
How Do You Solve a Problem Like Patzer?  A VC Perspective - jkopelman
http://permanentrecord.firstround.com/2010/02/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-patzer.html?awesm=frc.vc_39z&utm_medium=frc.vc-copypaste&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_content=site-basic
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jmount
Patzer claimed on the Mint blog ( [http://www.mint.com/blog/updates/why-mint-
com-plus-intuit-is...](http://www.mint.com/blog/updates/why-mint-com-plus-
intuit-is-a-big-idea/) ) that one reason to sell to Intuit was to speed up the
adoption of his personal finance ideas in the market place. Seems like a
legitimate non-problem reason.

"In addition, by joining Intuit, we can accelerate our ability to add more
fantastic new product functionality into both Quicken and Mint.com. This means
more people will find it easy and affordable to stay on top of their money
issues. Bottom line? I see this as a chance to take a big leap forward toward
our ultimate goal of improving the national savings rate."

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aditya
They could have possibly done the same thing by continuing to disrupt, raising
a lot more money, and building a billion dollar competitor to Intuit.

Not saying that selling to Intuit was a bad idea, and I completely agree with
what Josh is saying, a $100MM+ acquisition is life-changing after all.

~~~
yannis
My ex-partner used to say _nobody died making a profit_. Selling at $100++ is
certainly not small change.

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mwerty
Thought this was a solved problem. Why did they not just buy a portion of
Patzer's stock?

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TheTarquin
This is an awesome take on the VC game. I imagine it's not the only opinion,
however. The metaphor he sets up with regards to customers and shareholders
could also be twisted (and I'm sure is, by some VCs) to a more hierarchical
idea in which the VC needs to answer to the shareholders. Some VCs may even
want to stretch that notion further and say that the startup is answerable to
the VC.

I think this is a less accurate analogy, but I could certainly see it giving
rise to the idea of "the Patzer" as something less like a business decision
and something more like a sin against the VC.

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nraynaud
Didn't he sells because he is providing financial advice to people and the
best financial advice for people is to be cautious and he applied the same
advice to himself?

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sireat
What is funny, that judging from the headline I first thought of chess not
Mint.com

Patzer(I believe term originates from Yiddish) is a common slang term for a
poor chessplayer.

Do not be a P(p)atzer takes on a double meaning..

