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Mint founder on Silicon Valley

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Re: Mint founder on Silicon Valley

#51

Post by TriinT »

riffer wrote: post #45
TriinT wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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. L…

Yes, there are a lot of people who are ignorant about how good their circumstances are relative to most of the world's people. But how does being judgemental towards the ignorant help the unfortunate?

"But how does being judgemental towards the ignorant help the unfortunate?"

That's a really good point. I think it's not a matter of helping the unfortunate, but a matter of not insulting the unfortunate. I was fortunate to have been born in a relatively rich country. Others were less fortunate. I may not have the power to change things, but at least acknowledging the bigger problems, prioritizing them and putting things in perspective is the at least respectful. Someone who's miserable about Facebook's server outage is, basically, implying someone who is miserable because his son is dying of some preventable disease and he can't afford the healthcare...

Re: Mint founder on Silicon Valley

#52

Post by TriinT »

zaidf wrote: post #47
zaidf wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are completely distorting my point. It's like if I said I love chocolate, you'll say "OMG the things you should really love is your family blabla." Indeed. You can love chocolate and your family. Just like you can view facebook, mint AND curing cancer as "real problems".

An outsider who accidentally finds HN will probably think this is a community of slightly emotional retarded, detached, autistic nerds living in a complete fantasy world where the problems are server outages I'd hope so. This is not a save-the-world forum. It's Hacker News. We do think more about server problems than cancer when we are on here. It does not mean we consider server problems to be a bigger problem than…

There's nothing wrong in discussing highly technical problems just as long as one keeps in minds that there are bigger problems outside one's small bubble.

Re: Mint founder on Silicon Valley

#53

Post by wensing »

modoc wrote: post #19
zaidf wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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/

Re: Mint founder on Silicon Valley

#54

Post by pc »

TriinT wrote: post #39
teej wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 i…

Good point. But I stand by what I wrote before. The comment I replied to stated that: "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." Hence, it's about people's problems, not entrepreneurs' problems. Of course, it all depends what we mean by "people" and "problems". Fortunately, most Americans do not suffe…

I think teej is arguing the exact opposite of what you interpreted his comment as saying.

Re: Mint founder on Silicon Valley

#55

Post by daveungerer »

I seem to be banned from TechCrunch and have to go through google cache if I really want to read something linked from HN. Still trying to decide if that's a good thing or not. It says:

TechCrunch is currently down for some scheduled maintenance. In the meantime, please check out the other sites on our network of blogs for the latest in tech news:

The above is followed by a list of links. Been this way for at least a week now.

Re: Mint founder on Silicon Valley

#56

Post by antonovka »

aditya wrote: post #17
brown9-2 wrote: post #12

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.

Advisor stock? That's an enormous conflict of interest for a editor at news ("news"?) organization covering the space.

Re: Mint founder on Silicon Valley

#57

Post by dsil »

TriinT wrote: post #52
zaidf wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An outsider who accidentally finds HN will probably think this is a community of slightly emotional retarded, detached, autistic nerds living in a complete fantasy world where the problems are server outages I'd hope so. This is not a save-the-world forum. It's Hacker News. We do think more about server problems than cancer when we are on here. It does not mean we consider server problems to be a bigger problem than…

There's nothing wrong in discussing highly technical problems just as long as one keeps in minds that there are bigger problems outside one's small bubble.

The cure for cancer will likely be found in a highly technical way.

Re: Mint founder on Silicon Valley

#58

Post by psyklic »

axod wrote: post #49
krschultz wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

>> "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 anymo…

What you describe sounds like the US as well ... the power of Mint is in consolidating all of your accounts.

Re: Mint founder on Silicon Valley

#59

Post by arohner »

physcab wrote: post #16
arohner wrote: 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.

Sure, good coverage helps, but with a good product and good execution, they'll get it from anyone. If the formula is good idea + hard work + good execution + coverage from TC, you can easily replace "coverage from TC" with "coverage from NYTimes", and still be successful. TC didn't cause Mint to be acquired, so they shouldn't pretend they helped.

Re: Mint founder on Silicon Valley

#60

Post by evgen »

antonovka wrote: post #56
aditya wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Advisor stock? That's an enormous conflict of interest for a editor at news ("news"?) organization covering the space.

Conflict of interest? TechCrunch?

Say it ain't so! :)

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