A 20-Something Makes a Mint (and Sells It to Intuit)

By KERMIT PATTISON

Published: December 2, 2009

Mint.com

Aaron Patzer

Two years ago, Aaron Patzer took on the giants, introducing Mint.com, an online personal finance tool designed to be easier to use than Intuit’s Quicken and Microsoft Money. Mr. Patzer said his quest was born from his personal frustration in organizing his finances, noting at the time that “Quicken is not quick.” Apparently, many agreed: Mint quickly grew to be a 35-employee company with 1.7 million users.

Earlier this year, Intuit wrote Mr. Patzer a letter demanding that Mint substantiate its claims of astronomic growth. Later, the older company shifted to a new strategy: If you can’t beat ’em, buy ’em. In early November, Intuit completed a $170 million acquisition of Mint. Mr. Patzer, 29, became vice president and general manager of Intuit’s personal finance group and now oversees the company’s Mint and Quicken products for desktop, online and mobile.
 For full article