Everyone is hooking up, but what about me? I have a girlfriend!” – you had to be a member of the Kardashian/Jenner family. So, they created a dating app to serve that demographic: Tinder. You have a few questions about it: – How do I get a Tinder for Girls/Guys Card? – Does the Tinder for Girls/Guys Card really work? – Are there any rules for using the Tinder for Girls/Guys Card? – If I successfully cheat on my girlfriend/boyfriend, will I be arrested? We answer these questions and more by interviewing the CEO of the company that created Tinder: Sean Rad. He’ll tell you all about it. So, to begin with, what is Tinder and how did you come up with the idea for the app? What’s the story behind it? In my sophomore year in college, I’d go to parties. At one party, I was in line to order drinks with this girl I liked and looked behind me to make sure my friends were okay. I found myself being stared at by a gorgeous girl. She gave me the most charming smile. As soon as I looked back at her, the DJ played a hip hop song I’d never heard before. So I asked my friend who she was. She said she was a model. The DJ said she was his niece. She was just a girl who really liked music. She also said she was not into the club scene. So I said, “Hey you want to come with me?” She gave me a dirty look and got up. Later on that night, I asked her name, but she wouldn’t give it up. I told her I’d recognize her in the morning when we went to class together. But I didn’t recognize her when I saw her again the next day. I really hoped I’d see her again, but it didn’t happen. I was curious about her and wondered what happened to her. She hadn’t been in any of my classes. A few weeks later, I saw a girl I really liked at another party. I had a crush on her. I wanted to take her on a date, but she had a boyfriend. I asked her if she would go on a date with me and she said, “No, not tonight. Can you meet me after this?” I agreed to and the next day we met up. She told me to pick a restaurant we’d never been to. That was odd because I’d been to every restaurant in the city. It was probably one of the most memorable dates I’ve ever had. We had a really great time and she made me feel really comfortable. We were both from South Carolina and graduated from the same high school. We talked about everything: current events, music, politics. It was a great conversation. At the end of the night, I walked her to her car. It was the first and last time I would see her that night. I didn’t want to go home, so I walked around town. The next day, we kept in touch via email and text. Our relationship developed into the most intimate thing I’ve ever been in. Eventually, our dates became less and less frequent. We ended up dating for three years, had a baby, and moved to Manhattan. I took a full-time job in IT, and she worked in a coffee shop. We had it all together. But we were really unhappy with our jobs and started talking about how we were not having the life we wanted. Then, one day, we had a revelation: we need to do something else. But we were trapped by our contracts. It was our biggest regret and biggest fear. Luckily, about five months later, we found a great new company. We worked really hard and within a year we had our first and biggest sale. It gave us financial freedom and the freedom to do what we wanted. We started traveling around the world: Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam. One day, we went to a bar in Ho Chi Minh. My wife saw this girl. I told her, “Just go over there. Ask her where she got her shirt. Who is that girl?” She turned to me and said, “You’re funny. That’s a friend of mine, Vanny.” The next day, I sent her a text message: “Are you with Vanny?” And she was. It was a long distance relationship and it was very difficult. We’d talk every day and she’d tell me how lonely she was. That’s when I said to my wife, “You should find a girl in Vietnam.” She started sending me pictures and the pictures were great! We talked every day and I asked her why she didn’t speak English. She said, “I want to learn English. I want to go to the U.S.” But it wasn’t cheap to travel to the U.S. I found her a job at a modeling agency and she did really well. They helped her get an H-1B visa and she became a lawyer, specializing in international immigration law. We kept in contact and ended up getting married a few months ago in Las Vegas. I was still living in New York. Then one day, my wife told me that her friend was single and had moved to Los Angeles to be closer to her boyfriend. I ended up visiting her with my parents when I was in LA for work. I took a liking to the place. I wanted to find a place there, so we started to look around and found a duplex for $575,000. Then my wife said she wanted to be closer to her parents, so we moved to LA as well. It was the perfect situation. I’d come home from work and be able to spend time with my wife and baby. Now I’m retired and living in a beautiful, sunny apartment in LA. I love it. What is Tinder? What is it used for? What’s the value proposition? It’s a dating app used for people seeking romantic and sexual relationships. “I was really obsessed with hooking up when I went to New York City, I’d been living in a town where I didn’t know anyone and felt really lonely.” We all know the feeling: you want to meet someone you don’t know at a bar, music festival, or even the gym. You meet someone and you have a great time talking and then you make a date. And the next thing you know, there’s some drama. He’s late, he flaked, or she lied to you about her job. You’re back to square one. But if the app isn’t right, you can lose faith in the internet. When you’re trying to meet people and hook up in real life, something better than an app has to work, right? People ask me all the time, “Is Tinder really that great?” When I say it’s not a hook-up app, they say, “What is it then?” I say, “It’s a game.” You have to move fast, but not too fast, and you have to make a good impression. You make the first move. You pick up your phone, swipe right and “hello” message pops up. That’s it. There’s no back and forth. Once you know each other a little bit better, you could talk for hours and make a plan. But the idea is that the meeting happens at the right time and place, but also based on a mutual attraction and a sense of connection. What we’re trying to do is find the good connection, not necessarily the perfect connection. What I like about it is that it allows people to control their own destiny. It’s a gamble, but the app offers options, not ultimatums. How does it work? Can anyone use it? What’s the profile and login process? What’s the privacy policy? The profile is really short, maybe three to four sentences. You have to provide your first name, age, and birth date. You can add a short description of what you’re looking for – a woman, a man, or just a random person to date. Your profile shows up and people can click on it or send you a message. If it’s a man, he’ll be able to see your profile, but you don’t know who is looking at it. If it’s a woman and she’s looking for someone, she can see who has viewed her profile. You can also click “Favorites,” which will show you the matches you’ve liked. That’s it. You don’t know how many people are viewing your profile and it’s not very easy to check. If someone finds your profile, they can message you or put their phone number in the message and you can message them back. If you match, you’ll get a notification and they can say yes, no, or maybe. Or just swipe right and send them a message. It’s that easy. We have different filters to connect people. If you’re a man who likes blondes or thinks blondes are hot, you can swipe left for redheads and right for blondes. If you see someone and they swipe left for