Death Valley

Written by Brook Schaaf

As gripping as the past week was, the dramatic, unfortunate demise of Silicon Valley Bank was not to have been the topic of this week’s blurb save for two relevant tie-ins to our space.

First, at least three networks made statements, something I don’t recall happening in 2000 or 2008.

Awin CEO Adam Ross noted they had no relationship with SVB and that their payments provider, Payoneer, guaranteed no risk to its operation. Partnerize CEO Matt Gilbert noted they had no banking relationship and will be withholding payments to SVB accounts. impact.com CEO David Yovanno noted a relationship but pledged no adverse effects to partners.

Second, this should be a reminder to all of us to diversify. Had U.S. regulators not
pledged to guarantee deposits and access thereto, hundreds or thousands of companies might have fallen into default, an “extinction-level event” warning from Y Combinator’s Garry Tan.

If your publishing property has only one major merchant or your program only one major affiliate, you hazard a precipitous drop in revenue should something happen to the other party — or your relationship to it.

For my part, in a both cautious and confident move, I opened a high-interest business savings account for FMTC’s extra cash. I hope the affiliate site I clicked through gets its commission.