FORTUNE – Eugenia Kuyda, CEO of Replika, a company that creates empathetic chatbots, predicts that the stigma around having romantic relationships with chatbots will fade. Replika recently launched a spinoff brand called Blush, specifically catering to users seeking romantic or sexual relationships with chatbots. Kuyda compares the current stigma to the early days of online dating and believes that romantic relationships with AI can serve as a stepping stone to human relationships. She sees people naturally forming romantic connections with companion chatbots.
Category: Outlets – Fortune Magazine
Bumble’s Successful Growth Strategy
FORTUNE – Anu Subramanian, the CFO of Bumble, emphasizes that all employees must use the Bumble app to fully understand its operations, as it's the company's main product. Subramanian, who joined Bumble in 2020, has a career background at the intersection of media and technology. Bumble's Q1 2023 report shows a revenue growth of 25.9% to $194.3M and an increase in paying users by 31% to 2.3M. The company's focus is on optimizing the user journey to convert users to paying customers and adding new features like "compliments" to drive engagement. Subramanian believes that women making the first move is one of the app's unique features and notes that, despite economic challenges, people continue to invest in finding relationships.
Mandy Ginsberg and Shar Dubey Were Match Group CEOs and Best Friends
Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd Hires Drena Kusari as Bumble App GM
FORTUNE – Whitney Wolfe Herd, who built Bumble into a $765M company, is hiring someone else to run the app for the first time. Drena Kusari, former Lyft executive, will become GM of the Bumble app, while Whitney Wolfe Herd will remain the CEO of Bumble Inc.
by Emma Hinchliffe & Paige McGlauflin
See full article at Fortune
How Bumble Chief Customer Officer Turns User Insights Into Product Updates
FORTUNE – This month marks the 10-year anniversary of the swipe which hit the scene with Tinder in Sep 2012. But what once was exciting has become routine, and dating app users feel "burned out". That sentiment has forced online dating businesses to improve their products. Bumble continues to build for its core demographic of women, with some updates. Charley Webb, the company's chief customer officer, is tasked with these updates. Although Bumble is tight-lipped about new product features that are influenced by the app's findings, Webb says their own research has helped the company "hone in on key areas" to address. Understanding the social, political, and family issues that are on users' minds helps Bumble build for those realities, she adds. Bumble's core proposition – that women make the first move is also getting an update. The app introduced more gender identification options in June.
by Emma Hinchliffe & Paige McGlauflin
See full article at Fortune
Whitney Wolfe: “My Goal Has Been Undermined”
FORTUNE – Whitney Wolfe Herd founded the Bumble dating app so women can live 'healthier and more equitable lives.' She says the Supreme Court just undermined that goal dramatically. The U.S. Supreme Court officially overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that guaranteed federal abortion rights on Friday. "When your ability to choose if, when, and how to have children is taken away, so is your bodily autonomy," Wolfe Herd said. "Reproductive rights are human rights." Sheryl Sandberg, the former CEO of Meta (Facebook), also spoke out on Friday. "This is a huge setback. For ourselves, our daughters, and every generation that follows, we must keep up the fight. Together, we must protect and expand abortion access."
Cut off From Tinder and Grindr, Pakistani Singles Turn to Facebook
FORTUNE – Pakistan prohibited Tinder, Grindr, Tagged, Skout, and SayHi last October, citing "immoral" and "indecent" content. Activists in the country protested the move, saying it was made simply to appease conservative factions and as a way to further discriminate against LGBT people. The government has also issued warnings to TikTok and YouTube. Pakistani turns to Facebook groups. One, called Two Rings, has ~228K members and has resulted in ~355 marriages. (Facebook's dating app does not operate in Pakistan and is not an option for users.)
Grindr Makes a Statement With Majority-LGBTQ Board
FORTUNE – Grindr plans to go public in a $2.1B SPAC deal. Its board boasts 60% LGBTQ representation and four first-time public directors. The gay dating app's executive rank is a prime example of a 21st century modern board not just in terms of diverse representation but also in the unique medley of professional backgrounds and skills held by directors.
Tinder’s CEO Met Her Husband on the App
FORTUNE – Renate Nyborg, CEO of Tinder, is the ultimate testament to Tinder's ability to create healthy, long-term relationships. She met her husband on the app six years ago, and still describes herself as a "happy customer." She's also a female CEO – the first in Tinder's history – who made it her first order of business to dig into the experiences women and LGBTQ people were having on the app.
Bumble Reaches Majority Female C-suite With the Hire of a New Chief People Officer
FORTUNE – Today, Bumble reaches a leadership milestone that helps cement that positioning: the company's senior leadership team is now majority-women. It crosses that threshold with the hire of former Dunkin' chief human resources officer Stephanie Lilak as chief people officer. With Lilak on board, women now account for seven out of 12 members of its executive leadership team.