My Startup Banking Story
10 hours ago
- Mitchell Hashimoto opened a Chase business account with $20,000 of personal savings, assuming all banks are the same.
- After raising a $1M seed round, the branch banker Alex called to check in, but Mitchell brushed him off.
- Following a $10.2M series A and $24M series B, Alex continued to call after each large deposit, but Mitchell ignored him.
- After moving $35M to Silicon Valley Bank via online wire, Mitchell learned that Alex faced repercussions at Chase for losing the account.
- Two years later, fraud was discovered on the old Chase account, which was never closed, resulting in $100,000+ in losses.
- To close the account and withdraw the remaining ~$1M, Mitchell had to get a cashier's check from a branch that coordinated to have the funds available.
- The fraud was eventually fully recovered, and Mitchell reflects on his naivete as a young founder, not blaming Chase for the experience.