YouSaid · the spoken record

Justin McLeod

lines on the record: 116
first: 2023-05-08
most recent: 2023-05-08
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“So I call Kate, and I'm like, so never gonna believe this, but someone's filming a show about our lives, like down the street. And so Kate and I like hop in the car and we like go to the location and we get out. There's like 150 people there and they're filming the 2013 hinge launch party and Dev Patel is up on stage and they put Kate and me in as extras.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“If there is skill involved, I think it's how we roll with the bad things that happen. Do we resist it and fight it and judge it and get resentful about it? Or do we... Lean into it, learn from it, and like keep showing up the next day That said, I feel unbelievably lucky. I choose to feel lucky.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I feel pretty lucky. I mean, if you go through my story and going through it today has really reminded me of that. There are so many serendipitous twists and turns that had they not happened, it's hard to imagine I would be here. I would be somewhere, maybe. There are a lot of really lucky things that happen to me. There are a lot of really tough things that happened along the way. I mean, having the company fail multiple times, like drug addiction, alcoholism, like there's all these like really tough things. When I look back, I think the hardest things, losing the girl, drug and alcohol addiction, the company failing, ended up being my biggest blessings. If those things hadn't happened, I certainly wouldn't be here today either.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And, you know, like if I had any idea how many tiers I would shed and how many nights, it just like, I don't know if I would have started. Really good at the beginning and the starting and the ideation and pulling the resources together and getting something off the ground. And then some people are good at the scaling and some people are good at the operating. And I've really enjoyed each part of the journey and I enjoy the challenge of the constant shift. And so I'm still very much on that trajectory. Like I love this challenge of scaling from 50 to 150 employees remotely while still trying to innovate and grow internationally. That's a lot of intrigue for me. I don't need more.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I don't know the answer to that question. And believe it or not, I actually don't think about it that much. I have so much on my plate at Hinge right now. I think the opportunity is so great. I'm actually very happy. And I worked so hard to build this culture and this company and this service and this brand. I mean, it is so difficult. I am so invested. I mean, this is still my baby. And so doing that over again sounds now that I know how hard it is. You know, when I started hinge, I just thought like, oh, yeah, this is a $2 billion company. This should take about a couple years. We'll sell it.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's right. And that's why I think, you know, when we talk to our users who have tried it, most of them say that they want to continue to do it even after the pandemic because it just makes a ton of sense. I mean, it really is like doing a quick 15-minute screen before you go spend an entire evening and spend money and energy to go meet up with someone, I think we'll actually make this a much, much better experience if that becomes part of it.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Video dating like more than half of our users now have gone on a video date. And so that was something that seemed like a pretty clear thing to build into the app.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The biggest shift that we saw was a shift to people willing to try video dates because people wanted to spend a little bit more time getting to know you and decide whether it's really worth Risking getting COVID to meet up. And so”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I also think this period of time has been people have been rethinking their dating lives and rethinking their lives in general. And I think people have become more thoughtful and more serious during this time about their intent and what they're looking for. And so then when I started to warm up and the numbers stabilized, then it was a huge boon to the business.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, it's been really volatile. We planned in 2019 our growth was really incredible. And we planned a very big 2020. You know, we were going to grow the team. We're going to double the size of the team. We're going to do all this stuff. Pandemic hit, and I think initially, you know, everything went into lockdown. It was cold outside, and so we definitely saw some shakiness in the business, to say the least. But then as things started to stabilize and start to warm up outside, it actually completely turned the other direction. Because now people can't meet at house parties and weddings and bars and yoga classes and gyms and all the other places that theoretically they would have met now are the only game in town.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You're trading some stresses for new stresses. It's like a new relationship. It's just like with Kate and me and you hop into, you're now living together. And you figure each other out. And just like that relationship, I was really, really committed to making this one work. And they were committed to making it work too. And we figured each other out. And we have a pretty incredible relationship today.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And scary at the same time, right? I mean, for us, like, you know, Tinder was the enemy. So it was like, it was kind of a lot to get your head around that. At this point, I had friends who'd sold their companies and had agreements, and it like almost never works out. The company goes sideways or the company goes up, but then the relationship doesn't work with the founder and they leave. And so I was really conscious of that, obviously. So it was scary. But ultimately, I just thought I wanted to do what's best for Hinge, the company. And I think this is it”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Know funny enough, the way that the relationship with Match Group started is I tried to poach their head of business development to come run finance advantage. I mean, that's the level of audacity that I had. We had like three months. Money in the bank, and I'm trying to like steal their head of finance to come finance it at Hinge. And he very quickly turned the conversation around and was like, have you thought about, you know, maybe we can partner with you? And that started a conversation. And so the more time I spent around that team, the more I realized that the combination, I think, of our different perspective on the hinge side with their wisdom, financial backing, it was going to be a really good success. And there's a reason, I think, you know, you see that.