Tinder

This Week In Startups is made possible by: MongoDB - MongoDB.com/ai Rippling - Rippling.ai/twist Agree.com - agree.com Today's show: Hustle Fund's Eric Bahn and Chapter One's Jeff Morris Jr. join our venture capital roundtable directly following the news breaking that Stripe wants to buy PayPal. The possible transaction highlights how little interest today's leading startups have in going public any time soon. With host Alex Wilhelm, Bahn and Morris dug into when startups should burn the boats à la Fin, physical AI as the next frontier, the power of Silicon Valley groupthink, and how startups are approaching the first days of widespread, company-specific AI evals! Guest links: Eric Bahn https://x.com/ericbahn Hustle Fund https://www.hustlefund.vc Jeff Morris Jr. https://x.com/jmj Chapter One https://chapterone.com Show links: Stripe wants to buy PayPal https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/stripe-advent-offer-buy-paypal-more-than-53-billion-sources-say-2026-07-15/ Flex https://www.flex.one/ Webflow https://webflow.com/ Oak https://www.oak.id/ Fin selling to Salesforce https://www.salesforce.com/news/press-releases/2026/06/15/salesforce-signs-definitive-agreement-to-acquire-fin/ Erebor https://erebor.bank/ "Competition is for losers" https://www.wsj.com/articles/peter-thiel-competition-is-for-losers-1410535536 Chapter One piece on the value of software https://jamesin.substack.com/p/some-areas-weve-been-investing-in Timestamps: 0:00 Eric Bahn (Hustle Fund) & Jeff Morris Jr. (Chapter One) join the show! 1:35 Stripe's reported $53B offer for PayPal 6:29 Why founders don't want to go public 10:08 Agree.com - Stop chasing invoices and automate your entire contract-to-cash stack. Go to https://agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life! 15:16 When is it time to burn the boats? 20:12 MongoDB - AI-assisted and agentic coding is helping you build faster than ever. Start building at https://MongoDB.com/ai 21:16 Does VC need an AI revolution? 30:50 Rippling - Thanks to our partners at Rippling! Head to https://Rippling.ai/twist and get the only AI built to give you full visibility across your startup and take complex actions across your entire business. 32:36 Custom evals, open source models, and avoiding vendor lock-in 36:37 Physical AI and robotics as the next frontier 37:42 Oak's $60M seed and startup clusters chasing agent infrastructure 40:43 Escaping the Silicon Valley "think tank" 48:28 Consumer AI's missing wave 1:00:18 AI regulation and how to get it right 1:12:01 Where to find our guests and wrap-up! Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp Follow Lon: X: https://x.com/lons Follow Alex: X: https://x.com/alex LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm Follow Jason: X: https://twitter.com/Jason LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis

Eric Bahn

Co-founder and Partner

Hustle Fund

Jeff Morris Jr

Founder

Chapter OneTinder

Jim Lanzone is the CEO of Yahoo. It's basically impossible to sum up Yahoo's story over the last 25 years, but the short version is that once upon a time, Yahoo paid Google to run the search box on its website, and everything immediately went sideways. Jim calls it Yahoo's original sin. But after a long series of mergers, spinouts, and a hot, weird minute as part of Verizon Yahoo is once again an independent, privately held company — and it's growing. But can Yahoo really take market share from Google? Links:  Yahoo sells Engadget to Static Media | The Verge Yahoo sells TechCrunch to Regent | The Verge Yahoo Finance launches crypto partnership with Coinbase | Yahoo Yahoo Scout looks like more web-friendly AI search | The Verge Yahoo Finance launches crypto deal with Polymarket | Yahoo Finance Yahoo resurrects Artifact inside AI-powered news app | The Verge Yahoo Mail adds more AI to simplify desktop email | The Verge Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder! Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.  The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jim Lanzone

CEO

YahooTinder

In 1995, just 2% of couples met online. Today, that number has surged to over 50%, making online dating the top way couples connect. In this episode, a16z General Partner Andrew Chen chats with Tinder founder Sean Rad about how he built an app that changed culture. Sean shares why seamless experiences matter, how startups often get marketing wrong, and how Tinder became the catalyst for online dating's explosive growth. This conversation was recorded live in LA at a16z’s Games third Speedrun program. Learn more about Speedrun: https://a16z.com/games/speedrun/ Find Sean on Twitter: https://x.com/seanrad Find Andrew on Twitter: https://x.com/andrewchen Stay Updated:  Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/ Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Stay Updated: Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube Find a16z on X Find a16z on LinkedIn Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Sean Rad

