For people who used Silicon Valley Bank as their primary source of banking, the collapse served as a lesson in diversification. King Alandy Dy, founder of San Francisco artificial intelligence logistics company Expedock, spent Friday waiting in line at Chase and Wells Fargo locations in Piedmont to set up new accounts — along with several other startup owners doing the same.
On Monday, he wired his money out of Silicon Valley Bank. “I’m just trying to have a decent spread,” he said of his new banking strategy.
Tegan Passalacqua of Sandlands Vineyards in Napa found out about last week’s bank failure from his boss, who “called me and said, ‘I hope you don’t have any money in Silicon Valley Bank,’ and I was like, ‘I’ve got all my money in Silicon Valley Bank.’”
Passalacqua has banked with the financial institution for 11 years and has more than half a million dollars across two accounts, which he uses to pay for business expenses such as farming contractors, glass and cork makers, and shipping services.
“I didn’t have much wiggle room on my balance sheet,” he said. “There are plenty of people who were saying, ‘It’s going to be fine at the end of the day,’ but you don’t know until you have access to it.”