Mint

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Nope. No epic Fail. This stuff is useful. What's under the hood for the MadMen of Madison, Lexington and Fifth? Frick 'em. The service is INCREDIBLY useful for me.

These guys will have so much information on spending habits of consumers. Add zip code (or lat long) to this information & you can sell this packaged info to Television ad networks (or agencies on Mad ave) for advanced targeting.

On security, if you already bank online and your bank trusts mint enough to exchange data with them, then seemingly it should not be an issue for you. What do financial institution TOS say about using third party apps to access your account?

I love Mint because its so easy to log into one website and see all my finances in one place. The only downfall is a slight delay in transferring data from financial institution to Mint. It appears that this happens a lot during the weekends.

"Mint also tries to save users money by suggesting ways to save that are unique to you. The site claims that users are presented with an average of $1,500 in savings opportunities in their first session." This is what OneBigPlanet does, but they have a much more interesting model allowing people to share their personal merchants and deals - Social Shopping tailored to each user.

Are they going to sell ads on every user page? Because i do not understand how are they going to make all those money if registering is free.

On the commission thing, does anyone know how Mint finds all these offers? What's the technology there?

Zen - It doesn't matter that its free, the money comes from the audience; similar to tv. Only that with this instead of blasting and ad at everyone and hoping enough buy the product, they can target the ad directly to those who are most likely to buy it. Eg - Oh you spend $100 at starbucks.. did you know they just launched a new drink?

I am with some of the others in that I am still unsure of how they will make money. By this, however, I fully realize that Mint's ability to collect valuable transaction and credit information from users creates many opportunities for finding revenue sources. How they package, use, and sell this information changes their business model drastically, though. I see how they can make commissions from subscribers who switch to a recommended credit account. The real money will come from the recommendations themselves, as credit providers will be willing to pay for targeted access to users. However, I think banks will be hesitant, as Mint is working against them by providing users with budgeting tools (Mint's primary appeal) to cut spending (specifically spending on credit cards), and the lack of exclusivity in recommendations could steer users away if they can realize savings with another provider. Mint will have to be careful how they propose this to banks and other credit providers. I think Mint is limited too in how they use the spending data. Users of Mint are looking to cut spending by identifying unnecessary spending patterns, so targeted ads from retailers that they frequent would likely turn users away. Perhaps there is a way to sell the spending data to retailers, ultimately giving them an opportunity to see how consumers are allocating money to certain products and services that may be similar. Surely Mint cannot rely on end-user subscriptions as their primary revenue source, as the rich data they are collecting is some of the most prized information sought after by financial services providers and retailers alike. Sorry for the length- I'm just thinking aloud. Any ideas on how Mint can successfully package the information they are collecting without harming the trust of their end-users?

i'm also an angel investor in Mint. however, i was involved in the most recent financing round, not the earlier one led by Josh. (ps - only one 'p' in Kopelman)

Anyone know what technology Mint is built on?

On the security point, I actually would feel more comfortable giving my data to a new/modern/small/simple application versus old/Cobol/Mainframe/bloated traditional banking application (whether or not it has a web "skin"). Also consider that these guys must know that they will be dead in a nanosecond if they have a security/privacy problem. On the business model, I think it could be a "Lower my Bills" concept but on steroids b/c Mint will know a lot of info about specific spending habits, etc. Post Experian purchase, LowerMyBills seems to only want to pitch dubious cheap mortgage schemes which, ahem, are kind of going out of style...

-How are they making money by allowing users to sign up for free and giving services for free? -Do they intend to make this a paid service subsequently? -Do they get paid by financial institutions for recommending their services?

Like Kapil, I'm not sold on security either. I mean, you are asking a lot for me to enter in all of my bank information into a program that is freeware and that I have never heard of before. Not to say that it doesn't sound interesting and innovative...

I am still not sold out on security. Yes, they use similar security measure as other big financial institutes - but its not just technology that helps customers gain trust - its the brand value of the institute itself. And Mint being new kid on the black no where compares to mentioned names like Fidelity and likes in brand value.

It's easy to see how they will make money. On their site they calculate how much you spend and save, they then show you other credit and savings companies that could be better serving you. If you switch to one of these offers, Mint makes a commission. Easy enough. Great interface too.

What is the money making scheme behind Mint? 5.4 Million is a lot to invest for something to offer for free? So where is Mint going to make it's money?