Founder

Tinder

Sean Rad is the Founder and former CEO of Tinder. Sean has made more romantic connections between humans than anyone in history with Tinder having matched 50BN different people. Sean is also the Founder of Rad Fund which has made over 100 investments in companies and funds. In Today's Episode with Sean Rad We Discuss: 1. Lessons Scaling Tinder to the Fastest Consumer Social App: Starting: How did the idea for Tinder come to Sean in a restaurant in LA? Scaling: What are Sean's biggest lessons for consumer apps scaling to their first 10,000 users? User Acquisition: How did a party change the entire user acquisition strategy for dinner? What did Tinder not do that Sean wishes they had done? What did Tinder do that with the benefit of hindsight, they should not have done? 2. Leadership Lessons from Tinder CEOship: Annual Product Redesign: Why does Sean believe that every consumer company should have a complete redesign of the app every year? What are the benefits? Detachment: How does Sean advise founders when it comes to detaching their happiness from the performance of the company? What works? What does not work? Common Mistakes: What are the most common mistakes that Sean sees early-stage founders make when it comes to leadership? 3. Money, Wealth and Creating a Family Office: How does Sean analyse his own relationship to money? How has it changed over time? At what stage of wealth does Sean believe you have true financial freedom? What is the single best investment Sean has made? What did he learn? What is the worst investment he has made? What did he learn? What have been the single hardest and most surprising elements of creating a family office? 4. Love, Death, Marriage: In what ways does Sean think love has changed with time? How do we deal with the loneliness pandemic? What does Sean believe are the most non-obvious but important secrets to a happy marriage? How does Sean approach and think about his own spirituality today? Why does he not fear death?

Sean Rad

Founder

Tinder

Yahoo, the one-time "oracle of the internet", has had many iterations in its 30 year history - and private equity is betting that Yahoo CEO and digital media veteran Jim Lanzone can bring back its relevance. Kara has been covering Yahoo since its inception and has known Lanzone - who has had leadership stints at Ask.com, CBS and Tinder - almost as long. They discuss Jim's vision for the new Yahoo, what’s going on with search, how he’s integrating AI, and whether there could be another Yahoo merger or IPO on the horizon. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on social media. We’re on Instagram/Threads as @karaswisher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jim Lanzone

CEO

YahooTinder

Jim Lanzone is the CEO of Yahoo. He joins Big Technology Podcast for the long awaited Yahoo Episode, a deep dive into a company that remains one of the most visited and influential property on the web. Tune in as Lanzone describes how Yahoo's verticals operate, how the company thinks about generative AI for its search bar, and whether it's still possible to build a solid business on the web. Ranjan Roy joins us as well for a rare Wednesday appearance on the podcast. Tune in for a deep, engaging conversation with a CEO at the helm of a crucial internet cornerstone. --- Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice. Want a discount for Big Technology Premium? Here’s 40% off for the first year: https://tinyurl.com/bigtechnology Questions? Feedback? Write to: bigtechnologypodcast@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jim Lanzone

CEO

YahooTinder

Relationships are the single most important part of our lives, so why do we so often leave them to chance and the randomness of fate? Paul C. Brunson is a professional matchmaker and life coach. He is the co-host of 'Celebs Go Dating’ and ‘Married At First Sight UK’, he is also the Head of Global Insight at Tinder. Paul has also been named the world's most influential matchmaker by the Matchmaking Institute. In this conversation Paul and Steven discuss topics, such as why Gen Z will have the strongest marriages ever, why dating is more complicated than ever before, the number 1 reason for breakups, and why men are struggling. You can purchase Paul’s book, ‘Find Love’, here: https://amzn.to/47S2XZz Follow Paul: Twitter - https://bit.ly/49cXbmg Instagram - https://bit.ly/3u5JTcx Follow me: https://beacons.ai/diaryofaceo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Paul Brunson

