Our personal story with SVB collapse: The Anniversary Reflection That Still Offers Valuable Lessons
Two years after the SVB collapse, our $1.5M close call reminds us why team culture matters and banking diversification is the insurance policy you hope you'll never need
As March 2025 rolls around, I find myself reflecting on what happened exactly a year ago – an experience that changed how I think about banking, teams, and crisis management.
It was a perfectly normal Friday morning when my world turned upside down.
There I was, sitting in a café, when my phone started buzzing with notifications. Silicon Valley Bank—where we kept our entire $1.5 million operating budget—was collapsing in real-time.
I abandoned my coffee and frantically tried to transfer our funds out. But it was too late. The system was overwhelmed, transfers wouldn't process, and soon the bank's assets were seized by regulators.
Just like that, on March 10, 2023, we joined thousands of startups watching helplessly as access to our operating capital vanished overnight.
When the Unthinkable Happens
This wasn't just any bank failure. Silicon Valley Bank was the 16th largest bank in the United States and the banking partner of choice for nearly half of all venture-backed technology companies. Its collapse represented the largest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis.
Even the initial FDIC announcement was not on Friday. It was much later. And only deposits up to $250,000 would be guaranteed. So, for us on the weekend, that meant potentially losing over 90% of our funds.
This wasn't a hypothetical crisis or a stress test. This was real, and it could kill us, we just had 2 weeks before payroll.
The Hardest Message I've Ever Had to Write
By Monday morning, with the situation still unresolved, I knew we needed to be completely transparent with our team. This wasn't something we could hide or minimize.
I drafted a message to our #general Slack channel explaining exactly what had happened: all our operating funds were locked in SVB, we didn't know when we'd get access to them, and we needed to develop an emergency plan.
The message included a survey asking three critical questions:
Do you absolutely need your full salary this month to cover essential expenses?
What minimum amount would you need to manage in the short term?
Would you be willing to defer part or all of your compensation until we regain access to our funds or reach profitability?
This wasn't an easy message to send. As a leader, you never want to put your team in a position where their financial security is at risk. But pretending everything was fine wasn't an option.
I hit send and waited, stomach in knots.
The Response That Changed My Perspective
What happened next still moves me.
Our team is fully remote, spread across a lot of countries on multiple continents. Many have never met in person. In such circumstances, you might expect people to prioritize their own financial security—and no one could blame them for that.
Instead, the responses reflected something remarkable:
Teammates with financial cushions offered to defer their entire salaries
Others specified minimal amounts they needed just for essentials
Several explicitly asked us to prioritize colleagues in more vulnerable positions
Almost everyone expressed confidence that we'd get through this together
On the next day, we had a viable three-month plan that would allow us to keep everyone employed while focusing intensely on reaching profitability.
Why This Matters: It Wasn't Luck
While I was surprised by the overwhelming response, I can see now that this wasn't just random good fortune. Several elements of our company culture laid the groundwork:
Consistent reliability: Through seven prior financial tight spots in our history, we'd never delayed payroll or conducted layoffs purely to cut costs. We had built a track record of honoring our commitments to the team.
Shared ownership: Most team members hold equity or options, creating alignment between personal and company interests. When you own part of the business, you're more willing to weather storms.
Mission alignment: We've intentionally built a team that believes in our purpose of helping people better care for their health. Purpose-driven people tend to take a longer view.
A culture of support: I've noticed something fascinating in our project retrospectives over the years. No matter the project or team composition, "feeling supported by teammates" consistently emerges as the #1 positive factor mentioned. This creates a remarkable dynamic where people who have never met in person still feel a sense of solidarity and "shoulder-to-shoulder" connection with colleagues. We've inadvertently selected for and reinforced a culture where support is expected and valued, creating bonds that transcend the lack of personal interaction.
Psychological safety: We've cultivated an environment where people can be honest without fear of political repercussions. When trust is your default setting, crisis doesn't immediately trigger suspicion.
This wasn't about inspirational leadership in the moment—it was about the culture we had built consistently over years.
A Crisis Averted, A Lesson Learned
Fortunately, soon regulators announced that all depositors would have full access to their funds. By next week, we could access our money again, and within two weeks, everything was back to normal operations.
While we didn't need to rely on our team's generosity for the full three months, the experience taught us several valuable lessons:
Don't keep all your eggs in one basket: We've since diversified our banking relationships across multiple institutions:
A traditional bank (Chase) for stability
A startup-focused bank that understands our business model
A fintech platform for innovation and flexibility
This reduces our exposure to any single bank failure.
Transparency builds resilience: Being honest about challenges allows the whole team to participate in solutions. In crisis, people can handle difficult truths better than reassuring half-truths.
Culture isn't just about good times: The real test of company culture happens during crises, not celebrations. What we had built in normal times became our lifeline during an emergency.
Remote doesn't mean disconnected: Physical distance doesn't prevent deep connection when there's a foundation of trust and shared purpose.
The Banking Wisdom We Wish We'd Had
If there's one practical piece of advice I'd give every founder after this experience, it's to diversify your banking relationships before you need to. No matter how stable an institution seems, having multiple banking relationships provides essential redundancy.
Consider these factors when setting up your banking structure:
Geographic diversity (banks in different regions)
Institutional diversity (traditional banks + fintech options)
Account type diversity (checking, savings, money market)
FDIC coverage limitations (remember the $250K threshold)
Taking these steps requires more administrative work, but it's insurance against the kind of existential threat we faced.
What Matters Most
The SVB collapse was genuinely frightening. For a brief period, we faced the very real possibility of losing most of our operating capital with no clear timeline for recovery.
What saved us wasn't clever financial engineering or crisis management brilliance. It was something much more fundamental: the willingness of people to support each other and the company they've built together.
I'm proud of the culture we've created—not because it makes for a nice slide in our investor deck, but because it proved resilient when truly tested. The banking system eventually solved our immediate problem, but our team showed us what we're really made of.
For founders reading this, I'd encourage you to ask: If your company faced a similar crisis tomorrow, would your team rally to keep things afloat? If you're not confident in the answer, perhaps that's the most important challenge to address—long before you face your own "SVB moment."
P.S. While the SVB crisis had a relatively happy ending for most depositors, it's a sobering reminder that in the startup world, the unthinkable happens with surprising regularity. Build systems and cultures that can withstand shocks. It helps.