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Sean Rad

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Sean Rad
Rad in 2018
Born (1986-05-22) May 22, 1986 (age 38)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of Southern California (dropped out)
Known forFounder of Tinder
Board member ofGood Today, AllVoices
Spouse
Lizzie Grover
​
(m. 2018)​

Sean Rad (born May 22, 1986) is an American entrepreneur and the Founder of Tinder. Rad launched Tinder in 2012 and by 2015, Tinder was the top grossing app in 99 countries, and in 2017, Tinder became the highest grossing app in Apple's App Store.[1][2]

Rad holds 15 patents for his work, including the patent for Tinder's "double opt-in" system, in which users must match before they can exchange messages.[3]

In 2017, Rad left Tinder over a valuation dispute with Tinder's parent company, IAC/Match Group. In 2018, Rad and Tinder's founding team filed a $2 billion dollar lawsuit against IAC. In 2022, the lawsuit was settled for $441 million dollars.[4]

Early life and career

[edit]

Rad was born in Los Angeles, California to an Iranian Jewish family. His parents emigrated from Iran in the 1970s.[5][6] He has a large family with 12 uncles and aunts and 42 first cousins.[7][8]

Rad attended private school. During high school he founded a band and interned for an entertainment manager. He later decided that being an artist wasn't for him.[9]

In 2004, at 18 years old, Rad enrolled at the University of Southern California (USC).[10] That same year, he started his first company, Orgoo, a unified messaging and video communications platform.[9][11] Rad leveraged a network of University of Southern California (USC) computer science students to help him build the Orgoo technology.[12] In 2006, Rad left USC to pursue his business ventures.

Career

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Ad.ly

[edit]

In 2009, he founded Ad.ly, a celebrity endorsement platform that connected celebrities with brands.[9][13][14][15] In 2010, the company raised $5 million in VC funding from Greycroft Partners, Matt Coffin, and GRP Partners' Mark Suster.[16] Suster said of the investment, "I didn't invest in Orgoo but by the time he launched Ad.ly I knew [Rad's] capabilities and knew I wanted to work with him."[17]

Tinder

[edit]

In January 2012, Rad joined the startup incubator Hatch Labs to build Cardify, a next-generation, app based, customer loyalty rewards program.[10][18][19] However, within weeks of his joining, the incubator held an internal 48-hour hackathon, where Rad presented the idea for a double opt-in dating app called Matchbox.[8][10] MatchBox (which would later be named Tinder) was awarded first prize in the hackathon.[20]

In September 2012, Rad and his team officially launched Tinder.[10][21][22] Unlike previous dating apps, Tinder was designed for a mobile interface and utilized photo-focused profiles that were easily navigated with an intuitive swiping motion. Within two months of launch, the app had facilitated over one million matches.[23] Tinder was named the "Best New Startup of 2013" by TechCrunch.[24] By 2014, the app was processing more than one billion swipes per day with the average user spending 90 minutes on the app.[25] By 2015, Tinder became the highest grossing app in Apple's App Store.[26][27]

Rad served as Tinder's CEO from 2012 until March 2015 and then again from August 2015 until December 2016. From March to August 2015, Rad was replaced as CEO [8] by former Ebay executive, Christopher Payne. During this time, Rad served as president and head of product and marketing.[8][28][29] Rad returned as CEO in August 2015 and remained in the role until December 2016, when he was replaced by Match Group's CEO Greg Blatt.[28][30][31] Rad remained Tinder's Chairman of the Board until late 2017.[29][32][33] In 2017, Rad left Tinder over an RSU (restricted stock unit) valuation dispute and in 2018 he filed a $2 billion dollar lawsuit against Tinder's parent company, IAC.

Since merging with Tinder in July 2017, Match Group's market capitalization has grown from $8.34 billion to $44.59 billion as of October 14, 2021.[34] In August 2021, Morgan Stanley valued Tinder's worth at $42 billion.[29][35]

AllVoices

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In 2018, Rad and Claire Schmidt co-founded AllVoices.[36] AllVoices is an app that allows employees to anonymously report harassment, ethics, compliance, and other workplace issues directly to a company's board.[37][38][39][40] AllVoices was developed by Rad and former vice president of technology and innovation at 20th Century Fox Claire Schmidt in response to rampant complaints of sexual harassment in the technology and entertainment industries. After submitting a report, users are notified when the company receives the information and when or if the company acts upon that report.[37]

