Earlier quoted context omitted.
Startup founders are usually not all that well versed in these best practices because it’s the first time they’ve been put in this situation and it’s a distraction from their primary focus to grow the business.
This company put $60 million into its deposit account at SVB. $60 million and they couldn't hire expertise? what about the VCs? Regardless of the risk aspect they were losing probably close to 4% on $60 million. But the risk aspect is not non-obvious. It's something every individual depositor having more than $250,000 is aware particularly after the 2007 financial crisis.
"Our business isn't to manage money, it's to build a product for end users." This is the attitude I see with startups constantly. If it isn't a direct concern for the core efforts of what they are trying to do, they ignore it entirely. It doesn't matter how much of an improvement an action gives because they have tunnel vision