Hardware Podcasts

Grindr: Joel Simkhai

How I Built This · 17 Jul 2023 · 1h 09m

What this episode covers

Joel Simkhai, founder of Grindr and Motto, explains how he bootstrapped Grindr into a global phenomenon by leveraging the iPhone's GPS capabilities to solve his personal difficulty in meeting other gay men. He details the early challenges of scaling a non-technical team, dealing with server crashes, and fighting spam, while maintaining a lean operation funded by ads and subscriptions. Simkhai also discusses the strategic decision to reject venture capital to maintain control, the contentious sale to Kunlun Tech, and his subsequent launch of Motto, a new queer dating app designed to address the safety and authenticity issues prevalent in the industry.

Most relevant to

founders before launch, early-stage companies, companies scaling up and large enterprises

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Amazon, Kunlun Tech, BBC
Products
Grindr, Motto, iPhone, App Store, Cydia, Foursquare, Dodgeball, Manhunt, AdMob, Google App Engine, Tinder, Blender, Top Gear
Also
Stephen Fry, Morton, Scott Llewellyn, Yvette Pasqua

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