In the first three years of Mint, from when it was founded to when it was sold, I can honestly say that in a sustainable way, I couldn't have worked any harder on it.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
The start-up life kept me busy and surfaced the problem of not being able to stay on top of my personal finances, which led me to invent Mint.com. I was working 80-hour weeks, and had done enough preliminary work and research to know I had a big idea: To make money management effortless and automated.
I feel like everything I ever did in my life led me to the Franklin Mint.
I founded Minted in 2007 with the desire to use 'crowd-sourcing' to bring designs from the best emerging and independent designers in the world to consumers.
Nothing except the mint can make money without advertising.
Kleenex would have made a mint today.
The name Minted speaks to the freshness of our design - the fact that we are receiving thousands of new designs each week and selling freshly minted winners from our design competitions.
All of the designs on Minted are crowd-sourced from a global community of independent designers. We hold monthly design and art challenges that anyone in the world is welcome to enter.
After building most of Mint.com's prototype by myself, I talked to anyone and everyone I knew about Mint. It's counter-intuitive, because you might fear someone will steal your idea, but it's the only way to make connections, be sure you're on the right track, and provide a solution for an audience broader than yourself.
It is the destiny of mint to be crushed.
The mint makes it first, it is up to you to make it last.