SVB Hall of Shame

SVB Hall of Shame

“Is not a patron my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help?”

Samuel Johnson to Lord Chesterfield (1755)

“The first thing [in credit] is character … before money or anything else. Money cannot buy it.… A man I do not trust could not get money from me on all the bonds in Christendom. I think that is the fundamental basis of business..”

J. P. Morgan, testimony to the Pujo Committee (1912)

“Justice must not only be done, but must also be seen to be done.”

Gordon Hewart, Lord Chief Justice of England (1924)

On March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank, an renowned institution that catered to America’s start-up sector, collapsed within two days after a run on the bank started and exacerbated by the very venture capitalists that it served in its 40-year existence.

Hours after the collapse, the same venture capitalists began backpedaling to burnish their reputations, issuing a statement of support for the same bank they had driven into failure. They crushed a cornerstone of our economy in one day, and then virtue-signaled the next.

The management of SVB was incompetent. They were removed. The board was asleep at the switch. They are now unemployable. The investors and lenders in SVB showed poor judgment. They were wiped out. But those players within the venture capital community who were singularly responsible for triggering and then exacerbating this run will not escape accountability. Future founders will know your worth. They will know you are not a reliable partner, ready to throw them to the wolves at a moment’s notice. You will be remembered for your hypocrisy.

Reputation is perpetual. You have destroyed yours. And you will be held accountable.

The list below will be updated if, where, and when I have time.

Note: I know of many other VC firms that have piled onto this run (and nauseatingly enough afterwards, tried to paint themselves as the “good guy”, including touting their signatures on the statement of support on Twitter/Linkedin/etc.), but the list below at the moment includes those with public sources. If you have screenshots, etc., please send them to svbhallofshame@protonmail.com and they will be posted. Your identity will be protected at all times.

The rogues’ gallery: VCs who had their portcos withdraw funds from SVB