Riding Unicorns: Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | Technology · Riding Unicorns Productions

Inside SVB's dramatic acquisition and the Future of UK Venture with Erin Platts, CEO of Octopus Ventures

November 26, 2025·43 min·2 clips

Ninety minutes of sleep while managing insolvency lawyers and potential acquirers—adrenaline was survival.

Erin Platts, CEO of Octopus Ventures, joins hosts James and Hector to share her journey from Silicon Valley Bank to leading a major UK venture platform. Platts brings over two decades of experience in banking and venture capital, offering a unique operator-investor perspective. The conversation delves into the dramatic collapse and acquisition of SVB's UK arm and the strategic vision for Octopus. Platts recounts the SVB crisis that began on March 9, 2023, describing four consecutive all-nighters with her team to secure a buyer. She highlights the critical regulatory distinction that made SVB UK a standalone subsidiary, which initially insulated it from the US bank run. The team worked with UK government officials, regulators, and private bidders, ultimately selling the business to HSBC in a deal signed after days of intense negotiation. She reveals the office resembled a "frat house" by the end, requiring an emergency clean before HSBC executives arrived. Platts notes that despite the trauma, client-facing staff received competing job offers, yet attrition remained in the low teens. She credits HSBC's leadership for preserving SVB's unique culture and service ethos post-acquisition. A surprising insight is Platts's personal struggle for over 12 months following the collapse, balancing professional composure with private heartbreak. She observes that financial loss was rarely discussed internally, with teams focused on operational continuity. Platts emphasizes that pre-built trust within her team was more crucial during the crisis than any real-time management plan. She argues that effective leadership requires "over-communication" and visibility, especially during emergencies. Platts believes the UK venture ecosystem has progressed significantly since 2007 but still needs a stronger "capital continuum" from pre-seed to public markets. She cites Octopus Legacy, an estate planning firm, as a future unicorn within the Octopus portfolio for its emotional and financial innovation. The episode maintains a reflective and conversational tone, blending personal narrative with strategic analysis. Platts offers candid lessons on crisis management, leadership vulnerability, and ecosystem building. Founders and operators in fintech or venture capital will appreciate the firsthand account of a high-stakes financial rescue and leadership insights. Listeners seeking a purely technical analysis of UK venture metrics might find the personal storytelling less directly applicable.

As heard by us

A steady conversation that traces the SVB to HSBC transition and a practical view of the ecosystem ahead.

Erin Platts gives a grounded account of a career spent on the banking side and in support of founders. The conversation follows her move from New York and Boston to the UK, then into the deal that ended her SVB chapter and the four-day stretch that came after it, with the…

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Why you'd press play

Hear how SVB's collapse and HSBC acquisition felt from someone who was in the room.

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