Philanthropy

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Rad is a Founding Board Member of Good Today,[41] a non-profit organization that promotes daily support of various charitable organizations.[42][43][44] The app allows users to make daily donations of as little as 25 cents and offers company sponsorships for employees who donate through the app.[44]

Awards and recognition

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Rad was included on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2014.[45] Rad was also recognized by Fast Company as one of the Most Creative People in the business community.[46] In May 2016, Rad received an honoree diploma from University of Southern California and delivered the 2016 USC Marshall School of Business undergraduate commencement speech.[47] Also in 2016, Rad accepted a Webby Award for Tinder.[48] In 2017, Rad was honored as a "30 Under 30" by the Jewish Journal.[49] In 2020, Rad was again recognized by Forbes as one of the Top 10 Under 30 Founders of the decade.[50]

Controversies

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In June 2014, Whitney Wolfe Herd filed a lawsuit against Tinder and IAC. She accused former boyfriend and co-founder Justin Mateen of sexual harassment and Rad as CEO of failing to respond to her complaints.[8][51][52][53] Rad said, "Justin is nuts" when Wolfe complained to him, ignoring her and calling her emotional.[54] Mateen was suspended from the company.[8][53] The lawsuit was settled out of court without admission of guilt from either party involved.[8]

In 2015, Rad "appeared to make a veiled threat" to Vanity Fair reporter Nancy Jo Sales after an article she published on "hook up culture".[55] Sales published an open letter in response to Rad.[56] That same year, Match Group filed an 8K registration statement that Rad did not speak on behalf of the company after he disclosed inaccurate figures during an interview prior to an IPO.[57]

Rad v. IAC

[edit]

In 2018, Rad and other former executives and employees of Tinder sued Match Group and IAC for $2 billion arguing the company manipulated the valuation of Tinder and denied them billions of dollars.[23][58] IAC and Match Group filed a motion to dismiss the case, but the appeals court upheld the trial court's decision to deny this request and a trial date was scheduled.[59]

In 2019, in a counter $250 million lawsuit by Match Group and IAC, Match said that Rad recorded "sensitive business conversations" between his superiors and colleagues without consent and copied proprietary company files to his personal devices while working at Tinder.[60] Rad argued that his contract gave him the right to take those actions and he asked the New York Supreme Court to dismiss the lawsuit against him.[61]

In December 2021, following nearly 3 weeks in a Manhattan courtroom, Match Group announced it would pay a settlement of $441 million to Rad and other Tinder founders and executives.[62][63][64] The settlement was announced one day before Match and parent company IAC along with Tinder founders were set to give closing statements and send the case to jury deliberation.[65] A media statement from both parties read: "The parties are pleased to announce that they have settled the valuation lawsuit presently on trial in New York Supreme Court and the related valuation arbitration." Match commented that it intends to pay the settlement using cash on hand in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.[66][67]

Personal life

[edit]

In 2018, Rad married his longtime partner, Lizzie Grover, in a ceremony at their Montecito home.[68] The couple currently resides in Los Angeles, California with their golden retriever, Minnie.[69] Rad and Grover-Rad are avid art collectors, and were included in Cultured Young Collectors 2020, in which their art collection was recognized as "a place for disruptors".[70][71]

Rad serves on the board of the Milken Community High School.[72] In December 2021, Rad and his wife were featured in Architectural Digest, in which they provided a tour of their professionally decorated Los Angeles home.[69]

