-- Make sure you have a simple UI

-- Don't use a stupid, made-up word for the service

Mint's founder and CEO was speaking at Wednesday's panel on "Building an Overnight Web All-Star." He claimed that the personal finance site is now four times as big as Quicken Online, even though the competitor is based on a decades-old brand and launched a year before did. How can this be? Patzer points to the fact that Quicken required 50 screens to get started, compared to Mint.com's two.

"User interface matters on the Web," Patzer said. "And finance companies I don't think get this, because every bank website I've been to looks like it was made in 1997. There hasn't been a whole lot of innovation here."

To realize his vision of a clean design and easy-to-use interface, Mint's founder hired one of the designers of Apple.com. He also made the sign-up button -- a long, orange oval that says "Sign up in under five minutes" -- one of the most recognizable parts of the front page. He claims that it has an 18% conversion rate.