Foundr Mentality

GRINDR CEO GEORGE ARISON IS USING AI TO TRANSFORM THE APP, MAKING AN UNEXPECTED PIVOT INTO TELEMEDICINE, AND TAKING MANAGEMENT INSPIRATION FROM ELON MUSK.

- Casey Newton

GEORGE ARISON IS TELLING ME ABOUT A HOOKUP.

Arison, the 47-year-old CEO of the LGBTQ+ dating app and social network Grindr, recounts a story about an encounter with a man who ranked low in physical chemistry—“it was in my bottom quartile of hookups,” he says, as if reviewing a spreadsheet of them—but high in intellectual compatibility. That bottom-quartile hookup is now a good friend of his. To Arison, the story illustrates how big relationships can grow from the random connections Grindr facilitates. And if Grindr’s short time as a public company is any indication, solid financials can too.

It’s been a rough stretch for dating apps. Match Group, which owns Tinder and Hinge, among others, commands roughly 42% of the dating services industry, according to market research firm IBISWorld. But its earnings—which stood at $551 million in 2024—have been steadily declining since 2022, even amid modest revenue gains. As of February, Match had replaced its CEO twice in the past three years, and activist investors have been pushing it to reverse declines in usage, particularly among Gen Z.

Grindr continues to grow after going public in 2022. The company increased revenue 33% last year, to $345 million, and boosted monthly average users 7% to reach 14.2 million people, with more than 1 million of them paying. Investors have been pleased: At press time, Grindr stock was up 70% over the past year.

More importantly, among its core audience of gay and bisexual men, the app—which eschews dating-app features like swiping and matches for a distance-based grid of available users—remains synonymous with hooking up. Arison, who joined Grindr in October 2022 from used-car marketplace Shift, says the company still has plenty of room to grow.