Head of Global Insight

Tinder

Guest: Jim Lanzone, CEO of Yahoo Jim Lanzone doesn’t waste time thinking about what other people think of him ... or the companies he has run. After helping to rejuvenate Ask.com in the early 2000s, he has more recently served as CEO of Tinder, and now Yahoo. As an expert in brand turnarounds, he says, “don’t worry about what the world thinks ... worry about your growth versus yourself.” With a focus on people and product, Jim believes, “not only can you accomplish a lot, you’re going to make a lot of money at doing it.” In this episode, Jim and Joubin discuss being bicoastal, downtown San Francisco, supportive partners, Garret Camp and StumbleUpon, “co-opetition,” Walt Mossberg, Redpoint Ventures, Dave Goldberg, Clicker, taking punches, Apollo Global Management, loyalty to the cause, high-EQ people, and user goals vs. company goals. In this episode, we cover: Growing up in Silicon Valley (00:53) Long-lasting marriages (07:26) Jim’s first company, eTour (13:18) The Web 1.0 boom (17:33) Joining Ask.com & partnering with Google (20:40) Rejuvenating a brand (24:11) Back in the mud with Clicker (28:05) CBS All Access (34:02) 14 months at Tinder (37:25) What people get wrong about Jim (39:05) Becoming the CEO of Yahoo (42:45) How Jim hires great teams (49:54) Top priorities and Yahoo’s verticals (55:10) First principles & making decisions (01:02:26) Hiring & what “grit” means to Jim (01:05:02) Links: Connect with JimLinkedIn Connect with JoubinTwitter LinkedIn Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com  Learn more about Kleiner Perkins This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

Jim Lanzone

CEO

YahooTinder

Jim Lanzone is the CEO @ Yahoo, a company that today reaches nearly 900 million people around the world and is the third largest property on the Internet. Prior to Yahoo, Tim was the CEO of Tinder, the world's most popular app for meeting new people, downloaded by more than 400 million people. Before Tinder, Jim spent a decade as President and CEO of CBS Interactive, a top 10 global Internet company with brands ranging from CBS All Access to CNET. He joined CBS Interactive in 2011 when CBS Corporation purchased Clicker Media, where he was founder and CEO. Before founding Clicker, Jim served as CEO of Ask.com (formerly Ask Jeeves). In Today's Episode with Jim Lanzone 1.) Jim's Entry into the World of Startups: How did Jim go from law school to founding his first tech startup in the dot com boom? How did seeing the crash and the first company going bust, shape Jim's perspectives on great leadership? What does Jim know now that he wishes he had known when he started way back in 1999? 2.) Leadership 101: How does Jim define "high performance" in business today? What are the 4 things Jim always looks for when hiring new people? Why does Jim believe the standard interview process and questions are broken? How does he do it differently? What are his biggest lessons on how to hire effectively? How does Jim know when to let someone go? How long do you give under-performers? 3.) Crashes and Turnarounds: Jim has seen three crashes as a CEO, what are Jim's biggest lessons from 3 prior crashes? How does Jim advise founders to be acting today? What should they focus on? How can leaders maintain morale and optimism in the face of tough macro times? How does Jim advise founders to communicate both with their investors and board when it comes to reduced performance in harder times? 4.) The Yahoo Turnaround: What does Jim believe the 1-2 core things Yahoo needs to fix is? Why are they priorities? How does Jim approach turning round the Yahoo brand? How does he plan to make it attractive? What is the biggest misnomer that people have about Yahoo today? How does Jim think about running a portfolio approach with Yahoo moving forward? How has Jim changed the org structure and management of Yahoo most significantly? Items Mentioned in Today's Episode: Jim's Favourite Book: Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

Jim Lanzone

CEO

YahooTinder

George Felix, now the CMO of Tinder, was marketing Old Spice body wash at a time when the brand was circling the drain. His team at Procter & Gamble almost let their big break slip away when initially passing on the “Hello ladies” campaign - an ad that would later go viral on Facebook and YouTube. George recalls how the agency pitching the idea stood their ground and pressed on with conviction, an experience that taught him a lot about trusting your gut and standing up for what you believe in. In this episode, George and Joubin talk about his close relationship with his father, who passed away in 2006; the unusual way he, as an intern at Procter & Gamble, started a lifelong friendship with his then-boss Kevin Hochman; behind-the-scenes stories making ads for Old Spice and KFC; and the unusual truth about Tinder’s brand that attracted George to the company last year. In this episode, we cover: George’s education-focused Indian-American parents, and how they wound up in Toledo, Ohio (05:52) If they could talk one more time, what would he ask his late father? (12:17) What startups can learn about brand-building from older firms like Procter & Gamble (16:28) How not having a real desk at P&G helped George network with his colleagues (20:30) Executing the Old Spice “smell like a man” campaign — and the award-winning TV ad that completely revitalized the brand (25:10) The crippling fear of ambiguity, and the importance of being “a little uncomfortable” (33:35) Reviving KFC’s brand with another viral ad, starring Darrell Hammond as Colonel Sanders (37:58) Why George went to Tinder, and the potential he saw to reshape its brand (44:02) Spontaneity in dating, and overcoming the stigma against meeting people online (47:29) The “Tinder Swindler” and why Tinder isn’t just one thing (52:55) Links: Connect with GeorgeLinkedIn Connect with JoubinTwitter LinkedIn Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com  Learn more about Kleiner Perkins This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