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Fashion brands are not the same as apps. And I said, fair point. But our numbers were actually starting to look really interesting. And if you had the right eye for it, you knew that there was something here with the new version of Hinge. On the old version of Hinge, the biggest thing, just to give you a sense, you had to send a thousand likes in order to get to a date. And on the new version of Hinge, it was fifty. So a thousand to fifty, twenty times more effective at getting people. Out on”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No. So it sat there stale for almost a year. And I had this one investor that was really holding out for, and I really thought we were going to get across the line. And I remember the partner at the VC firm called me and she was like, you know, we just can't get our heads around. We've never seen a company that was cool. And then went away and then was able to come back. We just can't do it And I was like, Timberland's.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, we made a decision when we decided to do the reboot. That we were just going to not touch the existing app. This is a big debate Do we keep the app on the rails and keep adding updates and kind of just keep it going? Or do we just Let it go completely and divert all of our focus to this new thing. And we decided to do the latter. And so meanwhile, the app had started to go down and the user numbers were going down because we just weren't putting any effort into it at all.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“In your existing My existing investors were willing to rally to put together a few million dollars, but a few million dollars is not going to get us to where we needed to go. So, I really wanted to raise a bigger round. And I teased that. I said, you know, our existing investors will put like three or four, but I need. Five to ten more, at least. And I just, I mean, I went everywhere trying to make this deal happen. I talked to everyone.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I mean, it was not a breakout success like when we did the relaunch in 2013. We got off to a rocky start, but the numbers started to look really interesting and really promising. And so, you know, my first instinct was obviously to keep this thing going and go raise money. So I was back out in the fundraising game flying all over the country, talking to every VC. And now I could get in the door of anywhere, right? I mean, any VC firm would at least take my meeting. But no one will give me money, so I mean, it was, I mean, I was begging. I mean, I I was offering valuations that are embarrassingly low.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So again, if you were talking to a Silicon Valley social media investor, they would be like, oh my God, you can't lose 25% of your 20% of your signouts. Like, are you crazy? And for us, it's a feature, not a bug. It's like, yeah, you have to finding a relationship is hard. If you're not willing to put in the effort to fill out this profile and answer some prompts, and then, you know, you're probably not the right service for you. Like we just want people who want meaningful relationships, full stop, period. Like we just want to get amazing at that.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's just too difficult if you're looking for a hookup. It just requires too much effort. You asked about the, aren't you going to still have people like that person in the Vanity Fair article using your app? And what we find is that when you have to answer all these prompts and have to send like a piece of content and like if all you're looking for is a hookup, like this is way too much effort to do that. And so that's, I think, the difference. You know, we lose more than 20% of our users during the signup process. On other, those other apps, you hit one button and you're in and you're swiping and you're going.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I don't use social media. I don't use Instagram. I don't really have an Instagram account or a Facebook account. I don't spend any time on it because it's, you know, I didn't escape drug and alcohol addiction just become a slave to my phone.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's exactly right. And I mean, that's how a dating app should be. And by the way, designed to be deleted has two dimensions to it. One dimension is we are the experts in getting you into relationship. We get this better than anyone. We research it. We spend all our time looking at how users behave and how do we get them on better dates and our whole company's organized around that. But there's also an element of digital wellness to it as well, which is that we don't want you spending all day on our app. Like we don't want you stuck playing a game on Hinge. And this really grew out of my experience with addiction.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, that was actually, I think, our original tagline. But yes, it was very much branding around You're looking to get off dating apps, this is the place for you.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Select about who you like are data is way better. About learning your tastes. And if someone liked you, we would just notify you and tell you that someone so liked you and they liked this thing about you so that there wasn't a strategy of just liking people to see if they liked you back. A lot of people will use the swipe feature and they'll just like, like, like, like, like, and they'll just see who matches with them. And then they kind of figure it out from there, which creates a lot of engagement, but it's a lot of noise. And it frustrates people because a lot of those matches don't go anywhere. And so when you can actually like distill it down and it's not as engaging, it's not as noisy, but it's a lot more substantive. There's a lot more signal there for people to latch onto. So that was a very fundamental change that we made.