KATES, Kiernan E.

[kiernan kates]

KIERNAN ELIZABETH KATES
___________________________________

NICKNAME: Kier, Kates.
BIRTHDAY: 06 26 1989 (24)
HOMETOWN: St. Louis, MO
RESIDENCE: 1 BR in the Financial District
RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single


HIGH SCHOOL: Cor Jesu Academy
CUMULATIVE GPA: 4.12/4.0
FAVORITE CLASS: Technological Programming
COLLEGE/MAJOR: MIT / Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Minor in Finance


CURRENT POSITION: Developer & Creator; Mint.com Personal Finance Site & Iphone App
FOR HOW LONG: 5 years

LIKES- Greek mythology, psychological thriller novels, wine stain lipsticks, peaches, math and sciences, thick rim glasses, hazelnut coffee, late night inspiration, midnight walks, toasted ravioli, coding, risks and rewards, listerine, amusement parks, the Met, STL Cardinals, Red October, fresh laundry, cinnamon sugar donuts, long distance running, Harper's Bazaar, Prada perfumes, Anheuser-Busch, intensity, deadlines and rigid outlines, extensive planning, fly fishing, serene mornings, business cards, socializing, sex, cab rides, baseball, success.

DISLIKES- tourists, asking for directions, asking for help in general, rap music, not taking a shower daily, snooze buttons, late night pizza runs (though she frequently does them), the KC Chiefs, apple beers, Self magazine, gore and horror, bland designs and dreams, being too cold, strong candles, being rejected, backpacks, kitten heels, silk sheets, hangovers, purple grapes, pigeons, clowns, peanuts, dead flowers, unreliable people.


I'M CLOSEST TO my older brother, Sean.
MY CHILDHOOD DREAM WAS TO BE a star. That one didn't quite work out.
GROWING UP WAS Suffocating. Lots of pressure.
I'LL ALWAYS REMEMBER when Mint finally launched.

THE PLACES YOU MIGHT FIND ME AT: dive bars, charity events, nail salons, nightclubs, public libraries, Mint HQ

CHARACTERISTICS I TEND TO VALUE IN PEOPLE: capable of keeping secrets, pride, confidence not arrogance, humor

THE MOST DISORGANIZED PART OF MY LIFE IS: my moral set

I NEVER UNDERSTOOD THE APPEAL OF: monogamy

WHAT’S YOUR TYPICAL DAY LIKE?

Wake up at 8 AM for a smoothie and a quick run, shower, checking e-mails and checklists of what needs to get done for the day before my 10 minute commute to our office on Wall St. Then it's countless hours at Mint's development HQ, working on anything and everything from customer support to new app developments to accessibility and consumer logistics. More often than not I'm wanting to rewrite half of the codes, underdressed and tired and stressed out, but this is my whole being, wanting this app to be as successful and personal as possible. The growth and response has been great, but I need and want more. After work, usually around 5 PM, I try to attend some kind of dinner, social event, or networking party to get my name and brand out there. Can't hurt that I know how to clean up nice either.

WHAT’S SOMETHING YOU DO DIFFERENTLY THAN MOST PEOPLE?

When I go out I rarely show my cleavage, wear heels, or bright lipstick. I know what I have, I like leaving a lot up to the imagination and not being a self proclaimed slut. Plus it lets people underestimate me - my favorite advantage of all.

WHAT MAKES YOU DOUBT OR MISTRUST A PERSON?

I think trust is a lost word, but when someone promises something and then backs out on their word last minute - that hurts a bit. I mean this in more of a financial way I suppose, as many investors love to promise big dreams to any person with a half-decent idea then just drop them. Relationships and all that bullshit on the other hand, no one trusts anyone anymore. They're convenience factors at this point, or for social advancement. I trust no one in that aspect, so in that case I rarely doubt or worry about them.

WHAT HAS BEEN A DIFFICULT EXPERIENCE IN YOUR LIFE?

