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20VC: Tinder's Sean Rad on Why Humility Is The Key Trait For Founders To Have, Why Today's Incumbents Are Stronger Than Any Before Them & How Leaders Need To Scale With The Scaling Of Their Company

May 26, 2017

Sean Rad, the Founder and Chairman of Tinder, shares insights from his journey in the startup world. He emphasizes the importance of humility as a key trait for founders, balancing it with passion and vision. Sean discusses how his evaluation process for startups has evolved over time and why today's incumbents pose unique challenges for new ventures. He reflects on his leadership growth with Tinder, including critical learning moments that shaped his approach. The conversation delves into the future of dating technology, focusing on personalization and authentic connections.

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ANECDOTE

Tinder's Origin

Sean Rad was inspired to create Tinder by observing the fear of rejection in social settings.
He realized a mutual interest indicator could eliminate this fear, leading to the app's core matching concept.

INSIGHT

Investment Thesis Evolution

Sean Rad's startup evaluation process evolved from angel investing to institutional investing with Swipe Ventures.
This shift allowed him to reflect on his experiences building Tinder and formulate his investment thesis.

ADVICE

Founder Traits

Look for founders who possess both humility and a healthy level of aggression and confidence.
Humility enables clear thinking and openness to learning, while aggression drives progress.

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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.

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