Thread: Mint.com founder - how he did it (170 mill exit after 3 years)

Check out the video. Great explanation with breakdown of costs etc.

And the 4 stages: Garage, getting seed money, Funding by VCs, Exit

Everything You Wanted To Know About Startup Building But Were Afraid To Ask

Bump for this awesome vid.

I was literally shocked after watching it that no one else posted. I definitely think that this is worth your time if you:

-Are thinking about starting an internet company.
-Would like a general idea of what an internet start-up like mint costs.
-Would like to know what stages an internet start-up goes through.

It is about 25 minutes long and uses a real world example with pretty close $ figures and where that money goes when building a company.

This video is awesome. Thank you.

will watch thanks

Awesome video, a must watch. What struck me was this guy comes across as your average guy ... meaning, what he did is possible for everyone. Notice that funding didn't come until a prototype was in place -- invest in a prototype if you expect investors to look ... until then, you are like everyone else -- an unexecuted idea of worthless value.

Originally Posted by PhxMJ

Awesome video, a must watch. What struck me was this guy comes across as your average guy ... meaning, what he did is possible for everyone. Notice that funding didn't come until a prototype was in place -- invest in a prototype if you expect investors to look ... until then, you are like everyone else -- an unexecuted idea of worthless value.

Yeah, a prototype is mandatory...
Not a bad deal, he got ~$51million(he had about 30% equity as sole founder)....

Originally Posted by Gymjunkie

Only 30 percent?? That's why I wouldn't want to raise VC money for my projects in the future...It might change later on thought, but I love freedom too much..

Remember that not only VCs had equity, ALL the guys working there also had a stake and, as usual, if they stick around for X amount of time they can cash out those shares...
They raised $31.8million, that's a lot of cash so it's normal that VCs had a good % of the company...
Mint.com Company Profile

I would love to cash out with $51million and give the other $120millions to my co-workers and the guys who backed me to get there....

i'm definately gonna have to watch this vid after work!!

Originally Posted by CACTUSWREN

Awesome video!

I have to say I wonder why he decided to go from entrepreneur to employee though...

I realize he is young, but he sold his company and seems to think its pretty wonderful to have a great job at Intuit now.

I think that one of the reasons is that he has to meet some targets in order to get is full money and other is that he likes what he's doing so....

Originally Posted by Gymjunkie

I just don't like being controlled too much.. getting VC money adds pressure to profit ASAP and VCs are typically looking for great exit. Not necessary my thing.

I see your point and i think it all depends on the situation.
If you feel you can achieve certain goals with your startup with out funding then don't go that road. But if there's a need to scale rapidly then you'll need money and if you don't have any, you'll to turn to someone besides family and friends.
there's lots of guys out there that bootstrapped and are doing fine and also got acquired. Each case is a different one...

amazing video...has a lot of really great points for people trying to start up an internet company.

Great story. I am guessing that mint aggregates your financial record info. It makes sense but I am surprised many people would give up their financial account info to a third party. Bravo to Mint for trying it!

As far as control when growing a company and working w/ angels&VCs. Good luck to anyone keeping a majority ownership. It will rarely ever happen. That is why it is important to pick your partners strategically who have familiarity w/ your segment, instead of taking the first cash available.

Angels/VCs can be tremendously helpful w/ contacts to scale a business rapidly and avoid various pitfalls. Many times these type ideas for online businesses the advantage is to whoever gets to scale marketshare first and establish a brand name rather than best of breed or protecting some proprietary idea. I'm sure there were tens or hundreds of video sites like youtube online but with well known VC partners it can be easier to blow up into something big. Sometimes owning a small part of a huge pie is a whole lot more profitable.

Only 30 percent?? That's why I wouldn't want to raise VC money for my projects in the future

That's a very common mindset mistake. The fact of the matter is if he had not raised his 30 millions in VC money he would have failed miserably. He needed that cash to invest on the site, hire people and be the fastest to become a leader in his space. Remember, it's better to have a fraction of 170 millions than to own 100% of a site nobody cares about.

CommonCents also make an excellent point: VCs don't bring only money (when you work with good ones). They bring their expertise and help you scale. Then they use their network of contacts to help you do a big exit. This is HUGE.

I realize he is young, but he sold his company and seems to think its pretty wonderful to have a great job at Intuit now.

That is just BS. In order to sell the business he had to sign a contract with Intuit promising to stay for a while (a year or three, it depends). Now he leads a team there, so he has to say he loves it. Standard operating procedure. As soon as his contractual obligations are over he will be out of there to start something else.

That is a great video. I'm really interested to hear more about the best way to find a qualified engineer that you can trust to write your code.