At 32, Whitney Wolfe Herd became the youngest woman to ever take a U.S. company public and the youngest self-made female billionaire. Within hours of ringing the Nasdaq bell, all while supporting her 18-month-old on her hip, she became a billionaire from the rising stock prices of Bumble.
Bumble is a dating site that aims to offer its approximately 100 million global users a safe space for online connections. In heterosexual matches, women have to send the first message, and the recipient has 24 hours to respond before the match expires.
Bumble's additional stand-out services include Bumble Bestfriend, for making friendships, and each profile has prompt questions to make the initial conversation less forced. An interest can simply inquire about someone's response on their profile instead of thinking of something catchy and potentially weird.
Wolfe Herd began this dating site after public humiliation in the tech industry and based on her traumatic experiences dating men, she said to Time Magazine. She wanted to create a space for women to feel safe making online and meaningful connections which other dating apps don't prioritize.
She is no stranger to tech and the dating app industry, as she was a co-founder of Tinder. It was the misogyny and harassment from working at Tinder that led her down this path to Bumble. Essentially she turned her trauma into billions and aims to help women around the world feel empowered by online spaces.
What Happened At Tinder
Wolfe Herd was a co-founder at Tinder, already making a name for herself in the tech and dating app world. While working there, she had a relationship with a co-executive that became toxic and ultimately led to her leaving the company. She filed a sexual harassment case and while Tinder tried to deny the claim, they ended up settling disputes for $1 million.
Like many women in her position, she was harassed for her decision to file a sexual harassment claim and received backlash from the industry. After online abuse, she deleted Twitter altogether.
What makes Wolfe Herd remarkable is how she turned that trauma into a billion-dollar company that is now the strongest rival to Tinder. She views it less as revenge, and more as the logical upgrade from her former projects that leaves Tinder a bit lackluster.
The Match Group, who own Tinder among other dating sites, approached Wolfe Herd with several million-dollar offers to buy the company. She denied and later filed a lawsuit against the Match Group for potential plagiarism.
Using Her Trauma To Inform Her Career
In an interview with Time Magazine, Wolfe Herd opened up about the abusive relationships she has had with men and that this is an intolerable female experience in the dating world.
Wolfe Herd's famous quote from the interview with Time Magazine after Bumble went public is, "why am I always cleaning up someone else's mess? Women are always cleaning up someone else's mess." She reveals in the interview that her abusive trauma gave her an understanding of unequal power dynamics between genders in general, and especially in romantic relationships.
She founded bumble with investments from the Russian Billionaire Andrey Andreev. Wolfe Herd owns 11.6% of the company estimating her networth to be about $1.3 billion. She also heads Badoo, a dating app also co-owned by Andreev.
Although Bumble took a hit when Andrey Andreev was allegedly accused of sexual harassment, he was acquitted. A setback no less for a feminist dating app, but Andreev sold his shares of the company back in 2019.
The success of Bumble for Wolfe Herd and the app users doesn't end with the company going public, it is just the beginning.
What Comes After Success
As Wolfe Herd continues to be a trailblazer for women in tech, business and advocating for safe online spaces, she isn't finished. At just 32, her career is just beginning.
Bumble generated $337 million in revenue in 2020, which is a 40 percent increase from 2019, reported Business of Apps. Branding is extremely important to Wolfe Herd and she strives forward with a safe space agenda. The latest Bumble campaigns are against body shaming and derogatory language.
Although last year there were 880,000 incident reports due to guideline violations on Bumble, no app is perfect. Wolfe Herd is well aware, which is why the app is setting a tone for what a safe space should be, online and in the real world, but there is still a lot of work to do.
Wolfe Herd is one of 328 women on the Forbes 2021 list of World Billionaires, and she is still climbing the tech world ladder. As she continues to mold the dating app industry with gender and body empowerment, the world eagerly awaits her next move.
