4 ms·

If I woke up tomorrow and one of those sites was down for good, Mint is the one I'd miss the most.

by modoc 17y ago

axod 17y ago
Your comment isn't really useful :/ you're obviously an outlier. Most people would go insane if they couldn't access youtube or facebook. Social media, music, video are real problems that people have, and need solutions to. The problem comes when a startup doesn't really solve anything new and just copies existing stuff.
- modoc 17y ago
  I guess you and I have differing opinions on what "real problems" are. Personal finance, yup. Facebook feed, not so much. Out of people who use Mint and who use YouTube, I'd bet many would pick Mint over YouTube if they had to pick one. Honestly, if youtube or facebook vanished, and in this magical world, no one propped up a replacement. People would moan for a week, and then they'd go back to the same things they did before YouTube existed, with no change to anything practical in their life. People wouldn't go insane, they'd simple find other ways to waste time.
  - axod 17y ago
    Perhaps some of it is the fact that in the US you have to file your own taxes, so there's much greater emphasis on accounting. Maybe that's why it's valued more there :/ (In the UK I'm not sure most people would see the value in it). Facebook+youtube aren't just about wasting time. They're about communication and sharing information, which as social beings, is pretty important to most of us.
  - zaidf 17y ago
    Out of people who use Mint and who use YouTube What if you ask 1000 random people between YouTube and Mint?
  - krschultz 17y ago
    Exactly. Vimeo & Hulu replace all the value of YouTube. It is commodity free video hosting, there is no community at YouTube. Facebook is useful for me, but I wouldn't pay for it if I had to. I'd gladly pay for Mint. Mint has nothing to do with taxes like axod says. It is about budgeting and tracking expenditures. I used to get a statement in the mail each month from 4 different institutions related to bank accounts, credit cards, and investments. (Or check online at 4 different places). Then I would reconcile them with my checkbook / some pile of receipts to double check. Now I go to one place 1-2 times a week and check against my receipts right away. It never builds up and takes significantly less time. It also helps budget and gives you data to figure out where you are spending your money. If you are not one of those people who has money to keep track of or you don't balance your checkbook, then sure the value is hard to see. But if you actually take care of your money it is immensely helpful and saves me time and money.
    - axod 17y ago
      >> "Mint has nothing to do with taxes like axod says." >> "If you are not one of those people who has money to keep track of or you don't balance your checkbook, then sure the value is hard to see." I was really trying to work out why Mint seems to be valued highly in the US. I can see some of the differences now. The idea of having a 'checkbook' is incredibly quaint to most people in the UK. No one uses checks anymore here, not for 10-20 years, we're used to free banking, online account management, direct debits/transfers, etc. The majority of people have direct debits (Automated bill payments) setup for all their bills. They have their pay paid automatically into their bank by transfer (All free of course). Banks provide all the tools we need to manage our money for free generally. Some online banking tools even allow you to access other banks that you may have accounts with (With your approval), so you can see all your accounts from one interface, and get a better picture. I still think the added burden of having to file your own taxes would make you more likely to need something like mint, but it's probably more the extreme differences in consumer banking that's the bigger reason. If I had to pay my bills by check, I'd go insane.
      - psyklic 17y ago
        What you describe sounds like the US as well ... the power of Mint is in consolidating all of your accounts.
  - psyklic 17y ago
    Finance is important, but Facebook is such an essential networking tool, professionally and personally, that I completely disagree with you. Facebook solves a multitude of "real problems" -- just because some people "waste time" on it does not mean it isn't a serious tool. Without Facebook, for instance, I simply would not know nearly as much about the lives of my old friends and professional acquaintances -- this alone makes it very practical. Not only this, but Facebook helps me organize the many people I meet each day, lets me easily keep in touch with people I care about, lets me know who is in each city I visit so I can arrange meetups, facilitates much of my social life (invites/mixers/who's going to what), provides introductions, etc. Mint did not even exist two years ago, and people dealt with their finances then just fine. The difference between using Mint and not (in finance) is the same as the difference in using Facebook or not (in networking), in my opinion.
- TriinT 17y ago
  "Your comment isn't really useful :/ you're obviously an outlier. Most people would go insane if they couldn't access youtube or facebook." Facebook has 200 million users or so. The world has over 6 billion people. Hence, only 3% or so of the world's population uses Facebook. Moreover, Facebook is basically a rolodex. If Facebook disappeared tomorrow, people would use email instead. They would have no other choice. Let's talk of real problems. Over 1,000 million people live in extreme poverty. That's 5x the total number of Facebook users. So you talk of people going insane if they lost Facebook, and I find that extremely distasteful when 100s of millions of parents everyday struggle to feed their children. I am not being sensationalist, I am just putting things in perspective. Americans whine when unemployment reaches record levels and they can no longer afford Starbucks coffee everyday, but guess what, some people have real problems, like lack of food, lack of potable water, drought, disease, war, etc. I suggest you take some months off and go backpack around this world to see how fortunate we spoilt Americans / Western Europeans truly are...
  - axod 17y ago
    >> "Let's talk of real problems. Over 1,000 million people live in extreme poverty." Lets not. This is hacker news.
    - TriinT 17y ago
      Please! You are the one who called lack of Facebook a "real problem". I merely pointed out that there are actual real problems. Sure, I agree that this is HN and that this is NOT the place to discuss actual real problems (the truly real problems cannot be solved by software), but your reply was rather unintelligent and unimaginative. You used to do better than that...
  - teej 17y ago
    You are confusing a "real problem" from an entrepreneur's point of view, and a "real problem" from a global social perspective. I have been to Africa. I have fed the hungry, healed the sick, and vaccinated children myself with my own two hands. Interestingly enough, I wouldn't be in contact with the friends I made over there without -Facebook-. So don't tell me that Facebook "is basically a rolodex", because for me it isn't.
zaidf 17y ago
Precisely my point. What is a "real problem" varies from person to person. Me, I'm not even on Mint. But I couldn't go without facebook. Note I never said facebook was the "biggest" real problem or even one of the biggest. That is the poster's gross distortion of my post to strengthen his argument.
wensing 17y ago
Sean Ellis has said that a startup has achieved product/market fit when >40% of its visitors would be 'very disappointed' if the product were no longer available. http://startup-marketing.com/the-startup-pyramid/ http://startup-marketing.com/the-startup-pyramid/

