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They basically had no problems through $35M+ of money coming in except a few phone calls trying to sell him some banking services... I wouldn't really call it '

They basically had no problems through $35M+ of money coming in except a few phone calls trying to sell him some banking services... I wouldn't really call it 'not appropriate' for a startup... All it was is probably the guy trying to say "hey maybe you'd be interested in parking some of that capital in a term deposit" or offering some credit products... It is a bit weird how actively the guy tried to engage but it probably is just because it was one of the largest accounts opened through that branch - if they'd opened an account with the same bank but a branch in down-town SF instead of in the suburbs of LA then they would have had an account manager more accustomed to that kind of business and it presumably wouldn't have been as weird...

crooked-v 1y ago
I certainly wouldn't label that 'do you need help' opening as 'engagement'. Something as simple as 'that's a lot of cash just sitting in that checking account, there are a few better options that could get you good returns on that while still being easy to use for expected expenses' would have been actually engaging.
gwbas1c 1y ago
See in this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45058480 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45058480 > If you are the customer you want a bank that understands what kind of inflows/outflows you’ll typically have. The bank wants to manage the risk, and you want a bank that doesn’t freak out at what seem to you to be very mundane transactions. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45058894 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45058894 > A bank account is only insured up to $250k by the FDIC.
Workaccount2 1y ago
My guess is that there were millions sitting in a checking account earning 0.015% interest. Interest rates weren't great back then, but even still you could get 1.5% easily. All in he probably left a few hundred thousand on the table.

crooked-v 1y ago

I certainly wouldn't label that 'do you need help' opening as 'engagement'. Something as simple as 'that's a lot of cash just sitting in that checking account, there are a few better options that could get you good returns on that while still being easy to use for expected expenses' would have been actually engaging.

gwbas1c 1y ago

See in this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45058480 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45058480 > If you are the customer you want a bank that understands what kind of inflows/outflows you’ll typically have. The bank wants to manage the risk, and you want a bank that doesn’t freak out at what seem to you to be very mundane transactions. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45058894 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45058894 > A bank account is only insured up to $250k by the FDIC.

Workaccount2 1y ago

My guess is that there were millions sitting in a checking account earning 0.015% interest. Interest rates weren't great back then, but even still you could get 1.5% easily. All in he probably left a few hundred thousand on the table.