The dating game has changed over the years with the internet exploding and innovative entrepreneurs taking advantage. But more specifically in the realm of online dating. There are numerous websites and apps that tell you love is just a few swipes and clicks away. Websites and apps like eHarmony, Christian Mingle, Match, BlackPeopleMeet, and Tinder are among some of the biggest names. Tinder currently has the most users with over 45 million people active in their Tinder account. However, a new competitor has come along with 22 million users and continues to see a 70% year-over-year growth compared to Tinder’s only 10% growth. Bumble, the new competitor, was created by Whitney Herd in December 2014, which accumulated 100,000 downloads in its first month. Whitney left Tinder in September 2014 after filing a lawsuit for sexual harassment against her former boyfriend and boss, Justin Mateen, in June 2014 which was settled on for $1 million. The agreement, however, didn’t include a noncompete clause and Herd was quickly looking for a way to that her legacy would live on in the realm of online dating.
But the reason for its increasing popularity is that it lets and encourages women to take the first move, something that Herd strived for throughout the process of her dating app saying “What if women make the first move, send the first message? And if they don’t, the match disappears after 24 hours, like in Cinderella, the pumpkin and the carriage? It’d be symbolic of a Sadie Hawkins dance–going after it, girls ask first. What if we could hardwire that into a product?”. This and making the environment safer for women were the two thing she wished to accomplish better than her biggest competitor, Tinder. While Bumble has only been in the online dating game for only a couple of years and is still behind in terms of in sales and users, it has grown at an impressive rate and only continues to become more and more popular with many more women wanting to make the first move.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2017/11/14/billion-dollar-bumble-how-whitney-wolfe-herd-built-americas-fastest-growing-dating-app/#718cff86248b
I personally have never participated in online dating but if I were to I would create a profile on Bumble. I really think the idea of the woman reaching out first is a great way to make the dating environment safer for everyone involved. The number of downloads and popularity of this new app is a true testament to it’s success.
It is interesting creating a business that thinks a different way. Herd took a different approach to the dating game and it paid off. This business is great considering the way that our society is today, it mixes things up in a good way.
I’ve heard of Bumble before, but I didn’t know how it worked. It was a great idea on Herd’s part to come up with an idea to make the online dating process safer. The fact that the match disappears after 24 hours and requiring women to choose to either make the first move or let it disappear are good ways to fix some of the problems with online dating.
This is an amazing perspective on an app that gets a bad wrap most of the time. Before I thought that Bumble was just like Tinder and was just like every other dating app on the market. I never knew the story behind this! This is such a great idea because ladies being able to make the first move eliminates much of the predatory aspect that apps like Tinder have. It is truly amazing to see something like this working in the best interest of woman.
A very interesting idea that makes a lot of people more comfortable. This is an app that is for a certain person that I believe is more popular than one would expect.
This is great way to take a layer of creepiness out of online dating. With women making the first move, I believe more long-lasting relationships and dates could come out of this business model due to women most likely being more selective. Although there are so many top players in this space so far, it is impressive to see that they garnered so many active users so quickly.