Episode 52: Silicon Valley Bank - Finance teams in the eye of the storm
Show Notes
The second-biggest bank collapse in U.S. history created a storm for CFOs and their finance teams during a panic-induced 48 hours in March. It only ended as regulators took control of Santa Clara, Calif.-based Silicon Valley Bank and a dramatic intervention by financial regulators.
In this special edition of FP&A Today, meet those in finance and FP&A who saw the events at Silicon Valley Bank firsthand. Understand how the banking crisis played out and how ongoing ripples continue to impact everyone in FP&A and how your finance teams can cope with the ongoing aftermath.
The panel:
Josh Aharonoff, CPA Aharonoff (aka Your CFO Guy), CEO and Founder, Mighty Digits, had many clients banking with SVB and had to make quick decisions as news broke. He shares Finance & Accounting Best Practices & Advice every day to his nearly 85,000 LinkedIn followers
CJ Gustafson is a CFO at a series B startup, PartsTech. He has been in the startup space within the private equity sector and has helped to scale venture-backed companies for the last 10 years. He also authors Mostly Metrics, an irreverent and analytical spin on metrics that has crossed more than 20k subscribers.
Casey Woo is a seven-time high Tech CFO- turned investor. He has held finance and CFO roles at Silicon Valley companies including at WeWork and other tech companies, before founding an “operators community” called the Operators Guild and the investment fund FOG Ventures.
What is covered in this episode:
Casey Woo explains being at the “heart of the storm” in Silicon Valley with a close personal relationship with SVB
The reasons that VCs put pressure to withdraw money from SVB in a classic “prisoner’s dilemma”
How the fallout from SVB continues to impact companies and particularly finance professionals
The challenges for CFOs, particularly in tech, seeking to fundraise after SVB’s crash
What are the differences between fractional banking and Ponzi schemes
The initial $250,000 ceiling on federal deposit insurance explained
How could KPMG have given SVB a clean bill of health with so many stored-up challenges?
Why is the impact of raising rates so dramatically different than in the 1970s when no banks failed?
Strategic advice for Treasury and FP&A pros going forward post-SVB
The importance for CFOs and FP&A leaders to understand “second order effects” beyond cash entering and leaving the building.
How the SVB saga has emphasized the value of an FP&A function that can show everything that's happened, is happening, and is going to happen “and being in control of that story” - allowing you to take action quickly.
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