043: SVB Boston's Jesse Bardo

Guest Jesse Bardo is a director in Early Stage Practice for Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in Boston, which banks upwards of 70 percent of Boston venture-backed companies. Bardo is active in the Boston innovation community and a proven entrepreneur turned angel investor and startup mentor. He was one of the founders of higher education SaaS company EverTrue (Techstars Boston 2011), which won the MassChallenge. After gaining Series A funding with Bain Capital Ventures, Bardo and his team grew EverTrue to 400-plus customers and 50 employees in Boston’s Seaport neighborhood. Bardo joined SVB in 2018. His role is to connect entrepreneurs with Boston’s accelerators, universities and additional partners. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, Bardo has been vocal on social media and via virtual events offering advice and support to the Boston innovation community. With the House recently passing a $484 billion supplement to the CARES Act, including $321 billion in fresh funds for small businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program, Bardo and his team have been working tirelessly to help Boston startups secure SBA loans. To that end, SVB recently shared it will be donating the net fees from the loans to COVID-19 relief. Discover more Boston Speaks Up at Boston Business Journal's BostInno: www.americaninno.com/boston/boston-speaks-up/