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, one of the biggest changes that we made is we did get rid of the swipe feature and we had people fill out longer profiles, still relatively simple, but you had to add six photos and you had to add three prompts which are responses to short questions that are designed to help you get into a better conversation. But more importantly is when you like someone on Hinge, first of all, you like something about them. You have to choose something like one of their prompts or one of their photos and you can comment on it and you send that like. And that seems subtle and maybe not that big a deal, but it has a pretty dramatic effect on people's behavior. They are way more selective and way more thoughtful because when you're not just throwing people to the left and to the right, you actually have to think about what you want to like about them, what you want to say. It just makes people way more thoughtful and selective. And when you're way more thoughtful,”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, that was pretty rough relaunched because we, you know, and that whole period of time was tough, by the way. I mean, I felt like Moses leading people around the desert, like we didn't know where, like we were testing things. And, you know, we just didn't know is like the best thing is the only thing to have this white feature. Is that the only way that an app can work? Is this like? What are we going to do that's going to be really any different? That's going to be better than that. And we did figure that out, by the way, and we did come up with a very different way for people to interact that had very significant ramifications on how people behave on the dating app.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, we got like a few hundred thousand people to sign up, but then no one really would hit when they hit the paywall, everyone was just kind of bouncing. So we started giving away free trials. Like, oh, if you've had a hinge account before, you can have the first three months free. We thought if we could just get the engine going, then the new people would come in and pay”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, and even more important than on podcasts, like there's network effects. So if there's not a lot of people on it, then people don't find it valuable to be, you know, loses its value anyway.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And the other apps for free But we were very idealistic and we're like, people will pay, like, that'll be the model. That was a totally wrong thesis. So people were not willing to pay. And then we had to like give people free trials. And then by the time it was like, it was such a mess.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, just access to the platform. Know you couldn't even like, we're just like, we're the intention platform if you're not willing to pay 10 bucks a month and go on, go somewhere else.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, that's right. So we were like, we're going to create a hard payload app, but it's going to have a millennial sized price of $9.99 a month.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, that was one of the massive mistakes we made when we relaunched. So we had this thesis that the serious dating websites are all what are called hard paywall businesses, meaning that in order to engage pretty much at all, you have to pay a monthly fee. But it's usually pretty expensive. It's like $39.99 or $49.99 a month.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Whether people are going out on great dates or not. We're still the only app that asks whether you went on a date and whether it was good. And that is our North Star metric period.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“When they came out, they are now like 26, 27, 28, and they're looking for something more serious. So let's start over and let's build the app that's going to be accessible to young people and have a cool brand, but is really designed to get people into relationships and off the app. And by the way, it's a great word of mouth. Like, people always ask how did you meet? And if we're the best at getting people who are in relationships, we're the best at that and people will tell their friends. And as long as they're single people in the world, we'll do great. And, like, we're not thinking about competitors anymore. I don't want to talk about it. I don't want anyone to have those apps on their phone for competitor research. That was the biggest decision we made. And we said, we're going to actually measure.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We're going to rip down this whole thing. Bigger deal now. We're not four people anymore. We're 30. And we don't have $25,000 in the bank. We've got like 10 million. And I called up my COO, Sam, talked to Katie. I got them rallied around this idea that what we built is not going to succeed and we have to rip it down, start over from scratch. And by the way, there's a market opportunity. So now it had been what, three or four years since the dating apps had launched a lot of those people who are like 22, 23.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“She and I sat down, and I was just like, Katie, like, I just want to tear this whole thing down and start over. I'm just like done. And she looked at me and she was just like, what's stopping you? And I paused and I was like, nothing is stopping me. What is stopping me?”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It was a lot of pressure running that company at that time. And we were really trying to keep up with the competition. And the natural thing to do is to be obsessed with your competition and look at what they're releasing. And then they'd release a feature and be like, oh, we have to have that feature. And our users would be like, why don't you have this feature? And so then we would want to copy what they were doing. And we were always a step behind because we were not as well funded and not as experienced. So, I mean, not only was it not aligned with the values, it just wasn't going to succeed. Like it was just not that different or interesting of a product. And so yeah, on both fronts, I was frustrated. And I remember it was around Thanksgiving that year. It was around 2015. I was headed home for Thanksgiving. I was about to fly back home to Kentucky. And I had lunch right before I left with Katie Hunt, who was our chief brand officer.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Just worked it out together one step at a time, and I realized that it's not a volume game. Love isn't about. Trying to go through enough people until you find your perfect puzzle piece and then everything's smooth sailing. Love is about the way you approach it. It's about vulnerability. It's about connection. You don't find the one. You create the one. That completely overhauled my approach to how I thought dating app should work.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's right. Yeah, I moved from a big chalet in the Alps to my 300 square foot studio apartment in Manhattan. And this will lead us back to the discussion about hinge, which is that, you know, here I am thinking like, oh my God, like I got the person, the one, the one I've been dreaming about all this time. And then I flew to London and we did the launch party and then I flew back to the States and then she met me back in the States and she moved in. And it was amazing. for like two months. And then, you know, were two people living together in a 300 square foot apartment. And we're like figuring each other out. And it's not perfect. All the stuff that I wanted to run from, because I did. I mean, there's a piece in me like two or three months in that was like, ooh, like, should I have done that? But there was like, but I she.