Mint Strategy Revealed

Interesting article on privacy in the NYT:

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Relevent paras:

Daniel Sjoberg, a 26-year-old in Manhattan, signed up for Mint as he was completing graduate school in biostatistics last summer. He allowed the site to pull information from his checking account, his credit card and his student loan account.

He meant to use Mint as a budgeting tool, but soon began browsing through offers Mint listed under ?ways to save.? He signed up for a Charles Schwab checking account when he learned it would refund his A.T.M. fees, and an Ally savings account based on the interest rate.

Sponsors are allowed to include their logo and a link to their site, and they pay a referral fee if a consumer signs up, but offers from nonsponsors are listed, too. Mr. Sjoberg said he particularly liked how transparent Mint seemed to be.

?They put that very clearly for you to see ? ?We think Ally is good for you, and by the way, they?re endorsing us,? ? Mr. Sjoberg said. ?It?s refreshing to have it out in the open who?s giving them money and who?s not giving them money.?

Aaron Patzer, who founded Mint in 2007 (the company was acquired by Intuit in

2009 for $170 million), believed that users would give the site private information in return for allowing Mint to analyze their finances to alert them when they had exceeded their budget, or to send them offers from cable companies or banks.

?Most venture capitalists, when I was starting this company, said that no one would trust a start-up with their financial information,? said Mr. Patzer, now vice president and general manager of Intuit?s personal finance group. ?In essence, we would data-mine your own data in order to help you.?

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Robert Neville
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