managers" as it shifts toward smaller teams and leans more on individual contributors. On some teams, a single employee may serve as engineer, designer, and product manager.
Witoff said he is getting some of the best advice of his career because he has an impartial agent who is not afraid to tell him the hard things.
"Not so I can be micromanaged," Witoff said. "So I can get good feedback to be the best version of myself I can be."
The feedback tends to center on two themes. One is communication: The coach tells him when he is not being as direct or clear as he could be, prompting him to sharpen his point or articulate a clearer strategy.
The other is knowing when to step back. Witoff said he can sometimes get too tactical, prompting the coach to tell him he is "too in the weeds" and should focus more on strategy while leaving execution to others.
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