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Sean Rad

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Sean Rad
Born (1986-05-22) May 22, 1986 (age 38)
Los Angeles, California, United States
EducationUniversity of Southern California (dropped out)
Known forCo-founder of Tinder

Sean Rad is an Iranian-American entrepreneur known for co-founding the online dating app, Tinder.[1][2]

Early life

Rad was born on May 22, 1986 in Los Angeles, California to Iranian Jews who had emigrated from Iran in the 1970s.[3] [4] He grew up in Beverly Hills.[5] As a teenager, he wanted a career in the music industry.[6] He started a band and and interned for an entertainment manager during high school.[7] After high school, Rad enrolled at the University of Southern California (USC) but dropped out after two years in 2006.[8]

Career

Early career

At 18, he started his first company, Orgoo, a messaging and video chat integration tool,[7] and later founded Adly in 2009, a management company for celebrity Twitter branding.[9] Rad later sold his share of Adly in 2012.[8]

Tinder

In early 2012, Rad joined Hatch Labs.[10] During a hackathon he and Joe Munoz created and presented the idea for Matchbox, a proposal for an app which would later be renamed as Tinder.[11][10] Rad recruited the help of Justin Mateen and other members of the Hatch Labs including Jonathan Badeen, Chris Gulczynski, Alexa Mateen, Ryan Ogle, and Whitney Wolfe. Together they launched Tinder in the fall of 2012.[8][12]

In November 2014, Rad was asked by IAC to step down as chief executive of Tinder.[13] It was announced that Rad would continue as a member of the board of directors and, in the interim, serve as the acting chief executive, becoming president of the company when a replacement was found.[14] The changes went into effect in March 2015 with Tinder's appointment of Christopher Payne as CEO.[15] Rad returned as the CEO again in August 2015.[16][17] In December 2016, Rad was removed as CEO of Tinder to become chairman of the company and run Swipe Ventures, an investment business created by Match Group.[18][19] Rad "appeared to make a veiled threat" to Vanity Fair reporter Nancy Jo Sales after an article she published on “hook up culture”.[20] Sales published an Open Letter in response to Rad.[21]

Philanthropy

He is on the Board of Directors at the Milken Community High School.[22] Rad is one of the founding board members of Good Today, a nonprofit that enables people to support charitable organizations. [23][24]

Lawsuits

In June 2014, Whitney Wolfe Herd filed a lawsuit against Tinder and IAC accusing Justin Mateen of "a barrage of horrendously sexist, racist, and otherwise inappropriate comments, emails and text messages"[25][26][11] and Rad as CEO of failing to respond to her complaints.[27][13] The lawsuit was settled out of court without admission of guilt from either party involved.[11]

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.[28] 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.[29]

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 copying proprietary company files to his personal devices while working at Tinder.[30] Rad argued that his contract gave him the right to make those actions and he asked the New York Supreme Court to dismiss the lawsuit against him.[31]

Recognition

Rad was included on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2013.[32] 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.[33]

References

  1. ^ Edwardes, Charlotte (2015-11-18). "Tinder? I'm an addict, says hook-up app's co-creator and CEO Sean Rad". www.standard.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-03-23.
  2. ^ Rogers, Taylor Nicole; Borden, Taylor. "8 major US companies with Iranian-American founders or CEOs". Business Insider. Retrieved 2021-03-23.
  3. ^ "A Brief History Of Tinder". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
  4. ^ "9 Quotes From Jewish Tinder Co-Founder Sean Rad That Will Make You Swipe Left". Forward. Retrieved 2021-05-21.
  5. ^ Bowles, Nellie (2014-06-11). "Three LA Boys: Snapchat's Evan Spiegel, Tinder's Sean Rad and Whisper's Michael Heyward". Vox. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
  6. ^ Storr, Farrah. "Sean Rad: the man who changed the way we date". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2021-05-23.
  7. ^ a b Grigoriadis, Vanessa (2014-10-27). "Inside Tinder's Hookup Factory". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
  8. ^ a b c Carr, Austin (2016-01-11). "What's Really Going On Inside Tinder?". Fast Company. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
  9. ^ Grigoriadis, Vanessa (2014-10-27). "Inside Tinder's Hookup Factory". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2021-03-23.
  10. ^ a b Carr, Austin (2016-01-11). "What's Really Going On Inside Tinder?". Fast Company. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
  11. ^ a b c Bertoni, Steven. "Exclusive: Sean Rad Out As Tinder CEO. Inside The Crazy Saga". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-03-23.
  12. ^ "The Story Of Whitney Wolfe Vs. Tinder". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
  13. ^ a b Bertoni, Steven. "Exclusive: Sean Rad Out As Tinder CEO. Inside The Crazy Saga". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
  14. ^ "Tinder's CEO, Co-founder Sean Rad is stepping down". Fortune. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
  15. ^ Isaac, Mike (2015-03-20). "Tinder Appoints Chief Executive to Replace Sean Rad". Bits Blog. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
  16. ^ Townsend, Tess (2015-11-18). "Tinder's Sean Rad Is Weirder Than You Thought". Inc.com. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  17. ^ Weisul, Kimberly (2014-11-06). "What Tinder's CEO Demotion Means for Silicon Valley Sexism". Inc.com. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  18. ^ Wagner, Kurt (2016-12-08). "Tinder's Sean Rad is stepping down as CEO to become chairman". Vox. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  19. ^ "Sean Rad Steps Down as Tinder CEO to Focus on Investment Vehicle". Fortune. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
  20. ^ Weiss, Geoff (2015-11-18). "Tinder CEO Sean Rad Makes Veiled Threat to Vanity Fair Reporter Ahead of IPO". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
  21. ^ Sales, Nancy Jo (2015-11-20). "AN OPEN LETTER TO TINDER'S SEAN RAD FROM V.F.'S NANCY JO SALES". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
  22. ^ "School Leadership | Milken Community School in Los Angeles, CA". www.milkenschool.org. Retrieved 2021-05-23.
  23. ^ "With Sean Rad signed on as board member, Good Today launches new tool for company-wide donations". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-05-23.
  24. ^ Perez, Matt. "Sean Rad Announces New Nonprofit Good Today At Under 30 Summit". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-05-23.
  25. ^ Kleinman, Alexis (2014-09-08). "Tinder Settles Lawsuit Over 'Horrendously Sexist' Allegations". HuffPost. Retrieved 2021-03-23.
  26. ^ "Swipe Left: Dating App Tinder Removes CEO Sean Rad". NBC News. Retrieved 2021-03-23.
  27. ^ "The Story Of Whitney Wolfe Vs. Tinder". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
  28. ^ Business, Sara Ashley O'Brien, CNN. "Former Tinder executives are locked in a messy legal battle". CNN. Retrieved 2021-03-25. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  29. ^ Stempel, Jonathan (2019-10-29). "IAC must face Tinder co-founder's $2 billion lawsuit: NY appeals court". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
  30. ^ Dean, Sam (2019-11-23). "Former Tinder CEO Sean Rad accused of secretly recording employees and bosses in new court filing". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  31. ^ Carman, Ashley (2019-03-25). "Tinder co-founder asks court to dismiss $250 million lawsuit from Tinder's owner". The Verge. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
  32. ^ Stampler, Laura. "Inside Tinder: Meet the Guys Who Turned Dating Into an Addiction". Time. Retrieved 2021-03-23.
  33. ^ Dave, Paresh (2016-05-13). "Tinder CEO Sean Rad, recalling brief demotion, tells grads getting fired turned out great". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-04-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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