If I woke up tomorrow and one of those sites was down for good, Mint is the one I'd miss the most.

by modoc 17y ago

If I woke up tomorrow and one of those sites was down for good, Mint is the one I'd miss the most.

axod 17y ago

Your comment isn't really useful :/ you're obviously an outlier. Most people would go insane if they couldn't access youtube or facebook. Social media, music, video are real problems that people have, and need solutions to. The problem comes when a startup doesn't really solve anything new and just copies existing stuff.

modoc 17y ago
I guess you and I have differing opinions on what "real problems" are. Personal finance, yup. Facebook feed, not so much. Out of people who use Mint and who use YouTube, I'd bet many would pick Mint over YouTube if they had to pick one. Honestly, if youtube or facebook vanished, and in this magical world, no one propped up a replacement. People would moan for a week, and then they'd go back to the same things they did before YouTube existed, with no change to anything practical in their life. People wouldn't go insane, they'd simple find other ways to waste time.
- axod 17y ago
  Perhaps some of it is the fact that in the US you have to file your own taxes, so there's much greater emphasis on accounting. Maybe that's why it's valued more there :/ (In the UK I'm not sure most people would see the value in it). Facebook+youtube aren't just about wasting time. They're about communication and sharing information, which as social beings, is pretty important to most of us.
- zaidf 17y ago
  Out of people who use Mint and who use YouTube What if you ask 1000 random people between YouTube and Mint?
- krschultz 17y ago
  Exactly. Vimeo & Hulu replace all the value of YouTube. It is commodity free video hosting, there is no community at YouTube. Facebook is useful for me, but I wouldn't pay for it if I had to. I'd gladly pay for Mint. Mint has nothing to do with taxes like axod says. It is about budgeting and tracking expenditures. I used to get a statement in the mail each month from 4 different institutions related to bank accounts, credit cards, and investments. (Or check online at 4 different places). Then I would reconcile them with my checkbook / some pile of receipts to double check. Now I go to one place 1-2 times a week and check against my receipts right away. It never builds up and takes significantly less time. It also helps budget and gives you data to figure out where you are spending your money. If you are not one of those people who has money to keep track of or you don't balance your checkbook, then sure the value is hard to see. But if you actually take care of your money it is immensely helpful and saves me time and money.
  - axod 17y ago
    >> "Mint has nothing to do with taxes like axod says." >> "If you are not one of those people who has money to keep track of or you don't balance your checkbook, then sure the value is hard to see." I was really trying to work out why Mint seems to be valued highly in the US. I can see some of the differences now. The idea of having a 'checkbook' is incredibly quaint to most people in the UK. No one uses checks anymore here, not for 10-20 years, we're used to free banking, online account management, direct debits/transfers, etc. The majority of people have direct debits (Automated bill payments) setup for all their bills. They have their pay paid automatically into their bank by transfer (All free of course). Banks provide all the tools we need to manage our money for free generally. Some online banking tools even allow you to access other banks that you may have accounts with (With your approval), so you can see all your accounts from one interface, and get a better picture. I still think the added burden of having to file your own taxes would make you more likely to need something like mint, but it's probably more the extreme differences in consumer banking that's the bigger reason. If I had to pay my bills by check, I'd go insane.
