Terrence Dorsey

Senior Technical Writer and Content Strategist • Rural fiber broadband @ Southern Vermont CUD •

[Adam Silver @adamsilverhq]

UX tip:

Work hard on error messages.

They help users recover from their lowest point.

Bad errors:

• pass the blame
• use inappropriate tone
• are generic
• use technical jargon

Good errors:

• are clear
• explain why
• help users fix it
• provide reassurance

[Terrence Dorsey @tpdorsey]

@MikeIsaac @YYYs @GreekBerkeley ❤️ the Greek so much. What a great venue.

[Terrence Dorsey @tpdorsey]

Is your code well documented? @ArjanCodes explains how to improve the docs in your code.

Tip for using LLMs: CoPilot makes good suggestions. With ChatGPT, be thoughtful about prompts.

5 Tips for Writing Great Code Documentation https://t.co/o3x77Kzcyf via @YouTube

[Terrence Dorsey @tpdorsey]

@RustOleum Boo. At least I was able to find the Verde Green before it's all gone. Thanks for the reply.

[Terrence Dorsey @tpdorsey]

@RustOleum I'm a big fan of your Hammered spray paint line. Unfortunately, 7212830 Light Blue seems impossible to find these days. Any chance of seeing this color in stores again? (I did find a case of 7219830 Verde Green and it's lovely.)

[Jeremiah Lowin @jlowin]

If “returns are made in good times, and reputations are made in bad times” then a lot of VCs are about to cement their reputations with how they support startups exposed to SVB.

[Jeremiah Lowin @jlowin]

I spent a lot of last night working with founders in various stages of preparedness and exposure for the SVB fallout. It is becoming increasingly clear that the question isn’t *if* deposits will become available, but *when*.

In situations like this, the most important thing is to focus on the things you *can* control, not the ones you *can’t*. Here is the framework I would use to identify starting points for the next few days. I don’t think there’s anything earth-shattering here, but sometimes seeing the path is the hardest part of the journey.

Starting points for founders:

- If you’re large enough to have a finance team, it’s time to shine! If not, rely on your investors and attorneys to validate and supplement your approach.

- Up to $250k of your FDIC-insured deposits should be available on Monday. Make sure you know how to access them.

- Open a new bank account. This can typically take time and requires verification, but under the circumstances a lot of banks are working to accelerate it. FWIW, our team is very happy with JP Morgan. You *need* a bank account, so if you don’t do this, you’re essentially gambling that someone buys SVB and reopens your account immediately. Don’t bet the company on things outside your control.

- Your investors are your first call for short-term liquidity. This is literally their job: providing necessary capital to startups that they think will succeed. However, unfortunately, it is not their obligation. A lot of investors are about to conclude that bear markets aren’t as much fun as bull markets. If you meet resistance, don’t waste your time and move on. You will survive this; that relationship won’t.

- There are a number of short-term liquidity products that are popping into existence. I’m aware of efforts from @fundrise, @AngelList, and others. These are short-term loans with simple terms, backed by your deposits. I don’t know if a list of these is being crowdsourced anywhere at this time.

- Your immediate priority is to protect the cashflows the company depends on. That’s almost certainly your 3/15 payroll. In most cases, CEOs, co-founders, and other executives should not be paid until more funds are available. Go through non-salary cashflow and identify what you *need* to pay vs what can wait 30+ days. Good vendors will understand the situation.

- Be transparent with your team about what’s happening. It’s probably not as bad as what they’re reading on Twitter.

- By Monday we hope to have clarity on who owns the bank. You need to plan as if that’s a procedural detail with little impact on you; I’ve heard some hopes that a white knight will instantly be able restore everything to normal — do you really want to bet your company on that? Let it be a pleasant surprise, not something you need to happen. Focus on what you can control.

- I expect a liquid market for receivership claims to emerge immediately. This means if you need cash, you’ll probably be able to sell your claim at a discount. The discount is likely to be significant, as in 50% or more. The discount reflects uncertainty about both recovery and timing — even if it’s certain that 100% of deposits are going to be recovered, there will still be a significant discount to compensate buyers for the uncertainty of when they’ll be paid out. This means your runway may have realistically been cut in half or more. That needs to prompt a whole new decision framework on how to maximize the sustainability of the business.

- Within a week or two, the ecosystem will coalesce on emergent practices for trading receivership claims. Get to that point. At that time you’ll have a new decision to make: sell your deposit claims at a discount (most probably), borrow against them (if your situation allows), or seek additional funding (hopefully not). This will be a deeply idiosyncratic decision.

[Terrence Dorsey @tpdorsey]

@MikeIsaac @durumcrustulum Saw a ton of shows there in the 80s, including Motley Crue opening for Y&T. Good venue back then. Pretty sunsets. Dunno what it's like today.

[Terrence Dorsey @tpdorsey]

@JoshCalvetti Misleading descriptions and shady sellers

[Terrence Dorsey @tpdorsey]

@jlowin Zoinks!

[Terrence Dorsey @tpdorsey]

All contributions matter!

[Anna Geller @anna__geller]

All contributions matter!

[Terrence Dorsey @tpdorsey]

@jlowin Huh. I read this as hens that are vegetarian and federal employees.

[Terrence Dorsey @tpdorsey]

@_mfridman @jawnsy @squidfunk Thanks Mike. The team treats docs as a first-level product feature and gives me a huge amount of support in making that happen. We're also really pleased with Material for Mkdocs.

[derek guy @dieworkwear]

lots of ppl are angry that they can't buy whatever they want for the lowest possible price, and use economic class to justify their positions (e.g., "you hate poor people"). but taking a hard look at how much things *should* cost is good for labor and the environment.

[Jeremiah Lowin @jlowin]

I have a little data
I made it from arrays
When analyzed & ready
Oh data I’ll display

My data is so playful
It loves to DAG and jin-ja
It’s time to blame the data
Complain now let’s begin-ja

Oh data data data
I write SQL all day
And when it’s DRY & ready
Syntax error on line 8

[Terrence Dorsey @tpdorsey]

@jlowin

[Terrence Dorsey @tpdorsey]

@jlowin

[Terrence Dorsey @tpdorsey]

@marcedwards VSCode

[Terrence Dorsey @tpdorsey]

@jlowin Pot luck

[Terrence Dorsey @tpdorsey]

@MikeIsaac YES