What is the best way to get over a heartbreak? For Justin McLeod that was creating one of the world’s most popular dating apps. Justin McLeod is the CEO and founder of the dating app Hinge, which has over 20 million users and sets up a date every 3 seconds. In this conversation Justin and Steven discuss topics, such as overcoming addiction, early stigma around dating apps, the setbacks and difficulties when creating Hinge, his tumultuous love story, and why happy endings are for the movies. 00:00 Intro 02:07 My Addiction & Going to Rehab 05:18 12 Step Programme for Addiction 07:36 How My Love Experiences Influenced My Entrepreneurial Journey 12:22 Founding Hinge 15:46 How Do We Know Which Ideas to Go After? 18:50 When Did the App Form? 23:35 Tinder and How It Impacted Hinge 27:29 The Interview That Changed My Life 34:14 The New Era for Hinge 36:56 How to Be Successful on Hinge 38:56 What Is Hinge Labs? 42:51 The Worst Things to Do in Dating Apps 44:03 Advice for People Going on Loads Of Dates 47:30 Dating Apps Want People to Stay Single to Have More Customers… 49:23 How Has the Dating World Changed in the Last Few Years?
 50:31 Hinge First Principles 51:48 The Importance of Taking Risks 01:00:38 How to Have Great Company Culture 01:17:16 Biggest Hiring Mistakes 01:19:42 What the Future of Dating Apps Looks Like 01:21:33 The Last Guest Question  Watch the episodes on Youtube - https://g2ul0.app.link/3kxINCANKsb My new book! 'The 33 Laws Of Business & Life' is out now - https://smarturl.it/DOACbook Follow me: https://beacons.ai/diaryofaceo Sponsors: Huel: https://g2ul0.app.link/G4RjcdKNKsb WHOOP: https://join.whoop.com/en-uk/CEO Uber: https://p.uber.com/creditsterms Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices