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Not surprised by any of this. Feels like it comes from the top, culturally. I had a terrible experience "onboarding" with Brex last year. They actually "approv

Not surprised by any of this. Feels like it comes from the top, culturally. I had a terrible experience "onboarding" with Brex last year. They actually "approved" my bootstrapped startup and sent me a physical card only to rescind it a shortly thereafter, because--even though we met the funding minimum--it wasn't "professionally invested" on further review. Bootstrapping apparently required a $1MM minimum. Here's what they told me: "While being professionally invested is not a requirement for the Brex card with monthly payments, without professional investment, the minimum cash balance requirement shown in connected accounts is $1mm. If you're able to provide proof of XXXXX's professional investment, the minimum cash balance requirement shown in connected accounts is $50k." Left a really bitter taste in my mouth. Won't ever use them. Currently banking with Mercury and love it BTW.

cvccvroomvroom 4y ago
Yuck. Brex comes across as risky, mercurial, and snobby rather than useful, professional, and reliable. Does anyone else know about or use Silicon Valley Bank? How do they compare to Mercury?
- parkaboy 4y ago
  We used SVB at my previous startup. Somewhat ironically, their UX is SUPER dated and a bit kludgy (been a year since I've checked, though) and their fees are high, BUT they're high touch and good to be in with strategically (especially when it comes to debt financing). I don't know if I'd suggest them early on when bootstrapped, but definitely worth a gander once larger or VC-backed. Mercury's UX is sexy AF and enjoyable to use. They did have an internal screw-up with our initial account setup due to a mix-up with their partner bank (Evolve Bank & Trust), but their customer support is top notch and got it resolved quickly. They also have some nice promotional deals. In comparison to SVB, though, they're not nearly as high touch and also don't have physical locations.
  - djbusby 4y ago
    SVB site UX has been "dated" since at least 2014. Good service tho.
    - cvccvroomvroom 4y ago
      I could care less about UX. If it looked like Larry Wall's personal site, but functioned well and was reliable (tech and relationships), I'd pick them every time. If it ain't broke, don't break it. ;) PS: SVB's site has always looked a bit behind the times like that they never cared enough to make it look glitzy because functionality and communication were considered first. Slick websites also give a captological impression of overcompensating, so perhaps decompensating is an important contrary corollary for basic utility services.
      - hgomersall 4y ago
        "functioned well and was reliable" _is_ UX. Having a pretty site might improve the user experience, but being broken and unreliable will have a far bigger impact.
        pc86 4y ago
        If that's what most people thought of when the thought of UX, even here, then the phrase "the UX is dated" wouldn't mean anything. "The reliability is dated" is not a sentence that anyone says.
    - parkaboy 4y ago
      It's almost sort of endearing, but not actually. The fact that they use SMS-based 2FA (at least through 2021) is a travesty and a bit concerning, though. Edit: since I can't reply to response below (I think due to thread depth topping out). To clarify: they ONLY support SMS-based 2FA. No TOTP. Sure, other services offer SMS as well, but you wouldn't want to use that for securing any serious amounts of money (millions of dollars).
      - cvccvroomvroom 4y ago
  - gnfargbl 4y ago
    SVB's older UI is/was extremely dated, but their more recent SVB Go brand (connect.svb.com) is a huge step up.
  - beancounter124 4y ago
    I use SVB and agree- the UX is clunky. We added Teampay into the mix as the UX that our employees use. They love it and I love it too as the admin.
  - jkeuhlen 4y ago
    If you haven't seen it, we (Mercury) are also offering debt financing these days, starting with VC-backed companies: https://mercury.com/venture-debt https://mercury.com/venture-debt
- Cymen 4y ago
  If you deposit checks, make sure SVB doesn't make it too much of a hassle. I don't know why but a prior employer banks at SVB and they have a real hard time getting my COBRA checks deposited. Sometimes, I'll have 4-5 months of COBRA checks deposited at once. I have a business account with plain old Chase and as long as the funds are in USD, I can deposit via a mobile app. Nobody really wants to deal with checks of course but if you do have to...
- mizzao 4y ago
  Yeah, this is scary AF because we are getting ready to raise as we get closer to the end of our runway and now I'm looking over my shoulder wondering if Brex is going to kick us out because we don't have enough cash in the bank. Customer trust is hard to earn (I loved their product!) but so, so easy to lose.
- klik99 4y ago
  We started using SVB when we expected to raise a sizable seed round which never happened. It's been over a year that we've been bootstrapping with them and we're quite happy with them. Support is great and I don't think they care that we're smaller and bootstrapping. Of course our needs aren't that big so we don't need a lot of support - but when we do the response is fast and personal. My read on SVBs strategy is - if there is potential for this company to become large VC then it's better to be kind to them even before that point.
jlbbellefeuille 4y ago
Seconded, I love mercury.
- osipov 4y ago
tnjm 4y ago
Indeed, Mercury has been phenomenal for us too. It's painful to use other banks now. How they've executed so quickly and competently in a tricky space is quite something to watch. But the thought of them pulling a Brex-like move might now keep me awake at night... hopefully they would just add a monthly fee on before reaching that point.
- jkeuhlen 4y ago
  Our unit economics are strong for all businesses, so we don't anticipate ever having to do something like this. Banking is our primary focus, not an add-on feature, and we invest significantly on the product teams that enable strong unit economics in banking for the long run, like partner integrations, support experience, and onboarding/risk.

