#Mint CEO Aaron Patzer: Must See Video For Start-ups!

Mint went from inception to $170 Million exit in two years. I’d say that qualifies CEO Aaron Patzer as someone that can drop some knowledge on those aspiring to follow in his footsteps. At the Juice Pitcher event hosted by TheFunded.com and Vator.tv he did just that. There is no turn-key plan for business success; building a business from idea to success is a journey and what works for one company might not work for another, but Aaron provides some very valuable guidance at a detailed level not usually shared.

Congrats to Mint on all their much deserved success! Here’s the must see video and key highlights from Vator News. Enjoy!

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