Mint.com: TechCrunch 50,000 Winner or Loser?
Geeks went wild for Mint at the TechCrunch40 and the not-so-scrappy startup pocketed an extra $50,000 from the Michael Arrington and Jason Calacanis show to make its financial backers proud (including one that apparently participated in the vote bestowing $50,000 on Mint).
Mint touts “refreshing money management” and the money behind it is refreshingly familiar:
FirstRound Capital; Portfoilio companies Mint, Xobni, Powerset “launched” at TechCrunch40
Jeff Clavier, SoftTechVC; Fund announced at TechCrunch40, Portfolio company Grouply launched at TechCrunch40
Ron Conway, Angel Investors LP; TechCrunch40 “expert” voter for TechCrunch40 $50,000 prize given to portfolio company Mint.com
TechCrunch40 helped solidify the market and financial power of startups already profiting from “smart money.” What about scrappy, bootstrapping entrepreneurs, though?
I noted the lack of real-world business planning talk yesterday: TechCrunch40 Fuels Hacker Dreams While DeadPool LOOMS
Steve Spalding laments as well how “100 companies, many of which set their hopes on this conference to help jump start their businesses, will leave San Francisco sorely disappointed.”
What’s more, even though the grand prize winner pockets $50,000 from TechCrunch to help make its First Round Capital money go even further, Mint may still experience the curse of the TechCrunch 50,000 itself.
The TechCrunch effect is well on its way, blogosphere commenters are documenting:
“I was getting error messages , none of my accounts were uploaded”
“since mint is down…yall might wanna check out spendview.com..they were at the demo pit in the same space as mint…i heard they are only like 3 person team compare to 5 million dollar mint…i think they have almost all the stuff mint has….wonder what happen to the 5 mills??”
“it’s too bad that the site is down, but all you eager beavers can feel free to send *me* your personal bank account information. i’ll tell you what you’re spending too much money on, and suggest financial vehicles for you to make and save more money, and i’ll barely transfer anything out of your accounts. promise!”
So much for Mint’s “revoultionary, breakthrough” technology?
If a high-powered, VC backed Web 2.0 company claiming a “patent-pending” financial application, does not have the strategic, operations or IT foresight and/or resources to sucessfully transact techie demand on its coming out day, how will consumers ever feel comfortable in handing over all of their personal, private banking logins and passwords to Mint?
Reporters’ glowing personal testimonials will undoubtedly help spur geek love along. Eric Eldon is effusive after “catching up Aaron Patzer, the founder and chief executive, at an event last week.” Eldon guarantees Mint is “the easiest way to manage your personal finances.” How can he be so sure? He speaks from experience, his own:
Upon testing the software last week, I immediately changed a number of personal spending habits, and feel even guiltier about some others. It also gave me even clearer proof that Bank of America has done a great job of nickle-and-diming me at every turn.
Eldon is so confident in his own good financial fortunes, thanks to Mint, that he confidently extrapolates his one-person tech look to the entire U.S. consumer market:
This tool should have mass appeal, especially considering the large amounts of money Americans have been borrowing in recent years
Will Mint ever get to test its mass appeal? Eldon appears to be firmly on Mint board, but the TechCrunch 50,000 effect is famously fleeting. TechCrunchers are known to happily kick startup tires out of the gate–if the favored Web 2.0 play can handle the traffic–but can not be counted on for ongoing, loyal support.
Mint wins TechCrunch $50,000 but loses from the TechCrunch 50,000 effect.
ALSO: Web 3.0: Madison Avenue Money Trumps TechCrunch40 Cool Apps and Mint.com: Can Arrington and Calacanis Really Set Web 2.0 Trends?
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