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Whitney WolfeFormer Vice President of Marketing at Tinder
Country:
 USA |
Content:
- Biography of Whitney Wolfe
- Tinder and the Lawsuit
- Allegations of Misconduct
- Co-founder Controversy
- The Tinder Team
- Leaving Tinder
Biography of Whitney Wolfe
Whitney Wolfe is a former Vice President of Marketing at Tinder, a popular mobile dating app for Android and Apple iOS. She filed a lawsuit against Tinder and its parent company, IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI), accusing them of sexual harassment and discrimination.
Tinder and the Lawsuit
Tinder, launched in September 2012, uses Facebook profiles to match users based on their location, interests, and mutual friends. Wolfe alleges that Justin Mateen, the marketing director at Tinder, sexually harassed her and threatened her. She claims that Sean Rad, the CEO of Tinder, and Sam Yagan, the corporate supervisor from IAC, were aware of the situation but did nothing about it. IAC immediately suspended Mateen from work. In a company memo, Rad called Mateen's behavior "unacceptable" but stated that Wolfe's complaint was "filled with factual inaccuracies and omissions."
Allegations of Misconduct
According to Wolfe, Mateen, whom she had dated, called her derogatory names and made derogatory comments about her and her colleagues, including Barry Diller, the chairman of IAC. She provided text messages as evidence. Wolfe also claims that Rad, whom she sought help from, refused to assist her and warned her that if she couldn't get along with Mateen, she would be fired.
Co-founder Controversy
Wolfe alleges that she was not just an employee but also one of the co-founders of Tinder. However, she was stripped of this status due to the events that unfolded. Journalists investigating the story believe that Wolfe has the same right to be called a co-founder as the others involved. However, it should be noted that Tinder's idea was nurtured in IAC's incubators, and IAC owns and controls Tinder. Despite distancing itself from its "child," IAC was responsible for the success of Tinder. Additionally, by the time Tinder appeared on the market, there was already a saturation of location-based mobile dating apps.
The Tinder Team
The success of Tinder can be attributed to the collective efforts of its team members. Joe Munoz handled the technical aspects, Jonathan Badeen wrote the iOS code, Christopher Gulczynski designed the app, and Rad brought everything together. Wolfe, responsible for marketing, played a crucial role in promoting the app and coming up with its name. Mateen only joined the story after Tinder had the code and design, and he was hired as the marketing director by Rad, his longtime friend. Despite her contributions, Wolfe was sidelined and did not receive any recognition.
Leaving Tinder
Wolfe left the company in April 2014 after a Tinder party where Mateen called her a derogatory term in front of Rad. In her lawsuit, she claims that the company culture and the behavior of its leaders were deeply problematic, representing a toxic mix of misogyny and sexism that is often associated with high-tech startups.
