9Oct/090
Mint’s Aaron Patzer talks startup strategy
Just a few days after selling his company Mint.com to Intuit for $170M, Aaron Patzer gave a candid talk detailing his approach to starting and growing a company. This is a must watch for anyone engaging the challenges of tech startups.
Mint CEO Aaron Patzer on Startups from Techcrunch on Vimeo.
Here are some of the highlights of the presentation, in which Patzer used Mint's actual numbers to suggest a model for startup-building:
Raising Money:
- Phase 1: Once you have a mature idea, raise $100,000 from friends and family to build a prototype
- Phase 2: Prototype complete, raise $1 million and launch an alpha into the market.
- Phase 3: Once you have some traction, raise $5 to $10 million to scale up.
Phase 1 Expenses (1st $100,000):
- Founders: $30,000/year
- Engineering 1st hires: $30,000-50,000/year
- Office: $400/cube/month
- Tech: $10,000
- Legal: Deferred payments for 0.50 - 0.75% of company
Phase 2 Expenses (seed round):
- Salaries: $50,000 - $90,000/year ($450,000/year for 5 people)
- Overhead: +20% ($100,000/year)
- Legal: $25,000 + $2,000/month ($50,000/year)
Phase 3 Expenses (Series A)
- Salaries + Overhead: $200,000/year/person
- COGS: many one-time expenses add up to about $150,000/month
- Legal: $10,000-$50,000/month
Enjoy.