    - psyklic 17y ago
      What you describe sounds like the US as well ... the power of Mint is in consolidating all of your accounts.
- psyklic 17y ago
  Finance is important, but Facebook is such an essential networking tool, professionally and personally, that I completely disagree with you. Facebook solves a multitude of "real problems" -- just because some people "waste time" on it does not mean it isn't a serious tool. Without Facebook, for instance, I simply would not know nearly as much about the lives of my old friends and professional acquaintances -- this alone makes it very practical. Not only this, but Facebook helps me organize the many people I meet each day, lets me easily keep in touch with people I care about, lets me know who is in each city I visit so I can arrange meetups, facilitates much of my social life (invites/mixers/who's going to what), provides introductions, etc. Mint did not even exist two years ago, and people dealt with their finances then just fine. The difference between using Mint and not (in finance) is the same as the difference in using Facebook or not (in networking), in my opinion.
TriinT 17y ago
"Your comment isn't really useful :/ you're obviously an outlier. Most people would go insane if they couldn't access youtube or facebook." Facebook has 200 million users or so. The world has over 6 billion people. Hence, only 3% or so of the world's population uses Facebook. Moreover, Facebook is basically a rolodex. If Facebook disappeared tomorrow, people would use email instead. They would have no other choice. Let's talk of real problems. Over 1,000 million people live in extreme poverty. That's 5x the total number of Facebook users. So you talk of people going insane if they lost Facebook, and I find that extremely distasteful when 100s of millions of parents everyday struggle to feed their children. I am not being sensationalist, I am just putting things in perspective. Americans whine when unemployment reaches record levels and they can no longer afford Starbucks coffee everyday, but guess what, some people have real problems, like lack of food, lack of potable water, drought, disease, war, etc. I suggest you take some months off and go backpack around this world to see how fortunate we spoilt Americans / Western Europeans truly are...
- axod 17y ago
  >> "Let's talk of real problems. Over 1,000 million people live in extreme poverty." Lets not. This is hacker news.
  - TriinT 17y ago
    Please! You are the one who called lack of Facebook a "real problem". I merely pointed out that there are actual real problems. Sure, I agree that this is HN and that this is NOT the place to discuss actual real problems (the truly real problems cannot be solved by software), but your reply was rather unintelligent and unimaginative. You used to do better than that...
- teej 17y ago
  You are confusing a "real problem" from an entrepreneur's point of view, and a "real problem" from a global social perspective. I have been to Africa. I have fed the hungry, healed the sick, and vaccinated children myself with my own two hands. Interestingly enough, I wouldn't be in contact with the friends I made over there without -Facebook-. So don't tell me that Facebook "is basically a rolodex", because for me it isn't.

zaidf 17y ago

Precisely my point. What is a "real problem" varies from person to person. Me, I'm not even on Mint. But I couldn't go without facebook. Note I never said facebook was the "biggest" real problem or even one of the biggest. That is the poster's gross distortion of my post to strengthen his argument.

wensing 17y ago

Sean Ellis has said that a startup has achieved product/market fit when >40% of its visitors would be 'very disappointed' if the product were no longer available. http://startup-marketing.com/the-startup-pyramid/ http://startup-marketing.com/the-startup-pyramid/