Whitney Wolfe Herd is a female entrepreneur who stood strong against all the odds and created a safe and sound platform for women. At just the age of 31, she became a self-made billionaire, co-founded Tinder, and created an online dating app, Bumble, which allowed the women of the world to make the first move. From an early age, she experienced the trauma of an abusive relationship which made her ambitious to create a safe environment for women that changes the traditional paradigm of heterosexual relationships.
Bumble is one of the fastest-growing dating apps, and it is on track to surpass Tinder’s total downloads. It is one of the unique dating platforms that has successfully managed to set itself apart from others in terms of connections and features. Whitney has a dream for Bumble, to make it a brand like Disney. She says, “We all know Disney has its own set of tacky movies that sucks, but you feel something whenever you think about Disney, it brings memories and delight, that is what I want to achieve for Bumble.”
Whitney Wolfe Herd – Life Before Bumble
Whitney Wolfe Herd was born on July 1, 1989, in Salt Lake City, Utah in a hardworking and wealthy family. She attended Judge Memorial Catholic School and went on to Southern Methodist University where she majored in International Studies. In college, she was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority and started the business of bamboo tote bags at the age of 20.
From an early age, she was keen to make changes in the lives of people through her revolutionary ideas. Wolfe Herd partnered with celebrity stylist Patrick Aufdenkamp to launch a non-profit organization named “Help Us Project.” The bags received media attention and popularity after celebrities like Rachel Zoe and Nichole Richie were photographed with them. After graduation, she worked with orphanages in Southeast Asia.
Whitney’s Left Swipe on Tinder
In 2012, Wolfe Herd co-founded a dating platform, Tinder, where she worked as chief of marketing. She knew the importance of marketing since college and gave her all for the platform’s growth. However, Wolfe Herd was facing discrimination and oppression at the company. In 2014, she filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the executives of Tinder. Later on, the lawsuit was settled and she received $1 million plus stock of the company.
She faced backlashes and was trolled for the settlement. However, her resilience and determination stood stronger and she went on to create something bigger and better.
Launch Of Bumble – Revolutionizing Dating Platforms
After leaving Tinder, Wolfe Herd wanted to start a lifestyle brand and keep herself away from the dating business for some time. In 2014, Andrey Andreev contacted her to create a dating platform and she built a female-focused dating platform named Bumble. This was one of its one-of-a-kind apps where only women could initiate conversations, revolutionizing the traditional ways of dating. She was determined to make something that empowers women and provides a safe environment for them.
Wolfe Herd has experienced abusive relationships since the early age of her life. As one of her close friends said, “When you see the dedication and hard work of Whitney, you would think it comes from an empowered background but she has learned from her trauma and pains.” Wolfe Herd has also accepted that her experience gave her an understanding of the core of abusive relationships. It comes from power and the feeling of control men have had over women for years, this is the dynamic she wanted to change.
Whitney Wolfe Herd’s Billionaire Era
In 2021, Bumble went public and Wolfe Herd became one of the youngest self-made billionaires at the age of 31. Earlier, she was also listed on the Forbes 30’ Under 30’ list in 2017 and 2018 marking the strength of her undefeated will. With her resilience and determination, she crumbled all the backlashes and trolls. After ringing the NASDAQ bell with her son, the first thing Wolfe Herd said was, “On a day like today, when everyone’s celebrating, I’m still kind of looking over my shoulder, like, we have to do more.”
For Whitney – Bumble More Than a Dating App
Wolfe Herd always wanted Bumble to be a lifestyle platform not just a dating platform where people meet for romantic relationships. She wanted to add more meaning and depth to Bumble, which identifies and helps in creating various kinds of connections from friends to business. Her first idea was to create a platform that helps women connect and create healthy platonic relationships.
To live her idea, Bumble introduced BFF mode in 2016, which allows people of every gender to connect and build platonic relationships. The mode was a hit in just a short time and gave a boost to the company to introduce another unique mode. In 2017, Bumble Bizz was launched, designed to help people to meet potential business contacts.
Whitney’s Vision Behind Bumble’s Guideline
When creating Bumble Whitney always had a vision of a platform that majorly focuses on the safety of users. Bumble has always stood up against nudity, body shaming, trolling, racism, and discrimination through various initiatives. It is one of the first social media platforms to embrace behavioral guardrails and content moderation as part of its business model. In 2019, Bumble launched a feature that blurs nude images and it will only show if the users willingly want to view it.
According to a company representative, Bumble recorded over 880,000 violations of user guidelines, leading to consequences such as written warnings, temporary suspensions, and permanent bans from the platform in 2020. The company employs artificial intelligence to detect violations such as hate speech, even in the absence of user reports. The aim is to proactively clean up the platform and identify potential offenders before they act.
Whitney Wolfe Herd Step Down as CEO After a Decade
Whitney Wolfe Herd has stepped down as Bumble CEO almost after a decade and become the business executive’s chair. Lidiane Jones, Slack CEO will be the new CEO of Bumble, as she brings advanced technology and product knowledge to enhance the company’s growth. Wolfe Herd mentioned that she had been contemplating this transition for the past few years but was waiting for “the right partner.”
She tends to take her time with such decisions, having only passed on the day-to-day management of the Bumble app to former Lyft executive Drena Kusari less than a year ago. After seeing Jones interviewed on CNBC earlier this year, Wolfe Herd contacted the executive, describing her as a “customer-first, member-first leader.”
During one of her last interviews as Bumble CEO, she said, “It’s about building a company that can outlive you, that can change lives, that can improve lives, that can have an impact—and about loving what you do at the end of the day.”