George Felix

CMO

Tinder

Jim Lanzone is the CEO of Tinder. He took over the world’s most popular dating app last summer, in the heart of the pandemic, and is starting to evolve its product to give people new ways to connect. Lanzone joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss how Gen Z wants to date online, how their behavior differs from millennials, and how that factors into his product vision. We also talk about the business of Tinder, whether Lanzone lets his kids use the app, and where its next challenger might come from. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jim Lanzone

CEO

YahooTinder

Stories discussed this week: Tinder CEO Elie Seidman on finding love during the pandemic It’s hard to figure out how often people without symptoms spread COVID-19 Inside Nextdoor’s ‘Karen problem’ Nextdoor tells community leads to allow Black Lives Matter discussions after exposé Contact tracing programs have to work with local communities to be successful Apple launches $100 million Racial Equity and Justice Initiative Android 11 beta: all the announcements Android 11: conversations, bubbles, and making sense of complexity Five new features Android 11 borrows from the iPhone Android 11 may be the best texting platform if you use multiple chat apps Apple’s virtual WWDC keynote will take place on June 22nd at 1PM ET Apple will announce move to ARM-based Macs later this month, says report Apple pulls podcast apps in China after government pressure The new Sonos app and S2 update are available now IBM will no longer offer, develop, or research facial recognition technology Amazon bans police from using its facial recognition technology for the next year  Microsoft won’t sell facial recognition to police until Congress passes new privacy law Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elie Seidman

CEO

Tinder

Tinder and its parent company Match Group have weathered the COVID-19 pandemic relatively well, all things considered. User engagement is up, as is interest around new product features, like video calls. More than six years after its launch, Tinder is finally introducing a one-on-one video calling feature that it says will be heavily moderated for content and safety. At the same time, Tinder CEO Elie Seidman says he and his team are focusing on how to keep young people coming to the app and how they can build digital relationships inside of it, especially as in-person dates slow down.Seidman joins Vergecast host Nilay Patel and Verge senior reporter Ashley Carman for a chat about the future of the platform, how it’ll keep people safe over video calls, and what happens to its Tinder U initiative that it’s focused on for years. Plus, he explains how Joe Exotic might be more important to a relationship than living near each other. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elie Seidman

CEO

Tinder

Brian Norgard is the Former Chief Product Officer at the top-grossing mobile app in the world, Tinder. In less than 3 years, Tinder created over $11Bn in market value and with Brian's creation of Tinder Gold, Superlike and Boost, the platform has seen over 200m downloads and created millions of matches. Prior to Tinder, Brian founded Tappy, a mobile messaging application backed by Kleiner Perkins and acquired by Tinder. Before that, Brian built one of the fastest-growing Facebook applications in history (Chill) which reached over 30MM people. Fun fact about Brian also, at 25, Brian was the youngest GM/VP in the history of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp after the acquisition of his first company Newroo where he served as the GM of MySpace News. If that was not enough, Brian is also a prolific angel investor with investments in Tesla, SpaceX, AngelList and Coinmine. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Brian made his way into the world of startups and came to be the youngest VP at News Corp at the tender age of 25? How did that lead to his becoming CRO then CPO @ Tinder? 2.) What is the No 1 reason that products fail today? What can founders and designers do to retain the simplicity of product over time? How does complexity change the product experience? Why does Brian believe that product experience is an art? Bring in science, to what extent does Brian believe testing and iteration is key to success in product? How does one know how long is enough time to test for vs too short and not enough data? 3.) When thinking about distribution, what does Brian look for in the way that people describe a product to their friend? How does Brian think that the most successful products bake distribution into the core user behaviour? How does Brian think about community building around product? Who has done this best in Brian's mind? 4.) How should the very best founders and product people think about product risk? How can they know when to use risk to their advantage vs be mindful of excessive risk? On the features themselves, how important is it for a product to be 10x cheaper/faster etc? Why does Brian believe that is largely VC jargon? 5.) What were Brian's biggest takeaways from launching Tinder Gold and seeing Tinder become the Top Grossing App in the world? How does that sort of event also impact the team? How does Brian think about whether one should celebrate those moments or push forward to the next goal? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Brian's Fave Book: The Old Man and The Sea As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Brian on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Smart executives and business owners know that harnessing the power of AI, embracing the cloud, and prioritizing cybersecurity are the cornerstones of growth. Every day, Wrike helps thousands of companies worldwide do this by revolutionizing how they approach work. Our secure, automated,cloud-based work management tool helps businesses future proof their cultures and evolve fast. How? Wrike 's award-winning, collaborative, all-company platform keeps everything in one easily-accessible space. Time to embrace next-gen work management at the executive level and encourage lean thinking from the top down. With Wrike, crushing your objectives and mitigating risks at scale is a cinch. Give Wrike a try for free.

