Dont believe the pundits who conflate middle-class entrepreneurs and Big Tech. Startups are todays mom-and-pop businesses – Fortune

In the wake of Silicon Valley Banks collapse, followed by the FDICs decision to make good on all SVB deposits (even if they were uninsured), Ive seen one pundit after another describe the situation as nothing more than a bailout for the rich. Follow certain accounts on Twitter and you might think that SVBs client list consisted exclusively of libertarian billionaires.

Now if their criticism was aimed solely at rich investors, I might not say anything publicly. No ones going to shed a tear for the venture capital firmsand no one should. If someone wants to talk about how our industrys herd mentalitycontributed to SVBs fate, thats only fair.

What isnt fair, however, is acting as if everyone with an SVB account is the samefailing to distinguish between creditors and depositors, or between large and small businesses.Its easy to paint situations like this with a broad brush if you believe they only affect the richbut why should we lose empathy for hardworking people just because of where they bank?

Yes, when Eniac invests in a startup, we believe it could become the next unicorn or decacorn, and that it should make its founders wealthy in the process. But even as we hope our portfolio is full of future Jobses and Zuckerbergs (but better!), the key word isfuture.

While SVB hasnt released a detailed breakdown, Ive been told that the bank had thousands of depositors with fewer than 20 employees. The current reality for those depositors involves scrappily leading small teams to pursue their vision of building something transformative when they could probably be working less and making more money if they were at one of the big incumbents.Today, Americas mom-and-pop businesses are led by these entrepreneurs who are building companies in climate, healthcare, fintech, and more.

These are the founders our team has been talking to, listening as they strategized about how to ensure their small businesss survival beyond the coming weeks, and as they agonized over what this would mean for their teams. Their employees were suddenly left wondering if theyd actually receive their next paychecks, or if they might lose their jobs.

These are stories for the founders, not me, to tell. Most of them, of course, have been more focused on keeping their company afloat than on external communication. So Ive been grateful to those few who have been willing to publicly share their experiences:

Criticize the billionaires and the VCs all you wantbut remember that theyre not the majority of depositors affected by the news. Many future American innovators breathed a sigh of relief when they realized that their companies would live to fight another day and they could continue to employ the hard-working team members who depend on that paycheck to put food on the table.

Nihal Mehta is a co-founder and general partner at Eniac Ventures.

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs ofFortune.

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Dont believe the pundits who conflate middle-class entrepreneurs and Big Tech. Startups are todays mom-and-pop businesses - Fortune

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