Startup Accounting
Choosing Your Startup Finance Stack: Banking, Cards, and Expense Management
Collated by Harry Prabandham
Curated by Rubric Financial
1 / 4
Banking: Mercury vs Brex vs Traditional
- Mercury: built for startups, free, $5M+ sweep into FDIC-insured Mercury Vault (across ~12 partner banks). Strong API + integrations. Best fit for VC-backed startups raising $500K-$50M.
- Brex: also free, integrated with Brex Card + expense management + AP. Best fit if you want a unified finance OS in one vendor.
- Traditional bank (SVB/HSBC/JPMorgan/etc.): venture debt access, banking relationships for later-stage, RIA services, complex international banking. Worth the friction at Series B+.
- Multi-bank strategy: post-SVB, most startups keep 1-3 weeks of operating cash in checking, sweep the rest into MMFs at multiple institutions — the goal is to never have >$1M unfunded at any single bank.
Related Resources
Startup Accounting
GAAP Basics for Startups
Understand the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles that every startup needs to follow, from revenue recognition to accrual accounting.
Startup AccountingAccounting Software Selection Guide
QuickBooks vs Xero vs Zoho Books — how to choose the right accounting software and build your finance tech stack.
Startup AccountingPost-SVB Banking Strategy: How to Stop Worrying About FDIC Limits
The Silicon Valley Bank collapse changed how founders think about banking. Practical strategy for spreading deposits, using sweeps, and managing counterparty risk.
About the author
Harry PrabandhamFounder & CEO
Founder and CEO of StartupCFO. MBA from Wharton, MS in Computer Science, and decades of experience building and advising venture-backed startups.
More articles by Harry →