Artifact Details

Title

Silicon Valley Bank oral history panel : Robert W. Medearis and Roger V. Smith

Catalog Number

102739977

Type

Document

Date

2014-11-11

Medearis, Robert W., Panelist

Smith, Roger V., Panelist

Smith, Stephen, Moderator

Computer History Museum

Mountain View, California

42 p.

Description

Founders of Silicon Valley Bank tell why and how they started a bank that changed the world for entrepreneurial companies.

Roger Smith, Bob Medearis, and Bill Biggerstaff (1919–2010) came together in the early 1980s around the idea of creating a commercial bank that would be designed to gather deposits and lend money to early stage venture backed companies to support their growth. The bank they created added greatly to the financing opportunities for these companies. In turn, this financing helped to stimulate the remarkable explosion of successful new companies in Silicon Valley. Roger and Bob tell their personal story as well as the struggles and successes they encountered in the first 10 years of building this remarkable banking institution.

Subject

commercial banking; Silicon Valley Bank; Smith, Roger; Medearis, Bob; Biggerstaff, Bill; Sonsini, Larry; lending; venture-backed companies; Venture Capital

Collection Title

Oral history collection

Series Title

Silicon Valley 360 : Silicon Valley Bank

Credit