TIPS FROM THE CFO:
Banking and Credit Solutions for Startups

Credit cards and banks are all the same, right? Yeah, we used to think so too. 

But recently, we’ve found (and partnered) with two companies that have paid particular attention to what startups need, and they are providing solutions that can actually make a difference.

Here’s a little about both - Brex and First Republic Bank.

Brec Credit Card for Startups

If you don’t already know Brex, where have you been? See Brex valued at $2.6B with new cash from Kleiner Perkins.

Brex, a $2.6B Silicon Valley unicorn, offers a corporate card product (MasterCard) loaded with features startups need like higher credit limits, no personal guarantee, an easy instant online application, built-in expense management tools, automatic receipt capture, and virtual cards.  

Brex is a March 2017 Y Combinator graduate providing corporate cards (MasterCard) tailored for startups. Here are the reasons we like them and are recommending them to the majority of our startup clients:

  • No personal guarantees or security deposits
    Brex underwrites the company directly and does not use personal credit scores.
  • Higher limits
    10-20x higher than traditional small business corporate cards, because underwriting is based on the cash balance in your business bank account.
  • Nice technology
    Our accounting teams love the way Brex integrates with our other weapons of choice such as Expensify, Xero, and Quickbooks. The automated receipt capture is brilliant as well. All of it reduces our workload - which, in turn, reduces your bill with us. They also issue virtual cards which makes creating and tracking by accounts a breeze.
  • Crazy points
    Earn non-expiring points on every dollar spent with industry-leading multipliers on services that actually mean something to startups: 7x on ride-share, 4x on travel, 3x on restaurants, 2x on software subscriptions and 1x on all other transactions.
  • Freebies
    Over $25,000 of credits and freebies from the best providers in the startup ecosystem such as AWS, Google Ads, WeWork, and Salesforce.

If you aren’t already using Brex as the centerpiece for your credit card expenditures, fix that now by signing up at http://www.brex.com/keating. Or just let your Keating team know you want to Brexify - we will get things started.

 

First Republic Bank

And how about banking?

Some months ago, First Republic Bank decided to get serious about grabbing some of the startup and technology market share from Silicon Valley Bank, and, man, did they come out guns-a-blazing. They studied the needs of the startup market and put in place a very aggressive offering. Here are the things we like about what they are doing:

  • Very Brexy
    See above for our take on Brex. FRB has partnered with Brex as their official credit card partner and has further sweetened the pot by securing FRB customers dedicated support and waived card fees.
  • Free 409a
    FRB is offering one free 409a valuation. Smart.
  • Cloud Infrastructure Services
    • Amazon Web Services (AWS): $10,000 in credits, Up to $5000 and one-year of AWS Business Support, 80 credits for Self-Paced Labs
    • Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Membership in Google’s Cloud Startup Program which includes $100,000 in Cloud and Firebase credits among other significant support perks
  • Discounts to co-working, bookkeeping services, and others
  • Really really good service
    Seriously, the extra-mile and then some.

If you have not considered what Brex and First Republic can do for you, your startup, and your team, you should take a look.