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Mint.com Founder: Heck No, My VCs Didn't Force Me To Sell To Intuit

19 points by fromedome 17y ago

alex_c 17y ago
Because it's $170 million! Enough said, really.
mrbgty 17y ago
FTA: "So what's he going to do now? Not buy a house or anything crazy" He just sold for $170 million and buying a house is crazy?
- fnid 17y ago
  Part of the reason he started Mint was because he was very financially conscious. It would be silly of him to reverse course on that now. He's a smart man. Congratulations Aaron. Good work.
yan 17y ago
Does anyone know how much of that $170m actually went into his pocket? After investors took their share for their equity, taxes, and etc?
- mrkurt 17y ago
  I'd like to know this as well. It seems like someone could ballpark it pretty well based on the various VC rounds.
  - mattmaroon 17y ago
    VC rounds vary widely. If you forced me to guess I'd say 10-15%, but there's definitely know way to know for sure without insider info.
  - alain94040 17y ago
    Probably around 10%. Which isn't bad at all. If he negotiated really well his early round, it could be 15%. Also, keep in mind that if he owns 10%, it doesn't mean he got $17M (10% of $170M). VCs who invested money may have preference rights. For instance, if they put $20M in Mint, they could take the $20M out of the purchase price. Then, there is only $150M to share, and that's what Aaron would get 10% of. Either way, he's fine :-)
mattmaroon 17y ago
"(If anything, his later-stage investors were not thrilled that he was selling so quickly; they would have preferred a much larger, later exit, given Mint's long-term potential.)" Pretty sure I said exactly that here. Seemed fairly obvious that either it was a fire sale or some VCs would have preferred going for more. Probably what I'd not considered is that no VC wants to be in the position of blocking an exit of a company still run by the founders.
plinkplonk 17y ago
From TFA "Patzer says he does not have an earnout, but is on contract with Intuit for three years." After MintRunning Quicken/Online will be like being neck deep in quicksand and trying to run. But I guess one can suffer sme boring meetings (Intuit is big on meetings) for 3 years for this kind of money. Is 17 million (assuming a 10% share for him) worth three years at Intuit? I think so, at his age. (He'd be 31 when he is free again).

19 points by fromedome 17y ago

Because it's $170 million! Enough said, really.

FTA: "So what's he going to do now? Not buy a house or anything crazy" He just sold for $170 million and buying a house is crazy?

fnid 17y ago
Part of the reason he started Mint was because he was very financially conscious. It would be silly of him to reverse course on that now. He's a smart man. Congratulations Aaron. Good work.

yan 17y ago

Does anyone know how much of that $170m actually went into his pocket? After investors took their share for their equity, taxes, and etc?

mrkurt 17y ago
I'd like to know this as well. It seems like someone could ballpark it pretty well based on the various VC rounds.
- mattmaroon 17y ago
  VC rounds vary widely. If you forced me to guess I'd say 10-15%, but there's definitely know way to know for sure without insider info.
- alain94040 17y ago
  Probably around 10%. Which isn't bad at all. If he negotiated really well his early round, it could be 15%. Also, keep in mind that if he owns 10%, it doesn't mean he got $17M (10% of $170M). VCs who invested money may have preference rights. For instance, if they put $20M in Mint, they could take the $20M out of the purchase price. Then, there is only $150M to share, and that's what Aaron would get 10% of. Either way, he's fine :-)

mattmaroon 17y ago

"(If anything, his later-stage investors were not thrilled that he was selling so quickly; they would have preferred a much larger, later exit, given Mint's long-term potential.)" Pretty sure I said exactly that here. Seemed fairly obvious that either it was a fire sale or some VCs would have preferred going for more. Probably what I'd not considered is that no VC wants to be in the position of blocking an exit of a company still run by the founders.

plinkplonk 17y ago

From TFA "Patzer says he does not have an earnout, but is on contract with Intuit for three years." After MintRunning Quicken/Online will be like being neck deep in quicksand and trying to run. But I guess one can suffer sme boring meetings (Intuit is big on meetings) for 3 years for this kind of money. Is 17 million (assuming a 10% share for him) worth three years at Intuit? I think so, at his age. (He'd be 31 when he is free again).