I’m a Silicon Valley Bank Customer But I’m No ‘Tech Bro’
The rescue of SVB and First Republic Bank threw a lifeline to thousands of entrepreneurs, including many nontraditional founders in health care, clean energy and education.
There’s more to Silicon Valley than just rich tech bros.
Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
In recent days, fear and anger about the turmoil in our banking system has been boiling over, with some critics of government rescue efforts rooting for Silicon Valley’s demise. They paint a picture of swaggering “tech bros” taking risks with other people’s money and macho venture capitalists gunning for personal gain. When they reference founders, it seems they are picturing Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Adam Neumann. I don’t think they picture me.
While the Silicon Valley ecosystem has plenty of men with bulging egos (some obnoxiously vocal on Twitter), there’s another group quietly building startups here, many of whom were supported by Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank. I’m talking about nontraditional founders creating innovative companies in health care, clean energy and education whose companies fuel the country’s growth. The government’s actions to secure SVB’s funds were a lifeline to thousands of entrepreneurs who employ hundreds of thousands of workers and affect millions of lives.