[Mick]

Two random thoughts several years later.

I'm still working in the start-up eco-system despite being north of 60 years old.  I'm the oldest guy at my company and have been for several years.  Still love it and moved back to start-ups in my late 50s after tiring of Ops roles within the FAANG treadmill.

I confirm the pre-collapse Peter Thiel phone calls from personal discussions with small start-up CEOs/CFOs.  Those I spoke to were extremely thankful for the heads-up given the mess several days later.  There's no doubt that this precipitated the collapse as rumors and panic flew widely both inside and outside Thiel's network.  So widely that I know of one CFO who was almost fired when his CEO questioned why HE wasn't given any advance notice (from the CFO).

Also, SVB is missed as many start-ups that left are chafing against the backwards practices (fax?, long leadtimes, maintaining actual paper trails, in person signatures, etc) at their "new" banks.  The modern infrastucture built at SVB had many advantages. A number of companies I know found their way back to SVB in it's new form.  It was a good pick-up by First Citizens for several reasons.

Is that what you guys are seeing several years out?

Banks are highly leveraged entities. Difficult to make money, easy to slip. I knew and admired many, many SVB officers and administrative people. I thought they were very strong for decades. I respected their founded Bill Biggerstaff, their original CEO Roger Smith (who I met when I was in college), their next CEO, John Dean, and their next CEO, Ken Wilcox. They were agile and versatile...just like a startup. They got into businesses when they should, they honed their processes, they were typically in front of the market. They got out of businesses when they needed to. They grew quickly but prudently through 2019. And then, they tripled in size.

If anyone ever asks me to list the most underrated factors it takes to succeed in business, I would put personal factors at the very top. Appearance, interpersonal style, gravitas, etc. and yes, everyone knows that they are important, but when I think of SVB's later senior management, I think of the little warning bell that went off in the back of my mind when I met them and the predictable, spectacular mistakes that followed when they chased yield.

If you want examples, I'm happy to provide it by PM.

[Mick]

Two random thoughts several years later.

I'm still working in the start-up eco-system despite being north of 60 years old.  I'm the oldest guy at my company and have been for several years.  Still love it and moved back to start-ups in my late 50s after tiring of Ops roles within the FAANG treadmill.

I confirm the pre-collapse Peter Thiel phone calls from personal discussions with small start-up CEOs/CFOs.  Those I spoke to were extremely thankful for the heads-up given the mess several days later.  There's no doubt that this precipitated the collapse as rumors and panic flew widely both inside and outside Thiel's network.  So widely that I know of one CFO who was almost fired when his CEO questioned why HE wasn't given any advance notice (from the CFO).

Also, SVB is missed as many start-ups that left are chafing against the backwards practices (fax?, long leadtimes, maintaining actual paper trails, in person signatures, etc) at their "new" banks.  The modern infrastucture built at SVB had many advantages. A number of companies I know found their way back to SVB in it's new form.  It was a good pick-up by First Citizens for several reasons.

Is that what you guys are seeing several years out?

Banks are highly leveraged entities. Difficult to make money, easy to slip. I knew and admired many, many SVB officers and administrative people. I thought they were very strong for decades. I respected their founded Bill Biggerstaff, their original CEO Roger Smith (who I met when I was in college), their next CEO, John Dean, and their next CEO, Ken Wilcox. They were agile and versatile...just like a startup. They got into businesses when they should, they honed their processes, they were typically in front of the market. They got out of businesses when they needed to. They grew quickly but prudently through 2019. And then, they tripled in size.

If anyone ever asks me to list the most underrated factors it takes to succeed in business, I would put personal factors at the very top. Appearance, interpersonal style, gravitas, etc. and yes, everyone knows that they are important, but when I think of SVB's later senior management, I think of the little warning bell that went off in the back of my mind when I met them and the predictable, spectacular mistakes that followed when they chased yield.

If you want examples, I'm happy to provide it by PM.