Silicon Valley Bank Fails, Fintech VC Survey, B2B Growth Tools

by James · March 10, 2023

No one can predict the ramifications of a moment like this. We are in uncharted territory.

I write this newsletter twice a week on a tight deadline, so when I saw a press release that started with “Silicon Valley Bank, Santa Clara, California, was closed today,” I knew I might have to pivot.

To protect SVB’s former customers, which hold about $175 billion in deposits, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) transferred assets to a new entity: Deposit Insurance National Bank of Santa Clara.

Insured customers who have deposited $250,000 or less will have access to their money Monday morning, according to the FDIC. Uninsured customers will receive an advance dividend within the next seven days, but beyond that they will only receive a certificate for the remaining balance.

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Will these customers ever be made whole? It is difficult to say, “When the FDIC sells the assets of Silicon Valley Bank, future dividend payments may be made to uninsured depositors.”

Silicon Valley’s favorite bank just failed. Sit with it.

No one can predict the ramifications of a moment like this. We are in uncharted territory.

There’s no doubt this will affect dealmaking, but uninsured startup customers still have to buy laptops, pay cloud providers, and cover employee salaries and benefits.

I’m not a market watcher or financial expert, but here’s some advice: Panic is a luxury. If you have been personally affected by this news, take a breath before you make a move. Talk to some friends. Go for a walk.

And don’t let fear rule the day.

Good bye,

Walter Thompson
Editor-in-Chief, TechCrunch+
@yourprotagonist

Table of Contents

Building a lean B2B startup growth stack

The hand of a scientist with a syringe injecting liquid into a plant, in an experiment.

Image credit: Jose Bernat Bacete (opens in new window) / Getty Images (image has been modified)

Choosing the right tool for the job is easy when you already know exactly how to proceed.

However, most B2B growth marketers don’t have a blueprint to work from, which is why Primer CEO Keith Putnam-Delaney shared a guest post with TC+ that identifies which tools are most appropriate for early-, mid-, and late-stage startups .

“The current budget-constrained environment should be viewed as a net positive by marketers,” he writes. “It will force teams to think deeply about what is absolutely necessary, what tools will increase efficiency (or detract from it).”

Venture companies advise portfolio companies to move money out of SVB

Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

“My request is just to stay calm, because that’s what’s important,” Silicon Valley Bank CEO Greg Becker said yesterday during a Zoom call with clients.

Becker was conducting damage control after SVB announced plans to sell $1.25 billion in equity shares to shore up its finances after the bank admitted that a slower pace of deal-making and “increased client cash-burning balance-of-funds” weighed on earnings.

Since SVB was the bank of choice for so many startups, Natasha Mascarenhas and Alex Wilhelm spoke to several investors (on and off the record) to find out how they advise their portfolio companies.

Q1 2023 Market Map: SaaS Cost Optimization and Management

Image of money floating in a cloud against a blue sky.

Image credit: John Lund Photography Inc (opens in new window) / Getty Images

Since the downturn began, SaaS has become a fine-margin game. Startups that find the right tools to drive growth while optimizing vendor and cloud spend can improve short-term gross margins.

“Investors are knocking on the door to see improvements every quarter,” says Jonathan Schwartz, investment associate at Ibex Investors.

“Just cutting costs instead of growth won’t work. Likewise, maximizing growth with little sensitivity around costs won’t work in 2023.”

New wave of VC funding shows it’s time to rethink how many LPs are “too many”

Image credit: Getty Images

Between 2015 and 2021, the average number of limited partners associated with a venture fund increased steadily.

Reporter Rebecca Szkutak spoke with VCs Haris Khurshid (Chalo Ventures) and Mac Conwell (RareBreed Ventures) to find out why some investors are beginning to reject the traditional view that fewer LPs are preferable.

“When people raise their first funds or second funds, it’s very difficult to get institutional funds, but people can’t write big enough checks,” Conwell said.

“Ever since I made my first raise, I’ve been thinking about how to increase the number of LPs you’re working with.”

Pitch Deck Teardown: MiO Marketplace’s $550,000 Angel Deck

MiO - A media marketplace and sales intelligence tool. MARKETPLACE INTELLIGENCE OPTIMIZATION — MiO – A media marketplace and sales intelligence tool. MARKETPLACE INTELLIGENCE OPTIMIZATION

Image credit: MIO Marketplace (opens in new window)

To connect media publishers with buyers, MiO Marketplace recently closed a $550,000 angel round that valued the company at $3.6 million.

“MiO nails the pitch in a few really important parts, which is so wonderful,” writes Haje Jan Kamps, who deconstructed the company’s 16-slide deck:

Cover glass
History Slide (“Evolution of Online Marketplaces”)
Vision and mission slip
Problem slide
Solution picture
Opportunity slide
Market size slide
Competition Slide (“B2B SaaS for Media Buyers/Sellers”)
Value proposition slide 1 (“Features for buyers”)
Value proposition slide 2 (“Device for sellers”)
Business model slide (labeled “Go-to-market”)
Traction slide
Financial slide (labeled “Projections”)
Team Slide (“Founder”)
Guided slide
Contact slide

Dear Sophie: Last Minute H-1Bs, O-1A and EB-1A Extraordinary Credential Preparation

lone figure at the entrance to the maze hedge which has an American flag in the middle

Image credit: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch

Dear Sophie,

How many people should employers register in the H-1B lottery this year? Will there be fewer people because of all the layoffs?

Is it still possible to include more candidates by the deadline next week?

— Quick founder

Dear Sophie,

Can I improve my portfolio of achievements to establish my eligibility for an O-1A extraordinary ability visa and later an EB-1A self-petition green card if I am in the US but do not yet have work authorization?

— Serious and exceptional

7 investors reveal what is popular in fintech in Q1 2023

Money coins in a pile

How are fintech investors adapting in this downturn and how are they advising the entrepreneurs in their portfolios?

Mary Ann Azevedo interviewed seven VCs to ask how (or if) some have changed their mission to fit current macroeconomic trends and learn more about the types of opportunities they’re looking for right now: