I find it almost impossible to not see them as related. Take a look at [0]. Long-term this could be a good decision, I believe early-stage investing really is different to late-stage investment, but of course the moment to make this decision makes it evident there are other factors at play that influence this.
Hmm, that does make sense. The other comment here said that this kind of change is almost impossible to happen is such as short amount of time, which makes sense. Maybe they were already planning for a change in strategy by the new CEO, and this just happened to be an appropriate time to get done with the change already.
edit: Oh well the other commenter was the new CEO LOL, not used to reading usernames. I guess that adds a bit of bias but I believe it's a true statement.
I don't think the timing is random considering the climate. I have a feeling these seventeen will land softly compared to 99.9% of those caught up in recent layoffs.
"current down turn in risk assets" is almost as wonderful a phrase as "17 team members were impacted". The fact is that SIVB shares are now worth $0, and that many VCs and LPs were surely holding those can't be a total coincidence with today's "changes".