Brian Norgard

Former Chief Product Officer

Tinder

Jeff Morris Jr is the Founder of Chapter One, an early stage seed fund investing in blockchain assets, mobile and subscription businesses. Chapter One's Portfolio includes the likes of Lyft, Brandable, Crypto Kitties and many more incredible companies. However, Jeff is unique as Chapter One is only one of his hats, Jeff is also the Director of Product & Revenue @ Tinder and when asked to lead the revenue team they were ranked #17 in the app store. Within a year, under Jeff's leadership, Tinder became the #1 top grossing app in the world. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Jeff made his way into the world of startups and angel investing, how that lead to his role as Director of Product and Revenue @ Tinder and a leading early-stage investor with Chapter One? 2.) Jeff has previously said, "apply an investor mindset to every product decision I make". What are the foundational questions involved? What are the inherent challenges of being so deep in product and investing simultaneously? What does Jeff think of VCs giving product advice to founders? What should the founders look for? What advice does Jeff give to the common question of "how do I get into investing and VC"? 3.) Why does Jeff disagree with the platform shift and the downturn in consumer mobile? What core innovations will drive the next wave of consumer mobile? Valuations in the space are often lofty, how does Jeff think about price and evaluate his own price sensitivity? How does Jeff think about scalable customer acquisition today in a world where incumbents dominate and price up the traditional channels? 4.) Jeff has said before that "investors treat crypto teams as if they are superhuman", what makes Jeff think this? How do their interactions differ than towards non-crypto teams? Why are lofty expectations dangerous for valuations? How does that put undue pressure on employees? Why are lofty expectations dangerous for product development? How do they affect the product roadmap negatively? 5.) How does Jeff approach the diligence aspect when it comes to investing? What have been some of his major lessons from making over 35 investments on the right diligence framework? How do shortened fundraising cycles negatively affect investor diligence processes? What can founders and investors do under these constrained time frames? 6.) Having worked with some of the greats from Doug Leone to Bill Gurley, what are some of the common traits in how the very best investors engage with founders? What were Jeff's personal learnings from seeing these greats in action? How did it change the way Jeff thinks about founder interaction and engagement? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Jeff's Fave Book: The Catcher In The Rye, Googled Jeff's Most Recent Investment: Radar Relay As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Jeff on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Jeff Morris Jr