References

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  1. ^ "Tinder Blazes a Trail For Match Growth". Fool.com. December 19, 2016. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  2. ^ Shead, Sam. "Tinder is making more money than any other app on the App Store right now". Insider. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  3. ^ "Patents Assigned to Tinder, Inc. - Justia Patents Search". patents.justia.com. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  4. ^ "Match settles lawsuit with Tinder co-founders for $441 million". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  5. ^ "9 Quotes From Jewish Tinder Co-Founder Sean Rad That Will Make You Swipe Left". Forward. November 20, 2015. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
  6. ^ Bowles, Nellie (June 11, 2014). "Three LA Boys: Snapchat's Evan Spiegel, Tinder's Sean Rad and Whisper's Michael Heyward". Vox. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  7. ^ Edwardes, Charlotte (November 18, 2015). "Tinder? I'm an addict, says hook-up app's co-creator and CEO Sean Rad". Evening Standard. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Bertoni, Steven. "Exclusive: Sean Rad Out As Tinder CEO. Inside The Crazy Saga". Forbes. Retrieved March 23, 2021. Rad will act as president and remain on Tinder's board, and will stay on as CEO until they find a replacement. "We're looking for an Eric Schmidt-like person," says Rad of the upcoming search. "There is no CEO coming in the door that I don't get along with—that would be corporate suicide."
  9. ^ a b c Grigoriadis, Vanessa (October 27, 2014). "Inside Tinder's Hookup Factory". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  10. ^ a b c d Carr, Austin (January 11, 2016). "What's Really Going On Inside Tinder?". Fast Company. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  11. ^ "Orgoo Launching Soon; 500 Invites Available Now". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  12. ^ RCRD, OFF (October 31, 2017). "Sean Rad on OFF RCRD | TRANSCRIPT". Medium. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  13. ^ "Sean Rad". TechTycoons. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  14. ^ Casserly, Meghan. "What Does Celebrity Shilling Look Like In A Post-Snooki Age? Adly Speaks Up". Forbes. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
  15. ^ "Ad.ly Brings Sponsored Tweets From Celebrities". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  16. ^ Meikle, Brad (May 12, 2010). "peHUB Wire: Wednesday, May 12, 2010". Buyouts. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  17. ^ Suster, Mark. "Here's Why I Invest In Lines, Not Dots". Business Insider. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  18. ^ Burke, Elaine (November 4, 2014). "Tinder co-founder Sean Rad ousted as CEO, will stay on as president - Companies | siliconrepublic.com - Ireland's Technology News Service". Silicon Republic. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  19. ^ "With Mobile App Cardify, The Founder Of Ad.ly Takes On His Next Challenge: Improving Customer Loyalty". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  20. ^ Rowan, David (May 16, 2019). Non-Bullshit Innovation: Radical Ideas from the World's Smartest Minds. Random House. ISBN 978-1-4735-6330-8.
  21. ^ Clifford, Catherine (January 6, 2017). "How a Tinder founder came up with swiping and changed dating forever". CNBC. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  22. ^ Fetters, Ashley (December 21, 2018). "The Five Years That Changed Dating". The Atlantic. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
  23. ^ a b Hartmans, Avery. "The rise of Sean Rad, who served as Tinder CEO twice and is now taking on Match Group and IAC in a $2 billion lawsuit". Business Insider. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
  24. ^ "Best New Startup of 2013 Tinder | Crunchies Awards 2013". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  25. ^ Bilton, Nick (October 29, 2014). "Tinder, the Fast-Growing Dating App, Taps an Age-Old Truth". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  26. ^ "Tinder Blazes a Trail For Match Growth". Fool.com. December 19, 2016. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  27. ^ Shead, Sam. "Tinder is making more money than any other app on the App Store right now". Insider. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  28. ^ a b Swisher, Kara (August 12, 2015). "Tinder Founder Sean Rad Returns as CEO, Replacing Chris Payne". Vox. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  29. ^ a b c "Tinder's CEO, Co-founder Sean Rad is stepping down". Fortune. Retrieved April 4, 2021. Cite error: The named reference ":7" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  30. ^ Isaac, Mike (March 20, 2015). "Tinder Appoints Chief Executive to Replace Sean Rad". Bits Blog. Retrieved April 4, 2021.
  31. ^ "Tinder Cofounder Sean Rad Back In As CEO". TechCrunch. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  32. ^ "Sean Rad Steps Down as Tinder CEO to Focus on Investment Vehicle". Fortune. Retrieved April 4, 2021.
  33. ^ "Tinder CEO Sean Rad Leaving Post For Second Time In Two Years". Consumerist. December 9, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2021. Unlike that first exit, Rad will not be leaving the company this time. Instead, he'll remain on board as chairman.
  34. ^ Wagner, Kurt (December 8, 2016). "Tinder's Sean Rad is stepping down as CEO to become chairman". Vox. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  35. ^ "Tinder Co-Founders' $2 Billion-Plus Legal Battle is Finally Getting Its Day in Court". dot.LA. October 29, 2021. Archived from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
