George Arison is the CEO of Grindr. The app that results in 40% of lesbian and gay marriages, the average user uses the app for 1 hour per day and sends more messages on Grindr than they do Whatsapp. The company will do over $300M in revenue in 2024 with a 40% EBITDA margin. One of the insane public company success stories. Prior to Grindr, George was the Founder and CEO of Shift, which he took public in 2020.
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(01:03) What Is Grindr & How George Became a CEO
(04:01) Grindr’s Identity
(10:56) Balancing Market Growth vs. Deeper User Adoption
(12:50) What’s Wrong with Tinder or Bumble
(15:00) Dating in a Virtual World
(17:16) How Is Grindr So Efficient Compared to Others?
(19:50) When Does Efficiency Start Hindering Growth?
(23:33) George’s Key Lessons For a Young CEO
(26:21) What Did George Learn He Wasn’t Good At?
(28:17) The Great Manager Makes People Feel Bad?
(31:29) Do We Still Live in a Free Speech Society?
(35:46) On Advertising Revenue Model
(39:11) Will Young People Keep Dating Online?
(42:04) If Failure Wasn’t an Option
(43:53) Is It Possible to Excel as a CEO, Father, and Husband?
(47:10) Grindr’s Story: From One Founder to Public Company
(53:54) Quick-Fire Round
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In Today’s Episode with George Arison We Discuss:
1. Wild Story of How the Chinese Bought and Lost Grindr:
– How did the Chinese come to buy Grindr and then fire the founder?
– Why did the US government force the sale of the company from the Chinese?
– What happened when the whole development team was in Taiwan and then resigned overnight?
– George got the CEO role in Sept and the company went public in Oct. How did that all happen so fast?
2. How Grindr is a Free Cash Flow Machine:
– What are the three core ways that Grindr is able to print money with a 40% EBITDA margin?
– Why does Grindr not spend any money on marketing or customer acquisition?
– Why does George think that most companies have way too many people?
– Why does George believe that most startups are very badly managed?
– What will Grindr do with the insane amount of free cash flow the company is producing?
3. Lessons Building Grindr to $300M in Revenue:
– What has George done with Grindr that he wishes he had not done?
– What has he not done that he wishes he had done?
– Why does George not make political statements today? Does George think we have freedom of speech when CEOs face such repercussions for political views?
– What does Wall St not understand about Grindr that it really should understand?
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