While people likely know that I worked at Silicon Valley Bank for 16+ years, people likely don't know that my father also actually worked at SVB in its earlier years when I was a kid growing up after school. Most days, I would get dropped off at SVB to do my homework there in the kitchen and then hang around until my father finished at work. Fast forward a few years, and my father was ultimately recruited out by a venture capital firm and then started his own. So for me, I was immersed growing up in startups and venture capital. And from this vantage point, fortunately, I was able to see what worked, what didn't work — the good, the bad, and the ugly, the good times and the bad. And for me that really set the foundation for my own journey, who I am and why I do what I do.

Watching SVB fail was heartbreaking. It was like watching a tragedy with so many close friends, clients, and employees I've known for so many years. I felt helpless, like everyone else, waiting for the rubble to settle before any of us could jump in to find resolutions. It was a massive gut punch. SVB was key to my upbringing and a huge part of my career and my identity, and to watch it all collapse in 48 hours definitely touched on a lot of different emotions. It was beautiful to see many of its competitors extend lifelines to affected clients and specifically, it was awesome to watch Brex step up in the way that it did in addition to bridging affected clients, moving $200 million of its own cash over to SVB as a sign of support. It really, really, really inspired me, and it's what kickstarted conversations with Brex and was the impetus for me to join and be a part of the solution.

I love this question. I have a ton of learnings to share, but for now, I'm going to choose one, and that is that people matter the most. You can have an amazing product, the right go-to-market strategy, great marketing — but if you don't have the right people or you're not investing in them, then your success has its limitations.

Today, Brex offers the full financial stack for startup needs and more. We're here to be your strategic financial partner and to provide business accounts to manage your operating cash. It could be split across $6 million of the FDIC insurance coverage and/or money market funds that offer super competitive yields. We have startup credit cards, bill pay, expense management, and travel as your org scales and grows globally.

Remember how I said people matter the most? So we're going to have Brex ambassadors physically located in key startup geos like SF, New York, Boston, LA, Miami, and Austin. These senior leaders are going to be serving as a strategic financial partner to help startups scale their companies, advising on the full financial stack of products.

Right now, we're really focused on delivering for the customers that came over from SVB as well as building out for future founder needs. As a result, we've updated our FDIC insurance coverage to $6 million. We've also rolled out a dashboard to help better manage multiple banking relationships — given that's the new world. We've also included dollar transfer features so that you could move cash around different accounts, including Brex.

I mean, it’s got to be AI. We’ve seen a tremendous number of AI companies onboard with Brex. In fact, in the past six months, we’ve seen a roughly 70% increase in the number of AI companies joining us. And Brex has been at the forefront of leveraging AI to modernize financial products and workflows from day one.

Given this long-term trend, we’re committed to providing a new suite of discounts and offers on the most valuable AI tools and systems that help startups grow their business, including a discount on Builder.ai® Studio Store®, Fireflies, Notion, StatSig and others, plus $2,500 in OpenAI API credits and access Scale AI.

We want to ensure our customers can tap into AI as a part of unlocking their own potential!

I personally think it's really important for all the different startup city hubs to thrive. I really do. And I don't think it's a competition — right now, it feels like SF is lively given developments in AI. And then as you move to New York, you've got fintech and enterprise. And you go to Boston, you've got biotech, and then go to LA, and you've got the creator economy. I can’t pick a favorite — they are all lively, and we want to serve them all.

I mentioned this earlier, and I'll say it again: people matter. And so for a founder who is starting a company tomorrow, everything from your co-founder to your first few hires — those people matter. Do you trust them? It really works against you to change these things out later. Surrounding yourself with the right people early on supports your success.

I truly believe that SVB left a massive hole in the startup ecosystem for what founders need to build and scale their companies. I also truly believe that Brex is best positioned to fill that hole with the people, products, and platform here. And for me, this was an amazing opportunity to come build and support founders and the greater startup community.