Keller Center - Educating Leaders for a Technology-Driven Society
Media
Mint.com Founder Aaron Patzer Speaks
The Keller Center welcomed Aaron Patzer *04, founder of Mint.com, to the Princeton University campus on Tuesday, November 30, 2010. In a talk titled "The $170 Million Idea: From Idea to Exit in 3 Years", Patzer shared his experiences starting with a simple idea and, as the title of the talk suggests, ending in a $170 million acquisition deal of his company with Intuit Inc.
The event, held in the Carl A. Fields Center, was sponsored by the Keller Center and made possible by generous support from the G.S. Beckwith Gilbert '63 lectureship. The Gilbert lecture was established in 1988 to bring innovative leaders in business, government and the professions to campus to discuss their ventures and the insights gained in their careers. A reception followed the well attended lecture. View the event poster.
In his talk, Patzer discussed how essential failure is to learning and how he had a few businesses before being fully successful with Mint. Unlike many other entrepreneurs, he shared his idea for Mint with a wide audience prior to launch in order to validate his ideas. Particularly resonant with the audience were his comments on the psychology of a start-up and how self-doubt is inevitable.
About the Speaker
Aaron is both the visionary and technical mind behind Mint.com, now the leading free, online money management in the US. He designed Mint.com to meet the needs of people who value the immediacy of the web, simplicity and their free time.
Prior to founding Mint, Aaron was an architect and technical lead for the San Jose division of Nascentric. Before Nascentric, Aaron worked for IBM and founded two web development and online marketing companies: PWeb and International. Aaron holds an MSEE from Princeton University and a BS in computer science, computer engineering, and electrical engineering from Duke University. He has 10 patents filed or pending.
Aaron's innovation leadership has been recognized by national and international organizations. CNN Money identified him as one of six Money Heroes in the US in 2008, and Inc. magazine included him in a list of the Top 30 US Entrepreneurs under 30. He was named one of just 34 worldwide Tech Pioneers by the World Economic Forum of Davos, Switzerland in 2008.
The event, held in the Carl A. Fields Center, was sponsored by the Keller Center and made possible by generous support from the G.S. Beckwith Gilbert '63 lectureship. The Gilbert lecture was established in 1988 to bring innovative leaders in business, government and the professions to campus to discuss their ventures and the insights gained in their careers. A reception followed the well attended lecture. View the event poster.
In his talk, Patzer discussed how essential failure is to learning and how he had a few businesses before being fully successful with Mint. Unlike many other entrepreneurs, he shared his idea for Mint with a wide audience prior to launch in order to validate his ideas. Particularly resonant with the audience were his comments on the psychology of a start-up and how self-doubt is inevitable.
Prior to founding Mint, Aaron was an architect and technical lead for the San Jose division of Nascentric. Before Nascentric, Aaron worked for IBM and founded two web development and online marketing companies: PWeb and International. Aaron holds an MSEE from Princeton University and a BS in computer science, computer engineering, and electrical engineering from Duke University. He has 10 patents filed or pending.
Aaron's innovation leadership has been recognized by national and international organizations. CNN Money identified him as one of six Money Heroes in the US in 2008, and Inc. magazine included him in a list of the Top 30 US Entrepreneurs under 30. He was named one of just 34 worldwide Tech Pioneers by the World Economic Forum of Davos, Switzerland in 2008.
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