Coinbase emerged in a time when buying Bitcoin was complicated and fraught with risks, making it difficult for potential users to engage with cryptocurrency.

Despite not being the first mover, Coinbase was able to create a significantly better product in a market where existing options were inadequate.

Coinbase faced immense challenges in raising money during demo day, highlighting how investors initially viewed the idea as unviable.

Brian Armstrong, the founder of Coinbase, faced skepticism from investors who viewed Bitcoin as a bubble and associated it with fraud, complicating his efforts to secure funding. Even in his Y Combinator application, he didn't fully believe in his own idea for Coinbase, which initially focused on peer-to-peer transfers rather than buying and holding Bitcoin.

The simple promise of buying Bitcoin in a secure way with a debit card in the U.S. was enough to create a hundred billion dollar company, even though Brian underestimated its potential.

OpenSea started as a simple website that allowed users to buy and sell NFTs, focusing on a straightforward use case before adding more features.

Timing was crucial for Airbnb, Coinbase, and Stripe; they entered markets where existing products were inadequate, allowing them to create solutions that were ten times better.

Stablecoins represent a significant evolution in the financial system, allowing for new products and services that were previously too complicated or costly to implement.

Before founding Linear, I was a founding designer at Coinbase and a principal designer at Airbnb, where I learned the importance of building tools that are fast and efficient.