Writing about personal finance systems we once likened Intuit's Quicken to Old Spice and spiky start-up Mint to Axe Bodyspray. Now Mint's success is being bought up by Intuit--will the smell of Old Spice overwhelm all else?
The deal hasn't been officially announced yet, but it's leaked out over at TechCrunch (which had a hand in Mint's launch in 2007). It certainly represents a success for the company's management, as the company's moved to a $170 million valuation in two years, passing a $140 million valuation at its last financing round just a few weeks ago.
Why is Quicken interested in it? First, it's a young upstart competitor, and has tapped into a new market very successfully (it has over 1.4 million registered users). Taking it on board at an early stage is a way for Intuit to control its rapid growth and prevent it from becoming a serious competitor later on. Second, Mint's apparently not begun to investigate the data-mining opportunities present in the recorded info on those 1.4 million users--a data set that's got intrinsic value in its own right.
So far, so good. But is this good news from a user point of view? Mint's press presence is full of glowing commentary and awards, and it's garnered a lot of positive public vibe. Quicken, on the other hand, faces a list of criticisms that start with how badly it abandoned its U.K. users in 2005, its advertisement placements and an apparently disproportionately large frequency of reported bugs. Sure, Intuit's the bigger entity, and Mint's management's going to clean up on the deal...but from a Mint-user standpoint, being bought up by a company with a dim user-interaction history doesn't sound all that good. We can but hope that Intuit uses Mint's design to inject some freshness into Quicken.
[via TechCrunch]
Related Stories: | Topics:Innovation, Technology, personal finance, Mint, Quicken, intuit, online finances, financial management, sale, Intuit Inc., Intuit Quicken, Personal Finance Software, Financial Software, Computer Technology |
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Recent Comments | 11 Total
September 14, 2009 at 9:25am by Randal Longstroth
intuit will put the stink on the nice mint.
September 14, 2009 at 9:43am by Jay Steele
I HATE Quicken and TurboTax. They are both some of the most non-intuitive, user unfriendly apps I have ever used. The only reason I used to use Quicken was because it had no competition. I have used several different tax preparation software packages.
I was so glad to find Mint.com. It has been an awesome tool to help me manage my finances. I really liked the interface between Mint.com and TaxACT. Getting set up with Mint.com was a piece of cake. To set my accounts up with Quicken made me feel like I needed to go take some college level college course.
If this buyout goes through, I am afraid the long shadow of Intuit will cause Mint.com to whither on the vine within a few short seasons. As a Mint.com user, I am not thrilled with this decision by the leadership at Mint. They have done an awesome job of entering a space and dominating it with innovative technology and a usable Interface. Now I feel like they are just selling out to the highest bidder and to hell with the user. Intuit and Mint.com are polar opposites. This is a match made in hell.
I guess it is time to keep my eye out for the replacement to mint.com. The barrier to change providers is extremely low when the product was "free" to start with. The inherent value of Mint.com is in the number of users. If they start heading for the exits, the value will evaporate overnight. Thanks a lot Intuit (and Mint). You just ticked me off one more time.
September 14, 2009 at 10:26am by Thanos Diacakis
This is a sad day for Mint users. Intuit will ruin Mint.
September 14, 2009 at 10:27am by Bryan Entzminger
I really like Mint. I really dislike Quicken Online. Hope Mint stays minty.
September 14, 2009 at 10:28am by Bryan Entzminger
I really like Mint. I really dislike Quicken Online. Hope Mint stays "minty."
September 14, 2009 at 10:35am by John-Scott Dixon
Yeah - this is a major bummer. I don't blame Mint management - what an awesome feat! I hope this doesn't become a pattern, all the goodness that is Web 2.0 could be wiped out. Also, shouldn't the users have a choice as to whether personal financial data is shared with Intuit?
September 14, 2009 at 11:29am by Paul Hollett
Intuit has a choice ... use the innovation Mint offers or try to stifle it. (in which case someone else will reinnovate and Intuit will still lose the smart customers.
September 14, 2009 at 11:29am by Paul Hollett
Intuit has a choice ... use the innovation Mint offers or try to stifle it. (in which case someone else will reinnovate and Intuit will still lose the smart customers).
September 14, 2009 at 2:23pm by David Ledgerwood
I sincerely hope Mint.com functionality is kept separate. I'll trash my account if I see my data being used in a manner I don't approve of. I really like the Mint interface and I hope it continues to function, perhaps with some of the better Intuit features baked in.
September 14, 2009 at 2:59pm by Peter Mirus
It is always satisfying to see a potential competitor to Intuit leave the field. Does Intuit plan to use Mint as a learning opportunity to improve the user experience? I hope so.
September 16, 2009 at 11:51am by Greg Hollingsworth
You could always switch from mint to MoneyCenter by Yodlee. Yodlee is the company that created the platform that mint was built around. It's free, has functionality that mint.com didn't have, and it's not being bought by Intuit.