Silicon Valley Bank

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There was kind of a pipeline from powerful venture capitalists in the industry to send all these companies into the bank and get them to open their accounts there. And they, of course, also made it easy for a startup that, you know, might not really have all their ducks in a row to still get a bank account and credit cards. There are a lot of ways in which they seem sloppy with all that money that they brought in when interest rates were low in the last few years.

Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, how it’s part of a larger crisis in the tech sector, and why it’s turning people against the industry’s venture capitalists.

Jacob Silverman is a journalist and the host of The Naked Emperor, a new CBC podcast. Follow Jacob on Twitter at @SilvermanJacob.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Jacob wrote about the lessons from the Silicon Valley Bank collapse in the Globe and Mail.
Paris wrote about how the SVB collapse should be a radicalizing moment against venture capitalists.
A video circulated about Jason Calacanis bragging about SVB offering him favorable banking services.
A screenshot shows a founder complaining about Chase closing his bank account because his company doesn’t have a physical office, saying SVB never required one.
Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund told its portfolio companies to pull their money out of SVB before its collapse.
SVB’s President pushed for Congress to reduce regulations and oversight on banks like SVB as it grew.

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