How many people does it take to say yes?

"A committee where 10 people have to say yes is the opposite of innovation." That's Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. Last year, one innovation bet netted them $1.35B in revenue.

Here's the system that made it possible—and why most companies could never replicate it. Coinbase runs internal innovation like a venture fund. Three questions separate them from every other large company:

Do your people have somewhere to take an idea? At Coinbase, any employee can pitch any senior leader. No pre-approval. No investment council. Just a pitch and a yes.

Do your leaders actually have budget to pursue new things? One yes is enough to get funded. No committee. No ten signatures. One believer with a checkbook.

Do you have a way to kill things that aren't working? Projects run on a fixed runway—VC-style. When the money runs out, so does the bet. Not kept on life support because someone's ego is attached to it.

One result: USDC.

A stablecoin that started as a small internal bet now has a $75B market cap. Larger than the GDP of most countries.

But, Armstrong himself voted against it.

He thought it wasn't decentralized enough.

Another executive disagreed, funded it from their own budget, and it took off.

Most corporate innovation processes are designed to make the CEO right. The best ones are designed to make the CEO irrelevant.

Does your company's innovation process survive bad calls from the top?