6 ms·

wow. what really impresses me is mint isn't an engineering company - they're a marketing company that put some ajax on top of yodlee. yodlee's been around for o

by inaka 17y ago

wow. what really impresses me is mint isn't an engineering company - they're a marketing company that put some ajax on top of yodlee. yodlee's been around for over 10 years and they never built a brand or a community like mint. mint is now #1 on my 'notes to self' when i get so focused on engineering my way to a solution i forget sometimes its' better to partner with a competitor and move on. they outsourced the hard stuff (scraping/banking relationships) and then focused on building a product. nice work, brilliant execution.

deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
fjabre 17y ago
So is this yet another reason to keep your web app basically free for the masses..? $170 million in 2 years seems like reason enough for me.. but as Inaka points out: their execution was brilliant. So if you do have a brilliant app maybe you should keep it free.
- asnyder 17y ago
  Unlike most other webapps mint has a very lucrative revenue stream. They're able to offer you alternative financial services targeted towards you based on the information they have about your current financial products. I'm sure the financial companies offering their products on mint pay more than your average ad or click through.Most webapps don't have this sort of opportunity.
  - byoung2 17y ago
    I'm sure the financial companies offering their products on mint pay more than your average ad or click through You're right about that...these banks and credit card companies probably pay hundreds per lead, which is a drop in the bucket compared to how much they'll get over the life of the customer.
    - deleted 17y ago
      [deleted]
  - timr 17y ago
    "Unlike most other webapps mint has a very lucrative revenue stream" People keep saying this as if it were fact, but never provide evidence. From what I've seen, Mint has a great potential for revenue. I've not seen any public statements about their financials.
    - wavesplash 17y ago
      For a privately held entity, how exactly would you like a 3rd party to provide evidence? You have to either know someone on the inside or work by proxy. Assuming you don't know someone, your best proxy is the 10x valuation jump. The $145million valuation wouldn't come without proof of the revenue model to an unproven team. They were executing revenue, and executing very well.
      - timr 17y ago
        "For a privately held entity, how exactly would you like a 3rd party to provide evidence?" If I knew how to answer that question, then we wouldn't be having this little debate. Fortunately, I'm not the one making claims about their profitability. "They were executing revenue, and executing very well." That's a strong statement. Prove it.
        netsp 17y ago
        Teapot
      - numair 17y ago
        For a privately held entity, how exactly would you like a 3rd party to provide evidence? That's what "audited financials" are all about. You think it's any different for a public company?
gruseom 17y ago
I had no idea that Mint was a layer on top of another product. Can you explain this in greater detail? What is Yodlee? (I realize I'm proving your point by asking!) And what is the nature of Mint/Yodlee's relationship?
- mechanical_fish 17y ago
  Yodlee is the service that took on the painful and expensive problem of actually building an engine that can securely store bank and brokerage passwords and use them to scrape hundreds of different financial sites. They have a consumer front end. It's quite decent, actually, and it's free. Go to Yodlee.com and sign up. But they apparently make most of their money by (a) licensing their back end to services like Mint, and (b) serving as a kind of OEM for banks, who put up Yodlee's software rebranded as a part of the bank's website.
  - jaytee_clone 17y ago
    That to me sounds like a better model than Mint. Sure Yodlee doesn't have the media buzz or "explosive" growth (Mint's growth didn't really impress me either.), but the infrastructure is extremely useful and will be around for a long time. If Mint is doing well, Yodlee is too. If Mint fails, Yodless will still have a diverse client base to support its business.
    - abossy 17y ago
      > Mint's growth didn't really impress me either. Wow - if Mint's growth doesn't impress you, then what has? I felt their timing couldn't have been better. Their product matured as a recession hit and demand for money-saving financial services skyrocketed.
    - run4yourlives 17y ago
      That to me sounds like a better model than Mint. Mint just received $170 million. Yodlee did not.
      - 17y ago

by inaka 17y ago

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

fjabre 17y ago

So is this yet another reason to keep your web app basically free for the masses..? $170 million in 2 years seems like reason enough for me.. but as Inaka points out: their execution was brilliant. So if you do have a brilliant app maybe you should keep it free.

asnyder 17y ago
Unlike most other webapps mint has a very lucrative revenue stream. They're able to offer you alternative financial services targeted towards you based on the information they have about your current financial products. I'm sure the financial companies offering their products on mint pay more than your average ad or click through.Most webapps don't have this sort of opportunity.
- byoung2 17y ago
  I'm sure the financial companies offering their products on mint pay more than your average ad or click through You're right about that...these banks and credit card companies probably pay hundreds per lead, which is a drop in the bucket compared to how much they'll get over the life of the customer.
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
- timr 17y ago
  "Unlike most other webapps mint has a very lucrative revenue stream" People keep saying this as if it were fact, but never provide evidence. From what I've seen, Mint has a great potential for revenue. I've not seen any public statements about their financials.
  - wavesplash 17y ago
    For a privately held entity, how exactly would you like a 3rd party to provide evidence? You have to either know someone on the inside or work by proxy. Assuming you don't know someone, your best proxy is the 10x valuation jump. The $145million valuation wouldn't come without proof of the revenue model to an unproven team. They were executing revenue, and executing very well.
    - timr 17y ago
      "For a privately held entity, how exactly would you like a 3rd party to provide evidence?" If I knew how to answer that question, then we wouldn't be having this little debate. Fortunately, I'm not the one making claims about their profitability. "They were executing revenue, and executing very well." That's a strong statement. Prove it.
      - netsp 17y ago
        Teapot
    - numair 17y ago
      For a privately held entity, how exactly would you like a 3rd party to provide evidence? That's what "audited financials" are all about. You think it's any different for a public company?

gruseom 17y ago

I had no idea that Mint was a layer on top of another product. Can you explain this in greater detail? What is Yodlee? (I realize I'm proving your point by asking!) And what is the nature of Mint/Yodlee's relationship?

mechanical_fish 17y ago
Yodlee is the service that took on the painful and expensive problem of actually building an engine that can securely store bank and brokerage passwords and use them to scrape hundreds of different financial sites. They have a consumer front end. It's quite decent, actually, and it's free. Go to Yodlee.com and sign up. But they apparently make most of their money by (a) licensing their back end to services like Mint, and (b) serving as a kind of OEM for banks, who put up Yodlee's software rebranded as a part of the bank's website.
- jaytee_clone 17y ago
  That to me sounds like a better model than Mint. Sure Yodlee doesn't have the media buzz or "explosive" growth (Mint's growth didn't really impress me either.), but the infrastructure is extremely useful and will be around for a long time. If Mint is doing well, Yodlee is too. If Mint fails, Yodless will still have a diverse client base to support its business.
  - abossy 17y ago
    > Mint's growth didn't really impress me either. Wow - if Mint's growth doesn't impress you, then what has? I felt their timing couldn't have been better. Their product matured as a recession hit and demand for money-saving financial services skyrocketed.
  - run4yourlives 17y ago
    That to me sounds like a better model than Mint. Mint just received $170 million. Yodlee did not.
    - 17y ago