💼 Malicious Compliance

Good morning! It’s Friday, March 24th. If you’re receiving this, you’re on the Boardroom alpha.

I think our content is good but not lovable. I want to make it lovable. Can you reply with something you found yourself loving lately? For me, it’s the Milk Road. That mascot makes me laugh every time I see it.

Now here’s what other vc-backed CEOs are talking about.
-Anuj

Coinbase gets a PIP from the government

• What’s happening: Coinbase received a Wells notice from the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday. The move is a formal communique alerting the crypto giant of a possible enforcement action. They’ll likely go to court.

• Deets: The notice touched on parts of its exchange, staking service (Earn), and non-custodial wallet. Staking is essentially locking up crypto assets with the goal of higher future returns. The non-custodial wallet is where one self-manages the safety of their assets.

• Why this matters: Coinbase has been proactive in following regulatory pathways, and are essentially calling the SEC shady. While crypto exchange Kraken settled with the SEC over staking concerns earlier this year and shuttered its staking product in the U.S., this is by no means the end of Coinbase.

• The conspiracy angle: In Balaji’s bet, he encourages self-custody of bitcoin and how the US government will want to shut down those on-ramps. Whether you believe him or not, this vague SEC notice comes at an ominous time!

Block stock drop

• What’s happening: Shares of Block (formerly Square) spiraled 15% after Hindenberg Research hinted it’s betting on Block’s stock taking a nosedive. Hindenburg claims Block’s Cash App was used to aid in fraud of pandemic-era government stimulus programs.

• What should you do? Not much you can do. Just know if a short seller like Hindenburg ever comes after you, your stock will drop 15% on average the next day, and 26% after six months.

• What should you do (bonus)? Be aware that an endorsement from the hip-hop community may not be the flex. Hindenburg compiled a video of artists implying how they use Cash App for hustling, scamming, and coordinating violence! (These guys are creative).

SF and NYC office rates sink (#LFG)

• What’s happening: We’re starting to get data on where office rates are settling after the pandemic. Comparing 2022 to 2019, office rates in San Francisco and NYC are down 31% and 14% respectively.

• Why some are going up: Markets that are leading increased rates are Charlotte, Raleigh, Boston, and Minneapolis. All up ~5%. These areas have a higher concentration of health services, biotech and life science employment according to Axios.

• Why some are going down: SF and NYC are seeing companies distribute away, but also known for longer commute times

• Anuj’s anecdote: I remember at Atrium we paid $75k per month for 1 floor at 4th and Townsend in San Francisco in 2018. Prime location but absolutely brutal. Could’ve contributed healthily to everyone’s rent at that rate 😂.

The 200x engineer

• What’s happening: GitHub is embedding GPT-4 into its Copilot system, bringing “chat and voice support to its AI pair programmer, the Verge reports.

• Why this matters: GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke said it wants to AI to be “at every step of the developer lifecycle.” GitHub claims its existing Copilot product helps developers code up to 55% faster. This upgrade only stands to boost that metric.

• What are you seeing? Are you enabling copilot? If so, what second-order effects are you optimizing for? Double output? Half head count? Let me know by replying to this.

Open AI is shipping too fast

You’re all caught up.

See you on Tuesday & make yourself proud today! 👊🏽

(We haven’t yet built our infrastructure to make a Monday briefing…)