Why SVB?
How do we characterize SVB's 3 main categories of differentiation?
What are...
3 strengths of Brex
What are...
•Aggressive marketing—high level of awareness.
•Ability to look at bank balance to provide a limit that is unsecured.
•Robust expense management feature.
•Rewards that resonate with how tech founders spend money (e.g., AWS).
•A Y Combinator Company (so have access to others within that network).
Name the 4 clients with success stories in the Playbook
Who are Sun Basket, Peloton, Border X & Honk?
Why SVB? Demonstrate how you articulate SVB's Card Program value and differentiation.
You would say...
•Industry segment expertise – You have a RM who understands your industry and is focused on serving clients in the industry. Your RM personally cares about your success.
•Exclusively focused on innovation economy – We work with over 50% of venture backed startups. 23 of the 29 last tech IPOs have been SVB clients. We bank over 75% of the fintech top 50
•Integrated into business ecosystem in order to be a valued resource to you – We bring people (founders, VCs, strategic advisers, corporates) together.
•Weekly curated events in every market and sector.
•More than a card – We are not just trying to sell you a card, we also provide capital.
•Fastest growing B2B issuer.
•End to end – We have all the products you’ll need and we grow with you, because of our expertise.
•Customized approach for each opportunity.
•Consistent partners during good times and bad – We will do things for clients that others won’t (credit, relationship, customized solutions, regulatory flexibility).
•Proactive solutioning – We find opportunities to be different, always thinking of the next step for you.
•Credit extensions based on all factors – Because of our expertise, we’re able to account for seasonality, accommodate fast responses to evolving situations, etc.
Provide a proof point of how SVB is Client Centric.
What is...
3 ways SVB differentiates from Brex
What are...
•Brex is only a card. SVB offers a holistic payment strategy with payment automation, ACH, and API?
•Brex is all plastic and doesn’t do anything in the virtual card space. The Innovators Card evolves to meet the company’s needs as they scale without the need to re-plastic or apply for a new card. (e.g., add plastic or virtual cards, data feeds and integration to ERP’s, Reporting Engine, Revenue Share, etc.)?
•All Brex credit underwriting is algorithmic, based on balances. SVB takes a human view and can better understand a business even through spikes?
•We are your bank. We have your balances. We lend to you. We know your VC?
•Most of SVB clients are already using an expense reimbursement software today (e.g., Expensify, Abacus, Concur, Coupa, etc.) which eliminates the need for our clients to use Brex’s feature. Additionally, Brex doesn’t integrate with these existing platforms?
•They don’t do anything around accounts payable. SVB offers supplier enablement campaigns?
•The SVB offer is 1.5% cash back across all purchases in perpetuity—that can provide more value than multipliers for only specific types of purchases?
•They are a startup burning lots of cash and may not survive the next downturn. SVB is the 28th largest bank in the world and has survived 5 economic cycles?
By working with their SVB RM, this client is able to have their credit limit temporarily increased based on seasonal spend
Who is Border X?
SVB differentiation from Brex
Someone asks you, "I’ve been seeing Brex everywhere, what’s your take?"
You would say...
•Brex is only a card. SVB offers a holistic payment strategy with payment automation, ACH, and API.
•Brex is all plastic and doesn’t do anything in the virtual card space. The Innovators Card evolves to meet the company’s needs as they scale without the need to re-plastic or apply for a new card. (e.g., add plastic or virtual cards, data feeds and integration to ERP’s, Reporting Engine, Revenue Share, etc.)
•All Brex credit underwriting is algorithmic, based on balances. SVB takes a human view and can better understand a business even through spikes.
•“We are your bank. We have your balances. We lend to you. We know your VC.”
•Most of SVB clients are already using an expense reimbursement software today (e.g., Expensify, Abacus, Concur, Coupa, etc.) which eliminates the need for our clients to use Brex’s feature. Additionally, Brex doesn’t integrate with these existing platforms.
•They don’t do anything around accounts payable. SVB offers supplier enablement campaigns.
•The SVB offer is 1.5% cash back across all purchases in perpetuity—that can provide more value than multipliers for only specific types of purchases.
•They are a startup burning lots of cash and may not survive the next downturn. SVB is the 28th largest bank in the world and has survived 5 economic cycles.
Provide a proof point of how SVB acts as Strategic Advisors to Card Clients
What is...
3 ways SVB differentiates from AMEX
What are...
•AMEX typically requires personal guaranties from startups and sets corporate credit limits based on individual creditworthiness, so an AMEX card program will only scale as far as personal credit allows. SVB underwrites the business, taking a holistic approach?
•AMEX is predominantly a card solution. SVB has a full suite of commercial banking products?
•SVB offers a dedicated business relationship and industry expertise?
•SVB cash back rates not only match (and typically beat) AMEX, but SVB doesn’t force massive spending tiers that a business needs to hit in order to access the cash back rate?
•SVB cards have wider acceptance?
•It is easier to get access to virtual card products through SVB?
If your client says..
"The 1.5% cash back offer would be compelling, but I just don’t have a lot of card spend because we can’t seem to get our vendors/suppliers to pay by card."
The customer success story you should reference
Who is Sun Basket?
Use the Sun Basket Success story to illustrate how 1.5% cash back can be compelling for client's without a lot of card spend with vendors/suppliers.
You would say...
SVB Solution:
•SVB identified suppliers that would likely accept card payment due to the current acceptance status and presented to the controller a list of suppliers with specifics on each.
•SVB encouraged a vendor enrollment campaign with their key suppliers to drive change of payment type.
Sun Basket Results:
•Average monthly spend grew from $450,000 to $2MM.
•Due to the success, the Controller is continuously identifying other suppliers to start paying by card.
•Sun Basket has recently asked what will they need to do to increase the $2.5MM limit because they believe that limit will be too small when paying more food suppliers.