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 tagline "designed to be deleted." Today, Hinge is owned by Match Group and is one of the most popular dating apps in the U.S.
2:40 - Intro
5:30 - Justin’s childhood
10:00 - Too much partying in college
12:33 - Kate
15:15 - Post-grad sobriety
17:29 - Heading to business school
19:10 - Kate sparks the idea
27:00 - Is this something to pursue?
28:45 - Early development
33:28 - Standing out
39:36 - Raising cash
41:30 - Going mobile
44:45 - The launch party
48:25 - Blowing up
51:48 - The dawn of the dating apocalypse
55:04 - The thought of Kate returns
1:04:50 - Reconsidering the app
1:10:00 - Starting over
1:14:11 - Relaunching
1:17:40 - Designed to be deleted
1:20:40 - The struggle with the relaunch
1:24:15 - A big investment
1:27:57 - The struggle with the pandemic
1:30:45 - Justin’s future
1:32:50 - Luck vs. hard work
Hinge
Stanford’s Michael Rosenfeld Study on online relationships
Colgate University
Harvard business school
McKinsey Consulting Firm
Match.com
Hinge launch party
The dawn of the dating apocalypse
New York Times Hinge Interview
A hinge profile
Hinge acquired by Match
Justin and Kate
