How I Built This with Guy Raz

Hinge: Justin McLeod

Mar 22, 2021

Justin McLeod, the Founder and CEO of Hinge, shares his journey from heartbreak to creating a dating app designed for meaningful relationships. He discusses how personal experiences shaped Hinge's evolution and the challenges he faced in a saturated market. McLeod also reflects on Hinge's relaunch, emphasizing user engagement and thoughtful design. The conversation touches on the app's growth during the pandemic and its ultimate acquisition by Match Group, highlighting the resilience and innovation required to thrive in the dating landscape.

01:30:50

Episode guests

Justin McLeod

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Intro

3min

From Heartbreak to Hinge: A Journey of Love and Reinvention

22min

From Heartbreak to Hinge: The Birth of a Dating App

12min

Navigating Early User Feedback

4min

Navigating the Dating App Landscape

5min

A Hail Mary Launch Party for a Struggling App

3min

Navigating Love and Competition

19min

Challenges and Revival: The Journey of an App Relaunch

2min

Rebuilding Hinge: From Hookup to Heartfelt Connections

18min

10.

Dating in a Pandemic: Transformation and Resilience

6min

11.

Life Imitates Art: From Personal Story to Screen Adaptation

3min

In 2010, Justin McLeod was in business school, still trying to get over a bad breakup that had happened years before. Determined to solve his own problem and convinced that the best way to meet people was through friends of friends, he built an app to replicate that experience. Gradually, Hinge grew into a streamlined swiping platform that yielded mixed results: good dates, bad hookups, mismatched swipes, and missed opportunities. Disappointed with this outcome and inspired by a sudden twist in his own love life, Justin redesigned Hinge as an app for finding meaningful relationships, with the tag line "designed to be deleted." Today, Hinge is owned by Match Group and is one of the most popular dating apps in the U.S.

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