Growing up with my hell bent controlling mother. Bless the woman, as she is truly a gem of her generation, but the amount of pushing and prodding I received from her made it hard to trek back to St Louis year after year. We were her greatest assets, needing something new to brag about every second, so any club imaginable I had to join, honor society, charity group, you name it. My brother deciding to be a firefighter was her worst loss to date, hoping to breed a senator or someone politically power she could dote on daily and have power over. My mom loves power and prestige, and that obsession drove her away from us.

Other than that I've lived well, just love working hard. Developing this app and business and trying to get it off the ground has been the biggest uphill battle of my life, exhausting resources and man power only to watch failures again and again. I never take no for an answer though, luckily, and I think it might finally be starting to turn around. Investors are back in the bidding game, and I couldn't be happier to see what else is in store for Mint and myself and my partners.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IN LIFE IF YOU DID NOT NEED TO WORK?

Probably still work. I like to keep my hands busy, my brain working, developing new things and achieving accomplishments make life infinitely more worth it.  Though if someone wanted to sweep me up on exotic vacations and long lingering shopping trips I wouldn't exactly object. No rational dreaming girl would.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR UPCOMING GOALS AND PLANS?

Get Mint on iPhone's most downloaded app list, get on Forbes (maybe not upcoming, but a goal nonetheless), fuck someone on Forbes, maybe try to go on a trip somewhere and get some more culture. I don't know, I don't give myself time to daydream anymore, I take it day by day, roll with the punches. It's the New York way of life - no savings account unless you've got the money, no time to dwell on the pointless. You'll get eaten up in a heartbeat. It's why I do belong here.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU TRIED SOMETHING SPONTANEOUS?

I can't even remember. That's how long it's been. Working with technology brings in so many statistics, algorithms, coding issues and solutions and database errors that you forget the world isn't that black and white. You just work that way after a while. Hook ups have been spontaneous though, if I had to say something. Going out and bringing someone home, going back to their place...a common occurrence in this city and lifestyle. But other than that, anything else is planned to a T.

WHAT HAS BEEN A SIGNIFICANTLY EMOTIONAL MOMENT OF YOUR LIFE?

Probably when I found out Mint development would have to be pushed back a year due to investing failures and budget cuts we'd had to implement, as well as design dislike. I took a knife to a couch, destroyed all the cushions. I think my team thought I was going to murder them next, but rationality luckily stepped back in. And then the planning began all over again.

DO YOU TEND TO LISTEN TO YOUR HEART OR YOUR BRAIN?

Brain. Does anyone have a heart anymore?

WHAT ULTIMATELY KEEPS YOU MOTIVATED?

Success, my desires, wanting to climb to and be at the top. There's no way in hell I'm not going to get there, and I'd love to see the person that tries to stop me in getting what I want.

GROCERY/ERRAND STICKIES Skim Milk Development Meeting, 6PM Change vase water for roses Green Tea Cherries

LAST GIFTS GIVEN Two dozen roses Tissue box, thanks Coleen Chopard diamond teardrops Cards sweatshirt Teddy paid for dinner, does that count?

FATHER: Thomas Kates, 58, Biochemical Engineer
MOTHER: Rachel Godfrey, 49, Charity Coordinator for STL Women's Society
SIBLINGS: Sean Kates, 28, Firefighter
EXTENDED: Freya Kates, 26, sister-in-law
Connor Kates, 2, nephew
OTHER: Beta, 5, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel


HISTORY: People still laugh at the cliche that is my parents.

The chemistry nerd and the beauty queen, thrown together in a blowoff class their senior year only to realize that opposites attract in the best of ways. She claims it was the chemistry, he always complains it doesn't work like that and it's a horrible joke. But after walking over the four leaf clover on accident at the University of Missouri, my mom knew she was destined to marry an engineer. Both St. Louis born and bred, members of decent families in the communities, they were surprised this was the first time meeting each other. Probably because he was dragged to social events and she thrived in them. But there they were, college seniors, braving into a relationship when they didn't know where they were going to end up. My father worked in Kentucky for a few years, blessed with frequent visits from my mother who'd picked up a charity event coordination job in St. Louis that gave her plenty of free time and money to do whatever she pleased. Eventually, on the night he proposed, he surprised her with his one way ticket home and a beautiful diamond ring. They were married 10 months after, and in the blazing hot summer of 1985, my brother was born. Fitting, as his obsession with heat and pressure and choking temperatures knows no bounds to this day.