  36. ^ "Geekwire: Zillow CEO invests in tools that help employees anonymously report sexual harassment". king5.com. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  37. ^ a b "Sexual harassment: This site would let employees bypass HR, go straight to CEO". USA TODAY. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  38. ^ Spangler, Todd (November 14, 2017). "20th Century Fox Tech Exec Exits to Create Site for Reporting Sexual Harassment, Bias". Variety. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  39. ^ "AllVoices Harassment Reporting App Raises $3 Million". Los Angeles Business Journal. February 6, 2020. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  40. ^ Hinchliffe, Emma (November 20, 2017). "Finally, a startup that takes reporting sexual harassment seriously". Mashable. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  41. ^ "Sean Rad Joins Board of Directors at Non-Profit 'Good Today' - Global Dating Insights". October 30, 2019. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  42. ^ Perez, Matt. "Sean Rad Announces New Nonprofit Good Today At Under 30 Summit". Forbes. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  43. ^ "Join Me in Donating 25¢ a Day to Charity!". goodtoday.org. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  44. ^ a b "Sean Rad Reveals The Rebranding Of Good Today". Pulse 2.0. November 6, 2019. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  45. ^ Staff, ByMatt PerezFormer. "Sean Rad". Forbes. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  46. ^ "Meet Sean Rad, one of Fast Company's Most Creative People". Fast Company. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  47. ^ Paresh, Dave (May 13, 2016). "Tinder CEO Sean Rad, recalling brief demotion, tells grads getting fired turned out great". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  48. ^ "NEW Webby Gallery + Index". NEW Webby Gallery + Index. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  49. ^ "30 under 30: The remarkable young people changing the L.A. Jewish community". Jewish Journal. January 26, 2017. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  50. ^ Bertoni, Steven. "Tech's Golden Age: Meet The Decade's Top Under 30 Founders". Forbes. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  51. ^ Townsend, Tess (November 18, 2015). "Tinder's Sean Rad Is Weirder Than You Thought". Inc.com. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  52. ^ Weisul, Kimberly (November 6, 2014). "What Tinder's CEO Demotion Means for Silicon Valley Sexism". Inc.com. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  53. ^ a b "Swipe Left: Dating App Tinder Removes CEO Sean Rad". NBC News. Retrieved March 23, 2021. Over the summer, Rad was named in a lawsuit along with the company's chief marketing officer, Justin Mateen, by former vice president of marketing Whitney Wolfe. She alleged that she was sexually harassed by Mateen, with whom she had a brief romantic relationship, both verbally and through text messages. Rad was accused of ignoring Wolfe's complaints and using inappropriate language towards her.
  54. ^ "The Story Of Whitney Wolfe Vs. Tinder". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 4, 2021.
  55. ^ Weiss, Geoff (November 18, 2015). "Tinder CEO Sean Rad Makes Veiled Threat to Vanity Fair Reporter Ahead of IPO". Entrepreneur. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  56. ^ Sales, Nancy Jo (November 20, 2015). "AN OPEN LETTER TO TINDER'S SEAN RAD FROM V.F.'S NANCY JO SALES". Vanity Fair. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  57. ^ Tinder CEO Sean Rad's insane interview busted Match Group's IPO quiet period
  58. ^ O'Brien, Sara Ashley (October 6, 2019). "Former Tinder executives are locked in a messy legal battle". CNN. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  59. ^ Stempel, Jonathan (October 29, 2019). "IAC must face Tinder co-founder's $2 billion lawsuit: NY appeals court". Reuters. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  60. ^ Dean, Sam (November 23, 2019). "Former Tinder CEO Sean Rad accused of secretly recording employees and bosses in new court filing". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  61. ^ Carman, Ashley (March 25, 2019). "Tinder co-founder asks court to dismiss $250 million lawsuit from Tinder's owner". The Verge. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  62. ^ "Match Will Pay $441 Million to Settle Suit Over Tinder Valuation". Bloomberg.com. December 1, 2021. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  63. ^ Hart, Robert. "Match Settles Tinder Lawsuit For $441 Million Just Before Jury Handover". Forbes. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  64. ^ Barron, Jesse (January 14, 2022). "A Tinder Revenge Story". Intelligencer. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  65. ^ Hart, Robert. "Match Settles Tinder Lawsuit For $441 Million Just Before Jury Handover". Forbes. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  66. ^ "Match settles lawsuit with Tinder co-founders for $441 million". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  67. ^ "Inline XBRL Viewer". www.sec.gov. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  68. ^ Dirt.com, James McClain; Dirt.com, James McClain (May 24, 2021). "Ellen DeGeneres Pays $14.3 Million to Buy Back Montecito's Historic Rancho San Leandro". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  69. ^ a b "Inside the Dashing Los Angeles Pad of Tinder Founder Sean Rad and his Wife Lizzie Grover Rad". Architectural Digest. December 1, 2021. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  70. ^ "Six Art World Power Couples You Should Know". www.culturedmag.com. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  71. ^ "Cultured Young Collectors 2020". www.culturedmag.com. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  72. ^ "School Leadership | Milken Community School in Los Angeles, CA". www.milkenschool.org. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
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