11/24/22, 7:36 PM Grindr CEO shares ambitious plans for app following soaring market deb

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New Grindr CEO George Arison shares his ambitious

plans for the app following its soaring public debut
Arison is planning on new features and revamped subscriptions efforts after the company hit
the NYSE.

[Photo: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile for Web Summit via Getty Images]

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BY J E S S I C A B U RS Z T Y N S K Y
2 MINUTE READ

On the heels of today’s impressive debut on the public markets, Grindr is planning on amping up its
monetization efforts and subscription offerings as it moves forward, CEO George Arison tells Fast
Company. 
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11/24/22, 7:36 PM Grindr CEO shares ambitious plans for app following soaring market deb

The company, known for connecting LGBTQ users, made its debut Friday morning on the New York
Stock Exchange after completing a merger with special purpose acquisition company Tiga Acquisition
F O L LOW  in
a $2.1 billion deal. (Trading was briefly halted after shares surged upon opening. At one point, it was up
more than 400%.)
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“We are ultimately a product company, our business is our product,” Arison says. “That’s the core thing
and there’s a ton that we can do with it to make it better.”

Like most other dating apps, Grindr operates under a “freemium” model, meaning the service is free with
ads, with upgrades available at a charge. The app earns the majority of its revenue from subscriptions
(which start at $19.99 per month), but there’s still room to grow when it comes to converting free active
users to subscribers. Grindr has roughly 11 million monthly active users, while only 765,000 were paying
subscribers in the second quarter of this year, according to an investor presentation. Arison said the
company can hone in on its paid offerings, such as offering different pricing tiers. In comparison, Bumble
reported 3.3 million total paying users across its family of apps in the most recent quarter. Match Group,
which is home to Tinder and Hinge, reported an average of 16.5 million paying users.

“Putting that investment into the best forms of monetization for our users is really important,” says
Arison, who took the helm at Grindr just last month. Grindr’s revenue grew 30% year-over-year to $147
million in 2021. The company expects 2022 revenue to increase 30% to 35%.

Grindr has faced waves of criticism in the past regarding its privacy and data practices, as well as
impacts on user safety and mental health. Arison is hoping the public listing helps usher the 13-year old
company into a new era.

“My hope is that being a public company that has to report results on a quarterly basis will actually allow
us to correct a lot of the misperception that people might have,” he says, acknowledging those past
critiques.

Right now, the company is seen as solely a dating and social networking app, but he thinks Grindr can
offer more to users. “Ultimately, what we’re excited about is how can Grindr service its users and the
community that it serves in ways more than just social networking?” Arison says. 

One of the long-term ideas is building an in-app travel hub, since Grindr users often take to the app
when traveling. 

“Let’s try to actually have features and products inside our application that allow you to do that,” he says.
“What if in the app we showed to the user, ‘George, you are at [the NYSE] right now. Here are nice
places for you to stay. These are nice places for you to try based on our user preferences’—like that’s
really kind of an interesting way for us to potentially expand the product over the long term.”

That’s a goal for 2024, though, Arison says. For now, he’s focused on getting the company through a
successful public debut, which he says will allow Grindr to grow even further in terms of hiring and
preparing for things like mergers and acquisitions. (He makes it clear Grindr has no current plans for
M&A.)

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11/24/22, 7:36 PM Grindr CEO shares ambitious plans for app following soaring market deb

“There’s a ton of advantageous to being a public company, and I’m really happy we can do it in this
crazy market,” Arison says. F O L LOW 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jessica Bursztynsky is a staff writer for Fast Company, covering the gig economy and other consumer internet
companies. She previously covered tech and breaking news for CNBC. More

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