Founder

Chapter OneTinder

In this episode of Product Hunt Radio, I'm in Los Angeles talking to Brian Norgard and Jeff Morris Jr., both of whom may be indirectly responsible for a generation of “Tinder babies”. Brian Norgard is an entrepreneur, investor, and Chief Product Officer at Tinder. He has worked on a number of other products and was Tinder's first acquisition. He collaborated with Sean Rad on an earlier app called Chill, which we discuss on the podcast. Brian is also an investor in Lyft, SpaceX and AngelList. Jeff Morris Jr. is the Director of Product for Tinder's revenue initiatives. He previously worked at Zaarly and has created a number of products, including one stretch over three months where he built and launched three products, reaching the top of Product Hunt. He is also an investor in Lyft, CryptoKitties, Particle, Brat and others. In this episode: The joy of turning online connections into real-world connections. Jeff is great at this. He once went biking with Lance Armstrong in Hawaii after reaching out to Armstrong on Twitter. How seemingly minor design decisions, like adding a subtle animation to a play button, can “nudge” users into a new pattern of behavior and make products more enjoyable to use. Brian and Jeff discuss the design of Tinder Places, including the thoughtfulness that went into the privacy features of the product, and how they took inspiration from Foursquare. We get nostalgic and discuss some of our favorite products from the past, like Chill and Highlight. They leveraged location on mobile in an attempt to merge the online and offline world. Jeff tells the story of the time he reached out on Twitter about a job opportunity and less than 48 hours later had moved from San Francisco to Kansas City. Why Product Hunt has gained a reputation as a positive, fun, and upbeat community and how subtle, very intentional design decisions — like our ridiculous Google Glass-sporting cat — contribute to the community and brand. Of course, we also chat about some of their favorite products, including messaging apps, trivia games as well as a couple of now-obsolete apps that were onto something at the time but didn't end up taking off. We’ll be back next week so be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Breaker, Overcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Also, big thanks to our sponsors, Airtable, GE Ventures, Intercom and Stripe for their support. 😸 Quotes from This Episode “I like to respond to people who I shouldn't be taking to. I'll email people I shouldn't email. I don't care if they email me back. One in one hundred responses could change your life.” — Jeff “Tinder's really a serendipity engine... It's one of the few experiences where you're actually leaning forward to meet someone you don't know.” — Brian “[After he hired me via Twitter and a Skype interview] he said 'I'm in Kansas City, will you move here?' I packed my bags, got on a plane, moved to Kansas City and didn't go back to San Francisco for nine months. That was all from Twitter, within 48 hours.” — Jeff “[When building products and communities ] follow the traffic anywhere. Things happen, a bunch of people aggregate, you find ways to give them unique value, and you reduce the friction because people are already there.” — Brian “No one wants another copycat product in any category.” — Brian Companies and Products Mentioned in This Episode Chill (RIP) — A fast and fun way to communicate. Discord — Free voice and text chat for gamers. Highlight (RIP) — Find friends and new people nearby. HQ Trivia — Live trivia game show by the founder of Vine. Slack — Be less busy. Real-time messaging, archiving & search. Telegram — Fast, encrypted messaging app. Tinder Boost — Skip the line for 30 minutes to get more matches. Tinder Places — Discover new people who hang where you hang.

Brian Norgard

Former Chief Product Officer

Tinder

Jeff Morris Jr

Founder

TinderChapter One

Sean Rad is the Founder & Chairman @ Tinder, the world's most popular app for connecting with new and interesting people around you. Every single day there are 26m matches made on Tinder. Alongside his role with Tinder, Sean is the Chairman of Swipe Ventures, the investment vehicle that will continue to grow Tinder's reach through acquisitions, investment opportunities and development of new business. Prior to Tinder, Sean was the Founder and President of both Adly and Orgoo. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Sean made his way into the world of startups and changed the way people connect with Tinder? 2.) How has Sean seen his startup evaluation process evolve since his time angel investing to now, investing institutionally with Swipe Ventures? 3.) What are the character traits that Sean most looks for when evaluating startup founders? Why is humility key to success as a founder? How can this be balanced with passion and vision? 4.) How has Sean seen his leadership and mentality evolve with the growth of Tinder?What have been the major inflection points in his learning as CEO? 5.) Why does Sean believe that today's incumbents are different than any we have seen before? How does their mentality to startup competition differ from incumbents before them? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Sean's Fave Book: The Nurture Assumption Sean's Fave Blog: TechCrunch As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Sean on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Zoom is the No 1 Video and WebConferencing Service, providing one consistent enterprise experience that allows you to engage in an array of activities including online meetings, video webinars, collaboration-enabled conference rooms and business instant messaging. Plus, it is the easiest solution to use, buy and scale with the most straightforward pricing. Do not take our word for it, Zoom's their partnership with Sequoia in their latest 100m funding round says it all. Zoom is a must for your business. ViewedIt is a free video-recording tool that makes it easy for organizations to embrace the power of video for personalized communications. ViewedIt enables sales professionals, executive leaders and customer support teams to easily record personalized videos and add them to their email conversations. Plus, with built-in tracking powered by the Vidyard platform, video creators will know who is watching what, and which video messages resonate with viewers. They'll receive immediate playback notifications that will eliminate the wondering of whether the recipient received or watched their content. Find out more and download ViewedIt for free at vidyard.com/viewedit.

Sean Rad

Founder

Tinder