Sam Altman: If SVB Were Called Farmers Bank of Santa Clara

Nonsense — the cash-flow, risk, and needs of a Farmer's bank would be dramatically different than SVB's customers. This isn't about branding.

Whilst a bank specialising in agri-financing could still make the same mistakes that SVB did, any involvement by the government would be recognising the unique characteristics of the agricultural sector and the broader impact to the nation should farm's fail. People need to eat.

That said, I do think there's an anti-Silicon-Valley sentiment in pop-culture (but I'd be wise not to extend that sentiment to the Federal government.) The sense is that this is a "rightful comeuppance," but its also hard to argue that is not deserved given the way in which the organisation got itself in this issue in the first place.

So true. The name made people want to stick it to “big tech”.