To Whom It Might Concern,
I’m Mike Kappel, CEO of Patriot Software program in Canton, OH. I’m calling on our authorities and lawmakers to step in and put their full weight behind SVB instantly as a way to make tens of 1000’s of hardworking American companies and their households entire once more.
Patriot, as we name ourselves, is an accounting and payroll software program platform that providers over 55,000 American companies in all 50 states – and their accountants. I based Patriot in 1986 within the basement of a manufacturing facility with no warmth, no air-conditioning, and flooring that may flood. As a substitute of shoppers, our solely guests consisted of rats, birds, flies, and snakes. Extra on my American Dream story, which is commonly broadcasted throughout ~300 US radio stations, is summarized on the finish. However first to the issue:
TRUST: Our small enterprise prospects belief us and respect us as famous by our 1000’s of 4.8 out of 5.0 star rankings. We’ve earned their belief by serving them day-in and day-out with integrity.
Instantly, all of that belief was shattered on March 10, 2023 when the sixteenth largest financial institution within the USA collapsed – out of the blue with none warning! Over $100 million of our 55,000 prospects’ payroll and payroll tax {dollars} had been gathered up and sitting in SVB that notorious Friday. Then, SVB’s programs had been frozen with out warning, and tens-of-thousand of our prospects’ staff didn’t obtain a paycheck for work that they’d already carried out.
Not solely are our 55,000 enterprise prospects completely disillusioned, however I can’t even fathom the ache and mistrust that their tens-of-thousands of staff should be feeling. These hard-working Individuals trusted their employer, who trusted Patriot, who trusted Silicon Valley Financial institution – and now, it seems that all of those American desires throughout the nation had been shattered in sooner or later.
PATRIOT: However wait, there’s extra. Patriot itself nonetheless has 100% of its working funds locked up in SVB. Our accounts are nicely in extra of the $250,000 FDIC insured restrict as a result of you may’t run a ~200-person firm like Patriot with out having hundreds of thousands within the financial institution. Now that we have now misplaced entry to our personal funds, we aren’t capable of pay our personal ~200 staff, and all people is aware of what which means.
POINT FINGERS LATER: We will speculate why SVB failed and who’s in charge. However none of that issues at this actual second. You will discover and punish whoever is in charge, later. What issues now’s that each one of us small enterprise house owners want our US Authorities to step in and put its full weight behind SVB instantly! And, I don’t imply days … I imply in hours. Failure to behave NOW will spawn a cataclysmic ripple impact that may shatter an unimaginable variety of actual small companies, their households, and it’ll spawn an irreversible lack of belief in our total monetary system. This wouldn’t be a bailout for the elites—that is to make entire 1000’s upon 1000’s of hard-working American companies. With out fast motion by our Authorities leaders, the mistrust this occasion is inflicting may very nicely flip this pending recession into the melancholy of 2023.
— Mike Kappel, CEO PatriotSoftware.com
OUR AMERICAN STORY (SUMMARIZED FROM HERE)
STARTUP: I began Patriot Software program within the basement of a manufacturing facility (authentic 1986 video, 3 minutes) with no warmth, no air-conditioning, and flooring that may flood. As a substitute of shoppers, our solely guests consisted of rats, birds, flies, and snakes. Blankets grew to become our workplace partitions. My associate and I ran out of cash, maxed out our bank cards, and we borrowed from family. It was 4 years earlier than our staff noticed something that resembled an actual paycheck. It was a really tough startup, however we had the grit to outlive.
GROWTH: Our fledgling startup finally grew and spawned 4 extra corporations – making 5 corporations in whole. Our first 4 startups had been all profitable, with two of them finally rising into medium-sized companies.
CASH: Our fifth startup in 2002 [Patriot Software] was considerably tougher and expensive than the prior 4 startups mixed. Patriot was designed from the very starting to assist fellow American companies be environment friendly and survive. I needed this to occur as a result of I understand how extremely tough it’s to begin and run a small enterprise. So we bootstrapped Patriot for ~13 years and self-funded hundreds of thousands of our personal {dollars} to develop Patriot. However, it wasn’t sufficient.
We spent ~6 years attempting to boost capital in Canton, OH. We bought/spun-off our different corporations. We handled bankers, non-public fairness companies, Household Workplaces, and we bought inventory to over 100 high-net-worth people. Regardless of being in a flyover state, we made it occur!
SUCCESS: Now, 21 years after beginning Patriot, we have now set an ordinary of excellence within the accounting and payroll software program industries. Our decades-long journey was full of successes, tribulations, and failures. However by the grace of God, we have now fulfilled our dream and now present the nation’s simplest and reasonably priced accounting and payroll platform.