Of course your banker calls - in fact, what OP should've done is email the banker beforehand, "headsup: big day! We just closed our series A financing with <fund>. I've got $x coming in by wire." and they respond "congrats, I'll be on the lookout for it." You don't want to surprise your TradFi bank or banker, and you do want to "build a relationship" with them.
The WHOLE POINT and the key feature of TradFi banking is the personal relationship. No, you don't need to invite your banker to your kid's graduation. But yes, spend 15 minutes playing get-to-know-you in an RL branch, talk a little about the business (source of funds, what you do, types of customers, etc), bring them treats you know they like (important: must be tiny$) and then when Stuff Happens or You Need Something, the banker is suddenly your ally in dealing with the banking system. Remember, when you deposit $1M+ you're now part of "the club" and the bank and banking system is there to help you.
I've had a private bankers at multiple institutions for decades and have numerous stories where they untangled messes, worked around the pandemic, helped me "skip the line" and more. Friends tell me about wasting hours on banking issues but I've rarely experienced that, thanks to my private bankers. When things do get messed up, my banker explains what's going on, e.g. "yeah it's stupid and affecting other customers too - bank policy is ridiculous this year, but I'm sure they'll fix it because everybody's complaining and threatening to leave." And sure enough, a few months later it's fixed. Like Google, you report serious bugs and then wait, and if the fix is feasible and affecting other people, they eventually get fixed.
There are downsides: bankers are human and don't work 24x7x365 so you need to also make friends with the branch manager or an assistant, and of course TradFi isn't crypto and you can't transact at certain times/days, e.g. wire cutoff deadlines. Also, bankers retire, get promoted, move branches, etc so you need to plan to rebuild the relationship every 5-10 years. Finally, bankers vary in quality and "fit" - if you don't get someone you like, ask around. I once had a kickass banker but she switched branches and her replacement was too junior to help me, so I begged a little and got my account reassigned to her & her branch and life is good again.
tl;dr: TradFi is your friend if you play by its rules and work the system.
DM me for intro to a kickass Chase banker - direct referral in NYC, otherwise she'll refer you (so far, her referrals have been solid, but YMMV by location)
I mean, it sounds like the article is describing this, right? My takeaway was that the author didn't effectively handle their interaction with the banking system. The consequences seemed to be minimal in this case, but the takeaway for me was that interacting with the system as expected probably offers these benefits you describe.
I expect a 22 year old to hire someone who knows this, and I expect the board of directors to strongly recommend that a 22 year old to hire someone who knows this.
Of course your banker calls - in fact, what OP should've done is email the banker beforehand, "headsup: big day! We just closed our series A financing with <fund>. I've got $x coming in by wire." and they respond "congrats, I'll be on the lookout for it." You don't want to surprise your TradFi bank or banker, and you do want to "build a relationship" with them.
The WHOLE POINT and the key feature of TradFi banking is the personal relationship. No, you don't need to invite your banker to your kid's graduation. But yes, spend 15 minutes playing get-to-know-you in an RL branch, talk a little about the business (source of funds, what you do, types of customers, etc), bring them treats you know they like (important: must be tiny$) and then when Stuff Happens or You Need Something, the banker is suddenly your ally in dealing with the banking system. Remember, when you deposit $1M+ you're now part of "the club" and the bank and banking system is there to help you.
I've had a private bankers at multiple institutions for decades and have numerous stories where they untangled messes, worked around the pandemic, helped me "skip the line" and more. Friends tell me about wasting hours on banking issues but I've rarely experienced that, thanks to my private bankers. When things do get messed up, my banker explains what's going on, e.g. "yeah it's stupid and affecting other customers too - bank policy is ridiculous this year, but I'm sure they'll fix it because everybody's complaining and threatening to leave." And sure enough, a few months later it's fixed. Like Google, you report serious bugs and then wait, and if the fix is feasible and affecting other people, they eventually get fixed.
There are downsides: bankers are human and don't work 24x7x365 so you need to also make friends with the branch manager or an assistant, and of course TradFi isn't crypto and you can't transact at certain times/days, e.g. wire cutoff deadlines. Also, bankers retire, get promoted, move branches, etc so you need to plan to rebuild the relationship every 5-10 years. Finally, bankers vary in quality and "fit" - if you don't get someone you like, ask around. I once had a kickass banker but she switched branches and her replacement was too junior to help me, so I begged a little and got my account reassigned to her & her branch and life is good again.
tl;dr: TradFi is your friend if you play by its rules and work the system.
DM me for intro to a kickass Chase banker - direct referral in NYC, otherwise she'll refer you (so far, her referrals have been solid, but YMMV by location)