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// STARTUP COMPARISON

Increase (Argentina) vs Silicon Valley Bank

Increase (Argentina) failed in 2022 due to Founder Chaos. Silicon Valley Bank failed in 2023 due to Unit Economics. Different causes, different sectors, different eras — but the same simulation outcome.

METRIC🔥 Increase (Argentina)🔥 Silicon Valley Bank
SectorFintechFintech
CountryArgentinaUSA
Founded20151983
Died20222023
Raised$20MPublic company (SIVB)
Peak$20M raised$209B assets
Primary CauseFounder ChaosUnit Economics

// WHY EACH FAILED

🔥 Increase (Argentina)
Founder Chaos
Increase built a payment reconciliation platform for Argentine businesses processing card payments. After raising $20M and growing to 3,000 business customers, a co-founder dispute over strategy and equity split emerged in 2022. The conflict became irreconcilable, leading to the departure of key technical co-founders and a significant loss of product development capacity. The company never recovered its pre-conflict velocity.
// LESSON
Co-founder agreements must specify conflict resolution mechanisms before the conflict exists. By the time a co-founder dispute is irreconcilable, the damage to the team and product is already done.
🔥 Silicon Valley Bank
Unit Economics
Silicon Valley Bank collapsed in March 2023 after a bank run driven by duration mismatch. SVB had invested deposits in long-duration bonds during low-rate periods. When rates rose, those bonds lost value. SVB announced a $1.8B loss on bond sales and a capital raise — triggering a $42B bank run in 24 hours. The FDIC seized SVB on March 10, 2023 — the second-largest bank failure in US history.
// LESSON
Asset-liability duration matching is not optional for banks. Investing short-term deposits in long-term bonds is a structural bet against rising rates. SVB had $80B in long-duration bonds when the Fed began the fastest rate rise cycle in 40 years.

// IN THE SIMULATION

Increase triggers COFOUNDERS_DISPUTE — the simulation models co-founder exits as the second most common cause of Series A-stage company failure after unit economics. When technical co-founders leave, product velocity drops 60%+ and team morale collapses.

SVB triggers DURATION_MISMATCH_BANK_RUN — the simulation models banks with long-duration bond portfolios as having existential rate sensitivity. A 400bps rate rise on a long-duration portfolio creates mark-to-market losses that exceed capital when forced to sell.

// EXPLORE FURTHER

Full Increase (Argentina) autopsy →Full Silicon Valley Bank autopsy →More Founder Chaos failures →All Fintech autopsies →