A Year Later, Lessons From Silicon Valley Bank’s Epic Collapse

March 10, 2023, should’ve been a day to celebrate for Eric Vogel. He was about to sign a funding deal for his recycling startup, Circularr, after five months of due diligence. The investor just wanted to talk to one last reference, a formality before the deal closed.

That call never happened. “They didn’t show up because it was the day that Silicon Valley Bank went under and one of their main banking partners was SVB,” Vogel said.

The collapse of SVB was swift and stunning, triggering days of sheer terror in Silicon Valley. Y Combinator’s Garry Tan warned that the failure ...