A largely 20-something crowd is running fast-growing cryptocurrency ATM company CoinFlip, and they are on a tear.
Nicholas Palumbo, 28, is the warehouse manager at Chicago-based CoinFlip, supervising about 14 staff members as they assemble, track and ship the company’s ATMs to their destinations. Palumbo was hired two years ago as a technician to assemble the machines but was soon promoted to manager.
“They have really stepped up the process,” he says. When he started, there were 25 to 30 people working at the company. Now there are about 200 employees and about 2,700 ATM CoinFlip machines in 47 states, located mostly in gas stations and convenience stores.
The two-way ATMs change depositors’ cash into bitcoin and certain other cryptocurrencies and place it into their individual accounts, or wallets. The machines’ functions allow the account holders to buy cryptocurrency, or sell it and withdraw the proceeds in cash. CoinFlip charges a 6.99% per transaction fee when buying crypto and 4.99% fee when selling crypto across all CoinFlip ATMs, in addition to a fluctuating network fee of $1 to $3.
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In 2020, CoinFlip also launched Trade Desk, an over-the-counter trading platform for cryptocurrencies, which charges transaction fees of 0.3% to 3.99% per trade.
The company, which reported annual revenues of $50 million last year, ranks 58th among small companies on the Tribune’s list of Top Workplaces, as measured by the consultancy Energage in Exton, Pennsylvania.
The company gave Palumbo free rein to speak up, he says, and “they heard my voice.” At other jobs in the logistics field, they want to do things the way they’ve always done them, he adds. At CoinFlip, “it’s always been a collaborative, team effort.”
Jenny Halladay, a manager and people and culture business partner, joined CoinFlip’s human resources group in June after earning a master’s degree in learning and organizational change from Northwestern University. She describes the CoinFlip experience as a “whirlwind.” A millennial in her 30s (“I’m at the upper end of the age range of our population,” she notes), she is energized by the pace. In her first few months, “the job hasn’t evolved, it’s expanded,” she says. “For me, any area I want to explore and build, I can do that.”
Palumbo says the company’s team spirit extends to its leaders. Kris Dayrit, president and chief operations officer, is always accessible, he says. “For executives to be walking around the office and asking ‘How was your weekend?’ that’s something I have not experienced before.”
Halladay says managers are required to have quarterly meetings with staff members but typically meet on a weekly basis, and quarterly team-building outings are encouraged. In addition, executives have begun “Ask Us Anything” sessions, where they collect questions from as many departments as possible and answer them in person. The company also hosts quarterly volunteer service days — employees mulched Chicago Park District playgrounds last quarter and plan a trip to the Greater Chicago Food Depository soon.
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CoinFlip was founded in 2015 when its CEO, Ben Weiss, now 26, and company co-founder and chief adviser Daniel Polotsky, were in college, Weiss at Vanderbilt University and Polotsky at Northwestern University. The two met while students at Deerfield High School. Weiss says they met Dayrit when he ran a suburban vape shop that later installed one of the first ATM machines.
Weiss says he believes a company’s culture is modeled from the top down. “What leaders do is all about setting high standards,” he says. “It comes down to constant communications and clear expectations.”
That practice has allowed the company to grow despite the COVID-19 pandemic. “We had to be sure that everyone was on the same page” with protocol, Weiss says, making COVID-19 tests available and requiring masks. In addition, “We don’t force anyone to come into the office.” And unlimited personal time off is a standard benefit for full-time CoinFlip employees.
“With the delta variant, it’s ‘work where you feel comfortable,’” either at home or at the office, says Halladay. At the same time, employees have to consider how they can meet the company’s goals, she says.
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In addition to unlimited paid time off for staff, other standard benefits include catered lunches, 401(k) matches, health care, dental and vision care insurance, a newly installed maternity and paternity leave policy, and a unique benefit that Palumbo cites: a car lift in the warehouse and a mechanic available to help with repairs. “It’s great to have in case of an oil change,” he says.
Weiss says the biggest challenge of the company’s fast growth is to preserve its culture of free-flowing ideas, which means making sure company managers maintain clear communications with their teams.
Interaction with customers also is a core company value. CoinFlip offers live, 24-hour customer support, seven days a week, which is a rarity in online trading platforms.
Working Lunch
Caroline O’Connell, 23, is CoinFlip’s social media coordinator, writing and coordinating the content that goes on platforms from LinkedIn to TikTok, and managing the company’s partnerships with marketing influencers like actor Neil Patrick Harris and boxer Ben Askren.
O’Connell joined the company shortly after finishing college 11 months ago. “I had worked at marketing internships before, but I never worked full time,’’ she says. It was tough to find work during the pandemic, she adds. “It was honestly awesome to get in when I did.”
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She says the job has allowed her to come in to “take the reins and manage a lot more” than at another company. She also has been able to interact with customers through CoinFlip’s social media connections, particularly Twitter direct messages. “Having those connections with real customers makes it feel very impactful,” she says.
In one case, she says a Texas customer who had lost his construction job and was homeless told her he used the CoinFlip ATM as a safe place to store his cash — and see it grow in value — while he struggled to get back on his feet financially. To be clear, CoinFlip ATMs provide access to investor wallets, not savings accounts, and deposited funds can rise and fall in value.
In general, “the culture here is very open, young and fun,” O’Connell says. “Pretty much every week there is a board game after work, and people are always playing chess during lunch. Some people joke that they come for the free lunch.”
While CoinFlip is a startup company, it’s making long-term plans. In August, the company announced it signed a 12-year lease on a new 44,000-square-foot headquarters in the Old Post Office building. The company plans to move into the downtown space this fall but will keep its warehouse facility. The Old Post Office deal was bolstered by incentives from the state. CoinFlip agreed to add at least 30 employees by the end of next year and make $17 million in capital investments in return for nearly $1.7 million in Illinois economic tax credits.
Suzanne Cosgrove is a freelance writer.