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Invitation sent, planes booked, and she's like, well, obviously I'm not calling off the wedding, but we should stay in touch. And then, you know, halfway through the conversation, it was like, well, if I were going to call off a wedding and we sat there for like eight hours straight, I don't even think we even got up to get a coffee. And then by the end of our like eight hour chat, she was like, I think I'm going to call off the wedding.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But I have to admit that it had been eight years. I had changed a lot. I mean, I'd gotten sober. I'd been to HBS. I'd like started a company. You know, it was like a lot had happened since I'd seen her. I assumed a lot had happened for her. Know a pretty big piece of me thought we would maybe see each other and then laugh this off and bring some closure to the whole thing and I could move on and she could move on. So we met in a cafe in Zurich and five minutes in I was like, I don't know what I am doing without this girl. The conversation started off and obviously there was a connection still there and she was like, well, obviously I'm not calling off my wedding. I'm getting married in a month. 400 people coming from five continents.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No. Saying You're a terrible stalker. I don't live in London anymore. I live in Switzerland. My fianc ⁇ is not a huge fan of yours, but I'm willing to chat, so he'll be away this weekend if you want to just hop on the Said, great. And then I went to the airport and I bought a ticket to Switzerland and I flew to Zurich. And the next morning, which is a Friday, she thought she was like in another time zone and she was like, I'm awake like whenever you want to chat, we can chat. And I said, great, because I'm going through customs in Zurich right now. Know, I flew over there, definitely having Deborah having inspired me to do something like big.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And after that one, she had defriended me on Facebook. And it was pretty clear that that had sent her, that was it. So after that, I'd let it go. And I was headed over to London. And I'm like, you know what? Whatever. Like, I'm just going to send one last email. And so I composed a really short note. It just said, hey, gonna be over in London. Weird to think I'm never going to see you again. Would love 15 minutes just to say hi and goodbye. And I woke up the next morning to a response.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“At this point, by the way, I had written Kate an email every year on her birthday after she told me no. And some of these emails would be like, you know, I'm over it. I hope we can be friends. No response. I think my last one in like 2013 had been something like, I'll come over with an engagement ring, please. It was, you know, like ranged depending upon the year and how I was feeling.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“She said, Listen, don't get me wrong, I don't regret my life. I love my kids, but you still have a chance to be with the one. And I was like. Lady, nice to meet you. You're a little nuts. It's been eight years since I've seen Kate at this point. She's, you know, engaged me married as far as I know. She still lives on another continent. It's too late. And she's like, you won't know until you try. Early February, we were going to be throwing a launch party in London. And so about a week before the launch party, I happened to run into Kate's best friend from Wellesley and were chatting. And she's like, I think you should reach out to Kate.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Free cell phones. Yeah, pre email, pre-cell phones. And so they didn't connect, and she ended up marrying the next person she dated, and he ended up marrying the next person he dated. And then 20 years later, she's researching a story, comes across his name. And reaches out to him and it's like, Hey, are you the same so and so that stood me up 20 years ago? They ended up coming together and they met. And I think it just lit her up in a way that she was like, I'm going to leave my marriage.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Again, there was someone that I was dating on and off during that period. My sort of usual pattern, but no, not really. And so she shuts off the tape recorder and she says, I've got to tell you a story. And she tells me the story of how she had this amazing romance when she was younger and really felt this person was the one. She was a war reporter or a photographer actually in Afghanistan and they were supposed to rendezvous in Paris as like this very romantic transcontinental story. And he lost her number and so they didn't meet up and then they lost her, you know, this is like the 80s and the 90s, so they didn't really eat.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Was like, well, once a long time ago, but I didn't realize it until it was too late. And she's like, well, tell me the story. And so we sat down. I told her the story of Kate and me and this magical connection we'd had and the sort of twists and turns and the breakup and the drug addiction and the alcoholism and me reaching back out and how in a way she'd sort of I realized especially at that time she'd inspired Hinge.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, so rewinding a little bit further was like end of 2014 and Deborah writes me this email. I didn't know who she was. She had downloaded Hinge and the very first person that came up for her, she had matched with and started dating and fallen in love with. And she was like, I have to know how your algorithm works. Like, how the heck did I just download this app, hit a button, someone comes up, and I match, and now we're dating, you know, I want to write a story about you. So she reaches out to me and we go for this pretty standard founder interview about whatever. I was talking about at the time. I could tell it's just kind of like, it was an okay interview. And we were about to finish up, you know, as we were like packing, she said. Have you ever been in love?”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, you know what? I thought it was a numbers game too. I had a different objective in mind, but I also believed when I created that version of Hinge that, you know, you just go through enough people and then when you find the perfect one, everything's easy from there. And so that is the kind of ethos that I had built hinge around.”
2023-05-08 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT