DATING

In a conference room overlooking company, IAC. The complaint Manhattan’s Central Park, Whitney included a litany of claims, including Wolfe is explaining her recipe for better discrimination, emotional distress, dating in the digital age. Dressed in a and defamation, contending, among cream Ralph Lauren turtleneck and other allegations, that Mateen had black Frame skinny jeans, the 25-yearsent her inappropriate text messages old Wolfe opens her iPhone and taps and attempted to strip her of her on Bumble, the honeycomb-logoed cofounder status, and that when she dating app she recently launched approached Rad and offered to leave (she’s the company’s CEO), and starts in exchange for a payout in severance rapidly swiping right for yes and left and equity, he implied that he would for no on the bevy of eligible men. fire her. She subsequently resigned. “Say you went out to a bar with your While the suit was settled out girlfriends,” she begins. “You maybe of court last September with no would’ve right-swiped 60 guys in your admission of wrongdoing by either head – cute, not cute, cute table of party, Wolfe’s filing set off a media guys over there. But you’re not going to get every single guy’s firestorm, prompting sensational coverage from TMZ number. Realistically you maybe talk to one or two of them.” and “It’s not something I ever

Bumble, Wolfe says, is all about quality over quantity. wanted,” says Wolfe, who grew up in Salt Lake City and was While other platforms, such as Tinder, have dominated the introduced to Rad in 2012 in LA, where she’d moved after digital dating space by turning the tricky business of meeting graduating from Southern Methodist University. (He hired people into a real-time, real-life game of “hot or not”, Bumble her for a sales and marketing position at IAC’s now defunct is aimed at facilitating more significant connections. When Hatch Labs, where she joined the team developing an app two users “match” on Bumble, they have 24 hours called Match Box, which became Tinder.) “Imagine to start a conversation. But in a rare twist, the the litigation [with] a company you helped found responsibility lies with the woman to act first. going completely public, and waking up at four “I wanted to do something that was more in the morning and seeing it on BuzzFeed.” female-focused,” she says. “Apps like Tinder Despite the attention, Wolfe says the have done a phenomenal job of connecting relationship was not scandalous. “It was not people and game-ifying it. But then what a fling – we dated, and it was interesting, but would happen is guys would completely it was more like we were dating Tinder,” she bombard the women with something as says. “I was 23 years old. Every young woman

W e mundane as ‘hey’ or even something offensive, hi bl dates, every young man dates, so everyone has tn m

ey Bu so the women would be inundated. I want it to be Wol of feelings at different times for different people

fe, CEO the place for people not only to match with one another in life, but I think so much of that relationship was but to have a real connection. I want real relationships.” Tinder.” She adds, “I wish Tinder continued success.”

Ironically, when Wolfe was approached last summer by Now, with Bumble, Wolfe is starting over – in more ways investor Andrey Andreev, founder of the social-networking than one. In addition to getting her professional life back site Badoo, to develop what would become Bumble, she was on track, she’s in a new relationship, with Texas oil and gas on the rebound from a breakup of her own – with Tinder. executive Michael Herd. Says Wolfe, “He has been there with

Before Bumble, Wolfe worked as a marketing executive at me through this entire thing.” Tinder. In fact, she was one of the company’s first employees. The pair “matched” the old-fashioned way. “His mother Her run, though, lasted until last April, when she alleged in was my professor, but I had no idea she had children. So years court papers that she was forced to leave after confronting go by, I’m skiing in Aspen with mutual friends, and this guy CEO Sean Rad over what she felt was his improper handling clipped my skis off at the bottom of the hill. I was like, ‘Who of a situation that involved Justin Mateen, Tinder’s chief is this gentleman?’ Two days later I find out who his mum is marketing officer and her direct supervisor, with whom and that she was in a sorority with my mother – and they’re Wolfe had previously been romantically involved. In June, both named Kelli! They were both Kappas at SMU!” Her she filed suit in California against Tinder and its parent eyes light up in disbelief. “Isn’t that the craziest?”