cvccvroomvroom 4y ago

Yuck. Brex comes across as risky, mercurial, and snobby rather than useful, professional, and reliable. Does anyone else know about or use Silicon Valley Bank? How do they compare to Mercury?

parkaboy 4y ago
We used SVB at my previous startup. Somewhat ironically, their UX is SUPER dated and a bit kludgy (been a year since I've checked, though) and their fees are high, BUT they're high touch and good to be in with strategically (especially when it comes to debt financing). I don't know if I'd suggest them early on when bootstrapped, but definitely worth a gander once larger or VC-backed. Mercury's UX is sexy AF and enjoyable to use. They did have an internal screw-up with our initial account setup due to a mix-up with their partner bank (Evolve Bank & Trust), but their customer support is top notch and got it resolved quickly. They also have some nice promotional deals. In comparison to SVB, though, they're not nearly as high touch and also don't have physical locations.
- djbusby 4y ago
  SVB site UX has been "dated" since at least 2014. Good service tho.
  - cvccvroomvroom 4y ago
    I could care less about UX. If it looked like Larry Wall's personal site, but functioned well and was reliable (tech and relationships), I'd pick them every time. If it ain't broke, don't break it. ;) PS: SVB's site has always looked a bit behind the times like that they never cared enough to make it look glitzy because functionality and communication were considered first. Slick websites also give a captological impression of overcompensating, so perhaps decompensating is an important contrary corollary for basic utility services.
    - hgomersall 4y ago
      "functioned well and was reliable" _is_ UX. Having a pretty site might improve the user experience, but being broken and unreliable will have a far bigger impact.
      - pc86 4y ago
        If that's what most people thought of when the thought of UX, even here, then the phrase "the UX is dated" wouldn't mean anything. "The reliability is dated" is not a sentence that anyone says.
  - parkaboy 4y ago
    It's almost sort of endearing, but not actually. The fact that they use SMS-based 2FA (at least through 2021) is a travesty and a bit concerning, though. Edit: since I can't reply to response below (I think due to thread depth topping out). To clarify: they ONLY support SMS-based 2FA. No TOTP. Sure, other services offer SMS as well, but you wouldn't want to use that for securing any serious amounts of money (millions of dollars).
    - cvccvroomvroom 4y ago
- gnfargbl 4y ago
  SVB's older UI is/was extremely dated, but their more recent SVB Go brand (connect.svb.com) is a huge step up.
- beancounter124 4y ago
  I use SVB and agree- the UX is clunky. We added Teampay into the mix as the UX that our employees use. They love it and I love it too as the admin.
- jkeuhlen 4y ago
  If you haven't seen it, we (Mercury) are also offering debt financing these days, starting with VC-backed companies: https://mercury.com/venture-debt https://mercury.com/venture-debt
Cymen 4y ago
If you deposit checks, make sure SVB doesn't make it too much of a hassle. I don't know why but a prior employer banks at SVB and they have a real hard time getting my COBRA checks deposited. Sometimes, I'll have 4-5 months of COBRA checks deposited at once. I have a business account with plain old Chase and as long as the funds are in USD, I can deposit via a mobile app. Nobody really wants to deal with checks of course but if you do have to...
mizzao 4y ago
Yeah, this is scary AF because we are getting ready to raise as we get closer to the end of our runway and now I'm looking over my shoulder wondering if Brex is going to kick us out because we don't have enough cash in the bank. Customer trust is hard to earn (I loved their product!) but so, so easy to lose.
klik99 4y ago
We started using SVB when we expected to raise a sizable seed round which never happened. It's been over a year that we've been bootstrapping with them and we're quite happy with them. Support is great and I don't think they care that we're smaller and bootstrapping. Of course our needs aren't that big so we don't need a lot of support - but when we do the response is fast and personal. My read on SVBs strategy is - if there is potential for this company to become large VC then it's better to be kind to them even before that point.

jlbbellefeuille 4y ago

Seconded, I love mercury.

osipov 4y ago

tnjm 4y ago

Indeed, Mercury has been phenomenal for us too. It's painful to use other banks now. How they've executed so quickly and competently in a tricky space is quite something to watch. But the thought of them pulling a Brex-like move might now keep me awake at night... hopefully they would just add a monthly fee on before reaching that point.

jkeuhlen 4y ago
Our unit economics are strong for all businesses, so we don't anticipate ever having to do something like this. Banking is our primary focus, not an add-on feature, and we invest significantly on the product teams that enable strong unit economics in banking for the long run, like partner integrations, support experience, and onboarding/risk.