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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sent startup six-figure loan after SVB collapse

businessinsider.com

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Re: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sent startup six-figure loan after SVB collapse

#31

Post by rdl »

Waterluvian wrote: post #18
rdl wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a lawyer, but I would be pretty comfortable with SVB -> personal account if you documented why and communicated about it in advance with board/counsel. (Obviously the next step would be opening a Chase/etc. account and sending the funds on to that, not using your personal account for company business on an ongoing basis, but a limited number of emergency transactions should be fine.)

Isn’t it generally a cardinal sin of business finance though?

Comingling is. In this case there is a clearly articulable reason why ("our bank is going out of business"), and it's temporary, documented, etc. The twin risks to avoid are appearance of embezzlement, and appearance that you're treating the business account and personal account as one (which potentially allows piercing corporate veil/attaching personal assets), but if your building is on fire, you're allowed to break the window to rescue the kitten.

Re: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sent startup six-figure loan after SVB collapse

#32

Post by gfsdgsfgfds »

breck wrote: post #24
gfsdgsfgfds wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not. SVB account is frozen. Nothing in or out. Wire had to land March 13th so had to be sent Friday.

A wire on the 13th lands on the 13th.

My personal bank is Bank of America. I paid the $30 to do "1 business day" I read that as if I did it on Monday it would land Tuesday. Gusto was saying it had to be funded by Monday. Perhaps it would have worked out fine that funds would be unlocked on Monday and Gusto would have been fine with wire initiated on Monday, but this was Friday and everything seemed on fire.

FWIW, Just looked at the screenshot of the wire completion and it does say "Same day". But I did it at after 8pm. Anyway, I felt I did the safest thing to keep the staff from freaking out and for me not to be too stressed through the weekend. I'll have enough headaches moving banks the next two weeks to also be worried about payroll.

Re: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sent startup six-figure loan after SVB collapse

#33

Post by phphphphp »

brunooo wrote: post #4

One of those rare opportunities to clearly assess VCs from the outside, and surprisingly good steady reaction by him and Khosla. Who else?

Maybe it’s not fair to compare Garry Tan to sama in this situation because Garry is the current president and sama is the former, but, it’s nice to see sama’s measured response compared to Garry’s.

Garry is shouting from the rooftops that more than a million jobs are going to be lost if the fed doesn’t immediately do something (that we all know it isn’t going to do). I wouldn’t want to be a YC startup right now, listening to Garry stoke panic.

Kudos to sama for being pragmatic and calm.

Re: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sent startup six-figure loan after SVB collapse

#34

Post by swatcoder »

breck wrote: post #25
xiphias2 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People don't have access to that $250k right now, it takes time.

Everyone will have $250K tomorrow.

As an owner who feels responsible to your staff, and who feels bewildered by the sudden closure of your bank, you may not trust what you think you know.

Securing alternative funding for your payroll makes sense and is commendable.

Re: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sent startup six-figure loan after SVB collapse

#35

Post by giraffe_lady »

sql-spy wrote: post #28
giraffe_lady wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm normally very against the HN norm of just naming a fallacy and considering an entire argument dismissed but in this case I think it does apply. This is not a Just World, some unworkable companies will get bridge funding because of their connections and no other reason. Aside from that timing is always a thing. There's certainly a company out there that is 8 months away from proving the soundness of their idea tha…

Circumstances changed. Running a startup means time is never on your side. If you are still 8 months away from proving "soundness" of your idea then you are already too late.

ok but I mean that means that whatever outcome arrived at is necessarily the correct outcome. you're establishing correctness post hoc and so you will always find it. have fun tho.

Re: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sent startup six-figure loan after SVB collapse

#36

Post by kfrzcode »

rdl wrote: post #16
gfsdgsfgfds wrote: post #12

Just one anecdote of many. I'm a founder of a bootstrapped startup. We are/were with SVB. On Thursday I tried to get a Brex cash account setup to move some operational cash there but it didn't happen in time. I thought of wiring money out of SVB to my personal account but decided it felt too dodgy. Payroll for 2 weeks ending March 15th had to be funded through Gusto by tomorrow (March 13th). So I did all I could do w…

Not a lawyer, but I would be pretty comfortable with SVB -> personal account if you documented why and communicated about it in advance with board/counsel. (Obviously the next step would be opening a Chase/etc. account and sending the funds on to that, not using your personal account for company business on an ongoing basis, but a limited number of emergency transactions should be fine.)

If you're not a lawyer, in this case, it's not really relevant what your comfort level is with business dealings. If you're a professional with appropriately relevant skills and expertise, I'd rescind my comment.

Re: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sent startup six-figure loan after SVB collapse

#37

Post by danielfoster »

Waterluvian wrote: post #18
rdl wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a lawyer, but I would be pretty comfortable with SVB -> personal account if you documented why and communicated about it in advance with board/counsel. (Obviously the next step would be opening a Chase/etc. account and sending the funds on to that, not using your personal account for company business on an ongoing basis, but a limited number of emergency transactions should be fine.)

Isn’t it generally a cardinal sin of business finance though?

Not if it’s documented, short-term and for a very extraordinary reason.

Re: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sent startup six-figure loan after SVB collapse

#38

Post by kfrzcode »

gfsdgsfgfds wrote: post #32
breck wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A wire on the 13th lands on the 13th.

My personal bank is Bank of America. I paid the $30 to do "1 business day" I read that as if I did it on Monday it would land Tuesday. Gusto was saying it had to be funded by Monday. Perhaps it would have worked out fine that funds would be unlocked on Monday and Gusto would have been fine with wire initiated on Monday, but this was Friday and everything seemed on fire. FWIW, Just looked at the screenshot of the wire…

A wire can commonly take up to two days; just FYSA.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/wiretransfer.asp

Re: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sent startup six-figure loan after SVB collapse

#39

Post by kfrzcode »

resource0x wrote: post #27
vagabund wrote: post #7

Commendable of course but also feels like a no brainer. Depositors will almost certainly be made whole. Word will spread of the deed and the goodwill generated will more than repay the low-risk short term loan.

What is six-figure loan? Is it like $100,000? Is it really a heroic act worthy of posting on the front page?

Anywhere between $100,000 and $999,999, ostensibly.

Re: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sent startup six-figure loan after SVB collapse

#40

Post by ignoramous »

resource0x wrote: post #27
vagabund wrote: post #7

Commendable of course but also feels like a no brainer. Depositors will almost certainly be made whole. Word will spread of the deed and the goodwill generated will more than repay the low-risk short term loan.

What is six-figure loan? Is it like $100,000? Is it really a heroic act worthy of posting on the front page?

> Altman did not confirm the amount he gave to Rad AI, or any other startups, but Gurson told Reuters he would guess Altman has given at least $1 million to his startup and others.

> Sam has been sending stuck startups money today with no docs, just saying 'send me back whatever you can whenever you can'

May or may not be front-page worthy (and regardless of the PR potential / optics), this is Sam walking the talk, as it were.

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