Following Silicon Valley Bank’s breakdown, it’s clear: ‘Entrepreneurs deserve more love’

We were far from the Silicon Valley Bank blast radius, but watching so many people on Twitter dismiss the impact of the fiasco on startups — even revel in their hardships — was infuriating. It’s un-American.

Imagine going to your family and friends, asking for their hard-earned money to help you chase your dream, knowing they only said yes because of the faith they have in you personally. Then, imagine convincing other talented people to join you, feeling like you’re individually responsible for their career, their livelihood, maybe even their family. That’s all after your spouse agrees to stay trapped in their stable job, to hold down the fort.

While carrying that weight, you choose a lawyer, an accountant, insurance broker, and payroll processor, to name a few. For first-time founders, those come by way of referrals. And, when a friend or board member recommends a well-known bank, the last thing you’re thinking about is stress-testing their balance sheet. You have a product to build and sell, a team to organize and inspire. Everything else is checking a box.

The idea that your bank might be insolvent in a flash — that your money might vanish — never has time to cross your mind.

Thankfully — and rightfully — thousands of entrepreneurs and their coworkers were spared last week. They were victims, plain and simple.

The societal benefits go far beyond the people saved. If even one aspiring business-starter was deterred by the ordeal, who knows what kind of world-changing innovation we may have lost?

America would not be America without our entrepreneurs. It’s in our DNA. Literally.

A European friend recently told me that the singular, unique characteristic of Americans — and the number one reason for our success — is our courage to fail. Think about it. Many of us trace our lineage to the only people with the genetic screws loose enough to sail across a deadly ocean for 90 days on a rickety, scurvy-ridden wooden boat.

Even today, immigrants brave long and often perilous journeys to get here. It’s no surprise they’re nearly twice as likely as native-born citizens to be entrepreneurs.

The rest of us are getting soft. We’d rather root for risk-takers to fail, to dunk on them when the breaks don’t go their way. It validates our decision to play it safe. Screw bailouts!

But the joke is on the haters. Because the risk-takers would just dust themselves off and start over anyway.