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This is a terrific exit for Mint Seriously? Maybe I don't get it but if Yahoo had bought Google or Facebook had bought Twitter would those have been terrific e

This is a terrific exit for Mint Seriously? Maybe I don't get it but if Yahoo had bought Google or Facebook had bought Twitter would those have been terrific exits? Why are they selling out so quickly? I don't trust Intuit and will probably stop using Mint (I was just getting started in the past few months).

timr 17y ago
The days of billion-dollar exits for zero-revenue companies are gone, and will probably continue to be gone for a long while to come.
- dkokelley 17y ago
  Was mint a zero-revenue company? They have at least three angles to cash in on what they have (aside from selling to Intuit): A) Pitching offers from banks for credit cards and accounts. Banks are willing to pay for these, and they have the information to match the right accounts with the right people. B) Offering tax-filing services like TurboTax. C) Sellign aggregate data from their customers (Not my favorite, but it's not necessarily off of the table).
  - timr 17y ago
    Nobody knows how much revenue they were bringing in, but I imagine it was something...they did have partnerships. My point is only that cashing out for $170M isn't necessarily a terrible idea when you're a fledgling startup with an unproven business model.
- patio11 17y ago
  Mint was making a rather significant amount of money as a credit card affiliate. (They also hawked other financial products, but that is almost certainly the most lucrative one. They have a lucrative CPA, a wider reach than home loans, and more repeat business in the demographics inclined to hand all their financial info to a Web 2.0 site.) Many, many affiliates who look at a million dollars as "Meh, not a lot of money to me anymore" physically drooled when they heard of Mint's model, principally because almost nobody realizes they're an affiliate marketer. As an affiliate, you (potentially) make a lot of money but defensibility of your revenue is a constant driving concern since Google, the merchant, or other affiliates can always disintermediate you. But who can disintermediate the guy you've already given full read access to your financial life to?
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
  - Poiesis 17y ago
    Do you have a source? Where do affiliates hang out and talk about business models?
    - encoderer 17y ago
      the trouble is cutting thru the sleaze in the industry. But if you're willing to tolerate it, you can find gems in their communities. Wickedfire.com. Shoemoney. DMConfidential. On and On, really.
      - Poiesis 17y ago
        Yes, that was the point--cutting through the sleaze. Thanks for the pointers.
  - timr 17y ago
    You're giving me reasons why they could be profitable, not proof that they are. Having a good story for future revenue is not the same thing as having revenue.

timr 17y ago

The days of billion-dollar exits for zero-revenue companies are gone, and will probably continue to be gone for a long while to come.

dkokelley 17y ago
Was mint a zero-revenue company? They have at least three angles to cash in on what they have (aside from selling to Intuit): A) Pitching offers from banks for credit cards and accounts. Banks are willing to pay for these, and they have the information to match the right accounts with the right people. B) Offering tax-filing services like TurboTax. C) Sellign aggregate data from their customers (Not my favorite, but it's not necessarily off of the table).
- timr 17y ago
  Nobody knows how much revenue they were bringing in, but I imagine it was something...they did have partnerships. My point is only that cashing out for $170M isn't necessarily a terrible idea when you're a fledgling startup with an unproven business model.
patio11 17y ago
Mint was making a rather significant amount of money as a credit card affiliate. (They also hawked other financial products, but that is almost certainly the most lucrative one. They have a lucrative CPA, a wider reach than home loans, and more repeat business in the demographics inclined to hand all their financial info to a Web 2.0 site.) Many, many affiliates who look at a million dollars as "Meh, not a lot of money to me anymore" physically drooled when they heard of Mint's model, principally because almost nobody realizes they're an affiliate marketer. As an affiliate, you (potentially) make a lot of money but defensibility of your revenue is a constant driving concern since Google, the merchant, or other affiliates can always disintermediate you. But who can disintermediate the guy you've already given full read access to your financial life to?
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- Poiesis 17y ago
  Do you have a source? Where do affiliates hang out and talk about business models?
  - encoderer 17y ago
    the trouble is cutting thru the sleaze in the industry. But if you're willing to tolerate it, you can find gems in their communities. Wickedfire.com. Shoemoney. DMConfidential. On and On, really.
    - Poiesis 17y ago
      Yes, that was the point--cutting through the sleaze. Thanks for the pointers.
- timr 17y ago
  You're giving me reasons why they could be profitable, not proof that they are. Having a good story for future revenue is not the same thing as having revenue.