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Mint founder on Silicon Valley

techcrunch.com

11–20 of 71 posts

Re: Mint founder on Silicon Valley

#11
post #6

This story does seem to gloss over the VC piece, to me it read like they started with no money and got to $170 million without investment. Didn't they raise 30+ million?

it sounds like they they raised a little over $30M, and the last $14M of that was @ a $140M valuation.

Re: Mint founder on Silicon Valley

#14

excellent timing for the relentless techcrunch self-promotion machine...

Oh come on... 1. This was written by Mint's founder, not TC 2. This *is* a success story for TC 3. There's nothing wrong with self-promotion :)

I'm with you Ryan, it is a success story for Techcrunch. I'm not a TC fan, but still not gonna let emotions get in the way of the facts.

Re: Mint founder on Silicon Valley

#15
Here’s to the Mint team, from New Zealand, from France, Tunisia, Armenia, Ukraine, Russia, Canada, Greece, and all over the U.S.

Hm. So, they got their start in the valley and then hired people all over the world? It reads like an ode to the valley absolutely till the last paragraph...

Re: Mint founder on Silicon Valley

#16
post #5

Wow, one line out of the whole story mentions TechCrunch, and they run that as the headline. And it's slimy how TC implies that because Mint launched at TC50, it caused Mint to be acquired.

Yeah I got the same weird feeling when I read that headline, but honestly, getting that type of coverage probably helped them considerably. It seems like most successful companies have the right proportion of hard work and luck.

Re: Mint founder on Silicon Valley

#17

I'm ignorant on how the TechCrunch50 conference works. Does TC have any ownership stake in mint?

No, they just won the $50k prize... but it seems like Arrington got some (advisor?) stock if you see the exchange between him, Calacanis and Aaron.

Re: Mint founder on Silicon Valley

#18
post #3

"While everyone else was doing social media, music, video or the startup de jour, we tried to ground ourselves in what any business should be doing: solve a real problem for people." This is good advice for all aspiring entrepreneurs.

While I can see where he is coming from(and have myself grown tired of the social media stuff), his tone is kind of condescending.

Cool he sold his "real problem" startup; but to suggest YouTube, facebook aren't solving "real problems" is interesting in the least.

Re: Mint founder on Silicon Valley

#19
post #18
post #3

"While everyone else was doing social media, music, video or the startup de jour, we tried to ground ourselves in what any business should be doing: solve a real problem for people." This is good advice for all aspiring entrepreneurs.

While I can see where he is coming from(and have myself grown tired of the social media stuff), his tone is kind of condescending. Cool he sold his "real problem" startup; but to suggest YouTube, facebook aren't solving "real problems" is interesting in the least.

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