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- 💼 Welcome to Boardroom
💼 Welcome to Boardroom
Anuj
March 15, 2023
Good morning. Welcome to Boardroom’s first morning briefing! For venture backed CEO’s, so much valuable info travels along the grapevine. What do I need to know today? What are my peers doing?
We’re building this so you can focus on leading instead of preparing. There will be missteps along the way (like this now - ran into a beehiiv bug & published late!). But eventually our product will feel like you and I are going brisk walk around South Park before work. I’m honored you’ve joined me!
-Anuj
Sensible CEOs are moving money
What to know: Sensible CEOs are diversifying their banking relationships following the failures of SVB and FRB, though they’re notably still parking cash in those banks.
What’s happening: CEOs tell us they’re planning to move a third of their capital back to SVB or FRB and split the rest between tech banks (e.g., Mercury, Brex) and bigger institutions (e.g., Wells Fargo, JPM).
How come: Sensibility matters in “wartime” situations. SVB noted in a letter to clients that new and existing deposits are “fully protected by the FDIC,” but it’s wise to have a variety of accounts and credit lines.
Bank jitters persist
What to know: Banking tensions continue, this time for Credit Suisse. Its top shareholder, Saudi National Bank, owns just under 10%, and declared it would “absolutely not” invest more in the bank because crossing that threshold would subject it to new rules.
Why does this matter?: Credit Suisse is already on shaky ground. This week, it reported “material weaknesses” in financial controls. In Q4 ‘22, wealthy clients withdrew ~$100 billion, and it’s also lost money for five straight quarters.
What to do if you are a customer: Last night, Credit Suisse received a ~$54 billion loan facility from Switzerland's central bank to strengthen their liquidity base. But just like with last week’s SVB crisis, it doesn’t hurt to have accounts at other institutions.
Chat GPT has gotten scary good
What to know: OpenAI released GPT-4, with major advances. Sure, it can pass the SAT and bar exams in the 90th percentile, but interfacing with it gives off even more Uncanny Valley vibes.
What can it do?: Those playing around with it are consistently 🤯. From generating poetry to building complicated engineering systems to even social engineering humans to beat CAPTCHAs, it’s clear that GPT-4 is skilled at mimicking humans.
What does this mean?: This technology is advancing rapidly. If you haven’t tinkered with it yet, do so soon. Landscapes are going to move quicker than ever, and so should your startup.
But it’s not coming for our job
What to know: CEOs (and other top executives) are among the least likely to be automated out, right there with religious workers, according to a new report by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Why: According to OECD, a lot of what a CEO does is rooted in human touch: accountability, selling a vision, serving as a mascot, and negotiating. McKinsey estimates 25% of our jobs are automatable: things like reviewing and forecasting finances, and, erm, sending emails. (P.S.: I worked on this report! 😂)
What’s happening today: A Hong Kong gaming company installed an AI CEO to do those automatable things: streamline processes, support decision making, and help develop talent. Funny enough, this company’s stock has been beating the Hong Kong Index since the change last August.
YC axes growth fund
What happened: YC shuttered Continuity, its growth fund, in an effort to return to its roots.
Why (potentially): Garry Tan took over as the CEO in August. From my understanding, his soul and vision are in the early stages. Like everything in the valley, there was a signaling risk that existed for the startups YC did not invest in later on.
What to watch for: Anu Hariharan and Ali Rowghani, who ran the growth fund, are sharp stars who have helped the best growth-stage companies. I was fortunate to receive that help prior. Hopefully YC can recapture the reverence that surrounded it in the 2010s.