Discussion

• @tracyalloway Tracy Alloway on x

  The cognitive dissonance here is pretty stunning. https://twitter.com/...

• @davidsacks David Sacks on x

  But it's important to understand that SVB's failure didn't arise from risky startups doing risky startup things. It arose from SVB's over-exposure to boring old mortgage bonds, which were considered safe at the time SVB bought them.

• @buccocapital BuccoCapital Guy on x

  Nice bit from Odd Lots today: SVB's mistake was thinking that even w/in tech they were diversified They thought they had thousands of customers w/ millions in deposits They actually had a few customers (VC's) w/ billions who all coordinated leaving together, causing the run

• @emollick Ethan Mollick on x

  There seems to be a belief among some tech pundits that public reactions on Twitter about the SBV collapse shows that Americans hate technology companies. Twitter is not real life! Tech is MORE trusted than any other industry, https://www.ipsos.com/...... https://twitter.com/...…

• @davidsacks David Sacks on x

  It's painful for me to watch so many smart pundits and politicians on both the right and the left buy into a media narrative that seeks to blame “wealthy speculators” or “tech bros” or VCs for a banking crisis that ultimately started in Washington. Let me explain. 🧵

• @bongcapital @bongcapital on x

  Please let this happen, just because I want to see how VC and startup bros on this cursed hellsite react when they have to deal with owing money to Ares. *ARES IS SAID TO CONSIDER BID FOR SLICE OF SVB'S LOAN BOOK

• @smtuffy Sean Tuffy on x

  Thoughts & Prayers to the FDIC admin of the former SVB who has to have calls with the VC bros. It's like a fire chief being forced to have regular meetings with arsonists.

• @nickdeiuliis Nick DeIuliis on x

  #SVB failure root causes: (a) free money for banks via deposits no longer free w/ Fed raising rates, (b) balance sheet bond & real estate assets inflated by free money now under stress, (c) VC clients are risky startups & many fail in real world. SVB will not be alone. #bailout

• @katie_roof Katie Roof on x

  The SVB situation underscores how interdependent the VC/startup ecosystem is

• @martingtobias Martin Tobias on x

  Blaming lack of regulation for SVB is such a bad take! Management decided to go long on TBills. VCs decided to pull money all at the same time. In capitalism companies need freedom to innovate. And when they make bad business decisions, they are responsible for consequences.

• @profkatejudge Kate Judge on x

  SVB has become the ultimate Rorschach test. Its messy demise has been blamed on woke boards, excessive government spending (motivating the Fed's tightening), VC Bros, and now Twitter. Just pick your pet peeve and get creative in your storytelling. https://www.wsj.com/...

• @georgemagnus1 George Magnus on x

  Taleb is surely spot on with this. You could argue that SVB was wrong/naive to bloat itself with too many deposits, but the crass thing it did was was take such long duration risk in Tsies/Agencies. Why didn't the VC crowd call it out? (Rhetorical) https://twitter.com/...

• @conorsen Conor Sen on x

  If Trump had done more fiscal stimulus interest rates never would have gotten so low, VC's wouldn't have raised so much money that they deployed into startups, and SVB never would have had massive deposit growth. So it's Trump's fault.

• @dsquareddigest Dan Davies on x

  Given the above - which I think is the true picture of SVB, after speaking to numerous customers and shareholders - the VC guys can't just wash their hands and blame everything on management.

• @dsquareddigest Dan Davies on x

  I am probably being harsh here, but some experience at a Swiss bank gives me a more than normal sense of the fuzzy boundary between “a bad bank” and “a good bank with bad clients”...(oh god, THRED. this was what the Substack was meant to protect you from). https://twitter.com/...

• @htaneja Hemant Taneja on x

  SVB crisis is what happens when our community fails to collaborate. We must commit to a new VC model: collaboration, responsible innovation, & appreciation of unintended consequences. We have a lot of work to do—together. My thoughts @theinformation: https://www.theinformation.co…

• @emptywheel @emptywheel on x

  Am I missing where this WSJ piece on the SVB panic sown on Twitter mentions @DavidSacks? Or where it explains that Calacanis is ANOTHER of Elmo's closest advisors? https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @billackman Bill Ackman on x

  The irony of the @SVBFinancial_ intervention is that we now have three tiers of banks. SVB and Signature Bridge Banks - which are now the safest banks with explicit guarantees on all deposits, the SIB banks - which have implicit guarantees on all deposits, and all other banks.

• @adamsinger Adam Singer on x

  Much of what happens on Twitter is faked or astroturfed. Reason being, every reporter and blogger is here as water cooler so there is much incentive to do this, probably the best honeypot to spread narrative. This is widely known amongst anyone paying attention. But many do not..…

• @thestalwart Joe Weisenthal on x

  Um? Could the tech backlash be a lot worse than we realize? Over 700 votes so far, and the majority of respondents don't think tech startups should be allowed to have bank accounts https://twitter.com/...

• @compound248 @compound248 on x

  The “TWITTER CREATED BANK RUN CONTAGION RISK” narrative is off to the races. Think any of the highlighted pyromaniacs have regrets? Illusion of Control bias started this. Overconfidence bias dug them in. Cognitive Dissonance will prevent honest reflection. @WSJ highlights.👇 https…

• @mdudas Mike Dudas on x

  .@jason prepping his next all caps tweetstorm https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x

  A live feed of how Silicon Valley VCs viewed themselves as solving the SVB crisis by tweeting hysterically over the weekend. https://twitter.com/...

• @professorstam @professorstam on x

  “...the weekend's events made clear that banks now must contend with “social media risk."" Thanks to @georgia_wells @WSJ for interviewing me on this topic. Stay tuned for more of my unfiltered thoughts on the subject... https://www.wsj.com/...

• @silvermanjacob Jacob Silverman on x

  “In one Reddit thread, users disagreed about whether a photo showed lines at a bank or people waiting for food at a taco stand. The photo was later taken down.” https://www.wsj.com/...

• @karaswisher Kara Swisher on x

  Exactly. Screaming meemies are not the heroes of this story — they are actually the dude in “Die Hard” who turns tail: ‘Twitter-fueled bank run’: Social-media postings amplify anxiety over SVB collapse https://www.wsj.com/...

• @georgia_wells Georgia Wells on x

  “This was the first Twitter-fueled bank run,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry. Here's how social-media posts amplified anxiety over the SVB collapse. w/ @AlexaCorse https://www.wsj.com/...

• @goldman Jason Goldman on x

  I am reminded of Biz's observation from SxSW 2007 about how Twitter allowed for this emergent behavior and the ability to see crowds move “like a flock a birds.” https://www.wsj.com/...