On Tuesday, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong sent a memo to his team (and reshared it to X) that made a lot of noise.

In it, he announced the elimination of approximately 700 jobs, about 14% of Coinbase's global workforce. The reason? Two forces converging at once: a volatile crypto market and, more pointedly, the rapid advancement of AI. Armstrong described watching engineers ship in days what used to take weeks. He talked about non-technical employees now writing production code. He laid out a vision of "AI-native pods" with some staffed by a single person doing what used to require an entire team.

He called it "an inflection point, not just for Coinbase, but for every company."

And in some ways, he's right. That's what makes this moment so important to pay attention to.

The Headlines Miss The Larger Story

When a company announces layoffs, the news cycle focuses on the numbers. 700 jobs. 14%. Shares down 1.6%. And then we move on.

But behind those numbers are real people, many of whom are mid-career professionals, building their expertise around a specific set of skills. What the headlines rarely cover is what happens next — for the people leaving, and for the people staying.

Because here's the part of Armstrong's memo that caught my attention most: he wasn't just announcing job cuts. He was announcing a fundamental restructuring of how Coinbase expects humans and AI to work together. Flatter org structures. No "pure managers." Leaders who are also individual contributors. Pods that could, in his words, be a "one person team" doing the work of what used to require engineers, designers, and product managers combined.

This is not just creating a new job description. It's an entirely new definition of leadership and what a career path may look like.

And There's a Gap No One's Filled

Here's what I keep coming back to: managers, particularly those early in their careers, were already navigating one of the hardest professional transitions there is. You're expected to shift from individual contributor to leader, often overnight, often without meaningful training.

That challenge existed long before AI entered the picture.

Now? Now they're expected to do all of that while learning to manage AI tools they've never used before, while leading teams that are shrinking and restructuring in real time, while operating within career development frameworks that were designed for a world that no longer exists.

The ladders haven't been updated. The coaching hasn't scaled. The support has not kept pace with the pace of change.

This is a gap. A real, meaningful, urgent gap — and it's exactly why we built Blomma.

AI That Fills a Gap, Not Just a Role

At Blomma, we believe in technology that fills an existing gap. Career development is one of those places.

The kind of guidance that actually helps you navigate a moment like this — from understanding which skills to build, how to position yourself in a restructured organization, how to lead with clarity when everything feels uncertain — was largely inaccessible unless you were senior enough to merit an executive coach.

We think that's wrong. We think every professional deserves access to that kind of support.

You Are Not a Passive Observer in Your Own Story

Things are evolving. Block, Meta, and others are following a similar strategy to Coinbase. This is a clear, loud signal that the rules are changing, and that the professionals who will thrive are the ones who choose to engage with that change head on.

That means understanding what's happening in your industry and your company. It means building skills that complement AI, and advocating for yourself with clarity and intention when the path forward isn't obvious.

You can download Blomma here and use the code FRIENDS to bypass our waitlist.

I've been in tech for 20 years and have seen several of these cycles. If you want to talk, my DMs are open.