1/11/2008

Mint Team Spotlight – Damon Billian

Name:

Damon Billian

Title:

Director, Customer Evangelism

Education:

School of hard knocks.

Current Financial Strategy:

None… working on it. As I recently got married, keeping a simple budget going is a little more difficult than I would like (I am also quite lazy).

Worst Financial Move:

Too many to list here. Some bad moves: buying a car with cash, not being patient with stocks and getting married (just kidding).

Best Financial Advice:

To be honest, I would tell all young kids to finish college. I would tell parents to teach their kids about how saving money can make you money down the road. I would also advise folks in their twenties to be careful with credit.

How Do You Keep Spending in Check?

Try not to go out on weekends. That doesn’t always happen, though!

Who Taught You About Finance?

Hmmmm… not a single soul. I still have work to do in this arena. Some of the blogs on the Internet have solid information and I have read a few books about investing that made me understand the basics much better.

How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?

Three. My favorite is the American Express Starwood Preferred Guest Card. I am going to pay one off and move to two. I also have several department store cards that I don’t use and will be getting rid of them.

Where Did You Work Before Mint?

SimplyHired.com, PayPal/eBay.

What Difference Do You See Going From A Large Company to a Start-up?

Getting things changed in a larger company is more difficult and there’s definitely a lot more political issues in a larger organization.

What Drew You to Mint?

I think Mint has a great product. The people here are extra spiffy as well.

How Will You Help Mint Grow?

Identifying key product requests and other issues that cause customers problems. As we’re still very much in beta, I don’t think many customers realize that we’re still testing things out & making as many improvements as rapidly as we can.

What are Your Typical Hours?

Generally 50-60 hours per week — I often work at home after office hours. My role also requires that I generally work 6-7 days per week.

What’s your Favorite Things About Mint?

Besides the product and people? Working in downtown Mountain View again—good food around here. I also think the product will help folks save money.

What Has Been the Funniest Moment at Mint?

Probably not fit for a public blog. Let’s just say that one of our employees got called a bad word by a competitor.

What Has Been the Weirdest Moment at Mint?

Actually having them hire me. Do they know what they got into?