Tag Archives: Mint.com

Epilogue: Mint.com Femgineer to Femtrepreneur

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Almost one month ago I left Mint.com to strike it out on my own.  I remember leaving the building after saying goodbye to people that I had helped hire, and built a product with for over 3 years of my life.  The days leading up to my last day were filled with a bit of sadness, and apprehension.  I recalled all my fondest memories of team lunches, the burritos in the park, and the countless milestones and awards Mint had won.  But my last supper with the Minters was probably one of the best and most fulfilling experiences and evenings.  I shared my ideas for new startup with them, as we enjoyed our final feast together.  Despite knowing I was leaving a team of people that I cared about greatly behind, I got into my car and drove away feeling excitement for the next challenge and the next team and product I was going to help build.

Even though I was involved with Mint since the very beginning, which was over 4 years ago, I felt like I joined Mint, blinked, and it was over.  While it was a memorable experience I’ve been making an effort to enjoy more of the process and living every moment of it with my own startup.  As someone who has always been future focused living in the present is a challenge for me.  But I actually really love it!

How do I do it?  For starters, I have a slight advantage, getting in on the ground floor at Mint I witnessed first hand what its like to deal with scary concepts like the unknown,  constant change, the imperfect product, and endless set of problems that arise and need to be solved.  For example, a couple weeks ago I had a conversation with my partner about data quality.  She was really concerned that we wouldn’t have perfect data for our customers.  I listened to her concern and then a thought occurred to me, “Where I have seen this problem before?”  Oh thats right Mint never had perfect data!  And yet Mint user were willing to live with it, because the value we were providing to them as a service that provided a complete picture of their finance outweighed small data anomalies.  Drawing from that experience made me realize that I was in control of the situation, and could help to assuage my partner’s fears.

Every once in a while my old CEO calls me up to ask, “How the new business is going?”  And my usual cheery retort is, “Everything is great!”  How could everything be great, when I don’t have any users, revenue, or a prototype build yet?!?  Because I have a team that I have proudly built, it’s not big, but in my mind its still a team of more than just me.  And because everyday I make small strides, like signing up the first customer who will help me test my prototype and solving at least one product problem a day.  Before I go to bed I review the days activities like enjoying a meal or cup of coffee while conversing with a friend, reading a new book, writing some RoR code, giving a talk to other entrepreneurs, and thats enough for me to feel like I have a purpose, and want to go to bed so I can jump out of it the next day and do more!

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Book Review: BakedIn

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Marketing is essentially telling a story and conveying a message to customers and users about a product or a company.  But how do you tell a compelling enough story when there are 50,000+ products out there each competing for a slice of the market?  Perhaps it would be easier to get a slice of the pie if you’re marketing strategy was baked into your product.  The strategies for doing so are highlighted in my latest read: BakedIn. The authors discuss 28 rules that infuse every aspect of your product and business with a story.

While I’ve been called a marketing genius on stage by Aaron Forth, VP of Product at Mint.com, I hardly warrant such a title.  It takes a lot more than just a simple name to create a successful product and brand like Mint.

Here’s are a few highlights of what it does take:

Cultural Trends – understand where the consumer culture that your product is using is headed.

Design – think about ways to design each element and use them as touch points to interact with your customer and evoke an emotional response.

Find out what business you’re in – list all the service and the emotional benefits you create for customers.

Know the entire business category – use a competitors products to see what advantages and disadvantages it possesses.

Get your hive on & Knock down the walls – siloed organizations do not lead to innovation (another reason why great firms fail).  You need to foster a collaborative culture within your organization across departments, and make sure that information is flowing between the departments, instead of it being hogged or withheld by a few.  If need be jump across silos, but be aware that it might cost you your job.

Absolute – strive to be the superlative in a field (fastest, smallest, quickest)

Design to your weakness – confront the big hairy monster that is standing in the way of your organization’s success and find ways to design around it.

Good short read for anyone who wants to infuse life into a flailing product, create a new product, and most importantly tell a compelling and gripping story to keep customers engaged.

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Timeline: Mint.com – 2009

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This is the last installment of the Mint.com Timeline.   As many of you already know Mint was acquired by competitor Intuit in September of 2009.  Mint will continue to live on as a product that helps its users do more with their money.  I myself have enjoyed the experience tremendously,  2009 was indeed an interesting and eventful year.  Today Aaron reviewed the goals and accomplishments from 2009: increase customer acquisition, delivery a quality product, and improve revenue numbers.  I’d say we’ve met those goals, but here’s a more intimate look as to what unfolded at Mint.com in 2009:

January 2009 – On the 14th Mint.com is announced on Yahoo’s homepage resulting in the largest number of registered users in a single day.   An iPhone floor model is released that contains a demo version of Mint.com.  On the 22nd rival QuickenOnline challenges Mint with a legal letter demanding to know how we measure our active and registered user count and user growth rate.

March 2009 – Mint.com adds its millionth user!  The team goes on a wine-tasting trip to Napa to celebrate their success.

May 2009 – The Minter Sprinters begins, an attempt to keep the Minters in shape just in time for bathing suit season 😀

June 2009 – A new summer tradition of burritos in the park and field day begins.

July 2009 – Mint launches MintLife the new and improved Mint blog.

August 2009 – Mint accepts a Series C round of funding from DAG ventures.

September 2009 – On the night of the 13th, after months of a clandestine courtship, Intuit proposes to Mint.com and TechCrunch leaks the story.  On the morning of the 14th, for the first time in Mint history all the employees show up to work before 10am!  The Minters enjoy drinks at Stephen’s Green in down town Mountain View, along the way they are greeted by locals who quietly whisper, “Dude those guys just made bank!”

Mint turns two on the 18th, and the Minters enjoy a night of cruising on the SF bay.

Despite the deepening recession 2009 was a great year for Mint.  Its success should be attributed to every team: engineering, product, marketing, and business development.  And every Minter played their part in contributing to the the product’s success.

This is my last week at Mint, Friday will be my last day.  Mint was my first startup, and I was its first and only femgineer.  I feel blessed to have had such a positive first experience.  In my heart I will always be a Minter, and I hope to continue to “Mint my money.” 🙂

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