4 ms·

> Like a whole lot of people here, I've worked at startups for my whole career. People here are effectively suggesting that I shouldn't get my paycheck and that

> Like a whole lot of people here, I've worked at startups for my whole career. People here are effectively suggesting that I shouldn't get my paycheck and that the company I work for should lose most of its money because our CEO used a well-reputed bank? Cynicism reigns supreme on social media right now, and HN comments are a type of social media. There is also a deeply engrained “us versus them” mentality baked into a lot of the anger. The SVB scenario has more people identifying the “us” part as taxpayers (who would presumably foot the bill for backstopping losses) and the “them” part as VCs and investors. Interestingly, if this was rephrased as an “Ask HN” post where someone was concerned about their next paycheck because their startup’s bank failed, I suspect the sentiment would be completely reversed. The more relatable the story, the kinder the comments.

nerdponx 4y ago
Why should taxpayers pay for all of it? It's not like SVB had $0 in assets. Liquidation will hopefully cover enough to keep the lights on at smaller companies with uninsured deposits. The big depositors like Roku might lose something. Lest we forget that even TARP was actually a net profit for taxpayers.
rmilk 4y ago
I get what you’re saying, but how many well-intentioned startups have imploded and ran out of money the day before payday due to some unlikely risk? Lots (I was in 1-2 of them). Should we also try to salvage them? “Well-reputed bank” is not the same as zero risk money management. Look at the fine print of every one of those business checking accounts and you see there is clearly some risk, including loss of capital if you’re over the $250k limit. Everyone who has a retirement account in money markets at a “well-reputed bank” knows about this risk, so how can we let the CFO slide on finance risk management that was clearly their most important responsibility? Business continuity insurance, lines of credit, investor infusion, etc. Debt sales, etc. There are ways to get around an unexpected cash crunch. But there’s no excuse for not knowing the risk and expecting a $1M checking account to work like your personal checking account. This was the CFOs job at every one of the companies that is now in a crunch.
simonh 4y ago
There's also the modern 'anti-capitalist' crowd that nebulously always blame everything on 'capitalism' while also unironicaly enjoying, you know, owning private property, choosing their own jobs and investing in stocks, while at the same time distrusting government. Because we don't actually need to implement Marxism or state ownership or any other alternative economic system, we just need to not capitalism. Or something. I'm sure they're loving all of this.

nerdponx 4y ago

Why should taxpayers pay for all of it? It's not like SVB had $0 in assets. Liquidation will hopefully cover enough to keep the lights on at smaller companies with uninsured deposits. The big depositors like Roku might lose something. Lest we forget that even TARP was actually a net profit for taxpayers.

rmilk 4y ago

I get what you’re saying, but how many well-intentioned startups have imploded and ran out of money the day before payday due to some unlikely risk? Lots (I was in 1-2 of them). Should we also try to salvage them? “Well-reputed bank” is not the same as zero risk money management. Look at the fine print of every one of those business checking accounts and you see there is clearly some risk, including loss of capital if you’re over the $250k limit. Everyone who has a retirement account in money markets at a “well-reputed bank” knows about this risk, so how can we let the CFO slide on finance risk management that was clearly their most important responsibility? Business continuity insurance, lines of credit, investor infusion, etc. Debt sales, etc. There are ways to get around an unexpected cash crunch. But there’s no excuse for not knowing the risk and expecting a $1M checking account to work like your personal checking account. This was the CFOs job at every one of the companies that is now in a crunch.

simonh 4y ago

There's also the modern 'anti-capitalist' crowd that nebulously always blame everything on 'capitalism' while also unironicaly enjoying, you know, owning private property, choosing their own jobs and investing in stocks, while at the same time distrusting government. Because we don't actually need to implement Marxism or state ownership or any other alternative economic system, we just need to not capitalism. Or something. I'm sure they're loving all of this.