Four years later, on a much more fortunate great summer day, I was born. My brother was the proudest sibling he could be, you see it in all the pictures. My mother ecstatic she had a daughter to tame as prim and proper. My dad was just happy to have two healthy kids, the most rational of all. My mother immediately gave up her "job" to shine us up, keeping us involved in social playdates with the right people in St. Louis and keeping her name up as a well to do lady of the moment. We were lucky they were involved, but I always felt suffocated. She was hoping for so much for us that we got smothered in the process.

But it helped, on paper. We whizzed through high school with perfect GPA's and extracurriculars, my brother proudly admitted to Yale while I was ecstatic to be at MIT. While my mother seriously disapproved of my major, hoping I'd dabble in something social, I knew I was a born creative. Determined to do the next big thing, be the leader, the one everyone wanted to follow. Sure it outcasted me a bit, the pretty girl in the tech lab, but I adapted. Ran my own social scene, the best of both worlds. My first day of college I happily settled in in New York City and immediately fell in love. These people wanted their foot one step ahead of everyone else, and I wanted mine covering theirs. The competition thrilled me, and I continued to thrive throughout my years there. I was especially proud when my brother called to tell me he was training to become a firefighter, a lifelong passion even with his Law degree. Going against my mother's wishes was a delicious moment for the both of us, but at the end of the day our father gave us the respect and passion to fight for our dreams that we wanted. He was our biggest supporter, and still is today. While my mom constantly worried my test grades weren't good enough or the clubs or secret societies I was invited into not prestigious enough, he sent us handwritten letters offering personal congratulations for something as simple as a 97 on a test. Those were the thoughts that mattered.

During my years at MIT I also met my future development parter, Dave Capner. While he was at first the sexy TA I ended up hooking up with on Halloween, we ended up getting along in more of a professional standpoint. Not that some discretions haven't happened now and again, of course, but he was the one who really got me looking into using my Finance minor to develop a groundbreaking website and app. We decided on MINT one random day after we dubbed our school the "Manhattan Institute of New Technology", and the rest of my junior and senior years were devoted to building this program from scratch and trying to make it shine. We wanted something to unite all bank accounts, allowing you to allot certain amounts of money for different expenses and being able to see how you held up. In the future we hope to be able to allow the placement of holds on certain expenses, such as clothing or miscellaneous, so impulse spending could be more closely monitored, or even denied. We thought it was something practical and useful, and something that would take off right away.

We were wrong.

Sure we did well off the bat initially, attracting some decent attention, we didn't gain what we were hoping for. There wasn't some spark or surge in instant downloads, not enough advertising or promotion going around to widen the scope. My parents don't know but most of the money they'd trusted to me is now gone because of this development, trying to build it back up at this point through downloads and hopeful investors. We got really close a while ago, going through a couple rounds of funding with different groups until eventually the money just wasn't where we wanted it to be anymore. I can't tell you how many hours we spent pouring over our options, trying to make this better. Eventually we completely pulled out of the market for a while, rebranding and completely re-evaluating our positions until we polished Mint up and came back out swinging. More investor rounds, more life, a little more funds generated...we were able to get our own office in Financial, where I conveniently based my apartment, and hired a few developers to come on board for tech questions and other customer service options. We're currently doing decently, but we want to branch out to major scope, become a top app not just suggested by random retailers who need to stop their shopping urges. We want this to be the app of the financial future, and I know the both of us are doing whatever we can to make sure that happens. Just takes time, and a lot of hard work, but we're definitely in it for the long haul. Especially with renewed interest in another round of funding coming up.

NAME: Jill
PLAY-BY: EmRata
CITY: NYC
LISTENING TO: Bindsided, Bon Iver