The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 12 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Kra: VCs who triggered the run on SVB share blame for damage
“You might have just destroyed an institution that created value for our companies. And turns out that the people who tried to stay the course are in just as good shape as you are, except the whole ecosystem took a body blow that it didn't need to take. So I th…”
Kra: Greg Becker told investors only a run could bring SVB down
“And then Greg said something peculiar on the call. He said, we're solvent. We're in great shape. And the only thing that can bring us down is if all of you tell all of your companies to start pulling out share money.”
Kra: SVB's unhedged mortgage securities were a massive risk management failure
“I don't know how you invest In these, you know, the government collateralized mortgage-backed securities, that's like the ninety billion dollars of hold to maturity assets, and the other available for sale assets, the twenty billion that they sold at the 1.8 b…”
Kra: Silicon Valley Bank was the leading lender in climate tech
“That enabled, that empowered Silicon Valley, that helped make Silicon Valley better at starting really amazing companies, and in climate tech, they were the leading lending partner out there.”
Intscher-Owrang: SimpliFiber had 100% of cash at Silicon Valley Bank
“A hundred percent of our cash up until very recently was with Silicon Valley Bank.”
Lacey: SVB collapse was the first true online bank run
“It was the first true online bank run in history, which is what made the crisis play out so quickly.”
Kra: Prelude called capital to fund emergency bridge loans for portfolio payroll
“So we figured out that we could call Capital into our fund, we could get it out to our, ah, companies at a low cost to them way, ah, and then we spent the rest of the weekend Working with the companies and with our council and with our CFO to get the legal str…”
Kra: Prelude Ventures did not tell portfolio companies to flee SVB
“We didn't do that. We didn't tell our companies to do that, and we're in just as good shape as those other folks are on Tuesday morning.”
Kra: Traditional banks cannot replicate SVB's startup lending model
“Other banks are more risk averse on the traditional financial metrics That you do to measure the quality of a loan. But Silicon Valley Bank, understanding the startup ecosystem, understanding how these companies grew from a Series C or Series A to profitabilit…”
Lacey: SVB supported 50% of US tech and life sciences startups
“It supported 50% of U.S. Startups in tech and life sciences, and the bank was an early believer and investor in the clean tech and climate tech space, courting companies like SimpliFiber.”