Silicon Valley Bank, which federal regulators took control of on Friday after a bank run, understood the digital age, supported entrepreneurs and understood our needs, says Inman founder Brad. Inman writes
In times like these, double down on your skills, knowledge and yourself. On August 8-10 he’ll be at Inman Connect Las Vegas to lean into your shift and learn from the best. Get your tickets now for the lowest price.
I once tried to borrow money from a large commercial bank to grow my business.
The bankers wanted collateral, so we provided a library of editorial content. He was puzzled and said he could only consider it worth the cost of the physical disk drives in which they were stored.
I was furious, depressed and discouraged.
After that, I borrowed money from Silicon Valley Bank for several companies. They understand the digital age, support entrepreneurs, and understand our needs.
It was part of an ecosystem that enabled innovation. It certainly helped me.
I paid off my loan and am forever grateful to SVB for giving me the chance.
This bank failure was initially seen as a regional story, but it’s much bigger than that.
Don’t talk about the San Francisco Bay Area if you want to, but whether you like it or not, San Francisco has been home to nearly every major technological innovation in the last 60 years. And it will continue to be so.
As we witnessed last week, it’s also true that some innovations in Silicon Valley have unintended consequences.
The crackdown on Silicon Valley banks has been exacerbated by the ease with which you can transfer money using your smartphone. During the Great Depression, 9,000 banks failed after bank runs when people had to stand in line to withdraw money. One of my friends he was watching the throbber (loading icon) spin for his 3 hours last Thursday afternoon when he tried to transfer money from his Valley Bank Silicon. No transfer took place.
We live in a digital age, but most problems are still rooted in human error.
SVB’s management made some questionable decisions last week, but its upside-down balance sheet has been unfolding for a year.
In our backyard, I suspect Zillow would have faced the same fate as SVB had its founder Rich Barton not unplugged iBuying. You don’t need to look at Opendoor’s recent woes to imagine what Zillow did.
It’s hard for all of us to be decisive instead of passive. thin line.
For better or worse, thanks to the digital boom, events happen in the blink of an eye and our actions live in online fishbowls.
I told my kids to eat ice cream when things got tough.
My advice for now is to stay calm and, if you’re feeling stressed, treat yourself. Dairy Queen Hot Fudge Shake.
This also works.
Email Brad Inman
