My startup banking story (2023)

Chase sucks so bad, I would spend a lifetime encouraging anyone to bank elsewhere. I know Mitch is nice enough to say Chase wasn't the problem, but their "controls" are so archaic it makes doing business with them a chore and not a pleasure.

I'm not a fan of Chase, and I don't think I'd bank with them again, but they are a 'large national bank'. If you value having local branches mostly where ever you go, they're part of that group. That comes with all the usual exciting attractions like negligible interest on balances, and miscellaneous fees. But if you want a large national bank, eh, I guess they're fine?

My California based credit union doesn't even offer business accounts. And using the co-op network to do in-branch business at other credit unions is not as easy as the marketing lead me to believe, so I had to get a local credit union account where I moved as well. My Washington credit union does do business accounts, so that's a nice option if I need one. Plus, it's fun being a member of two aerospace/defense employee credit unions when I only worked in tech :P

Lots of local branches sounds great for personal banking, but for businesses? Unless you have a nation wide franchise business or a logistics business, doesn't seem as important.

On the contrary, a highly concentrated bank might be better, everyone is on the same building, there are no encapsulated branches, you get assigned a banker that is the best fit, rather than the one who was born closest to you.