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How Leaders Lead with David Novak

#263: Whitney Wolfe Herd, Founder and CEO of Bumble – Your mission is your mobilizer

How Leaders Lead with David Novak

David Novak Leadership

Entrepreneurship, Business, Management

4.8596 Ratings

🗓️ 30 October 2025

⏱️ 71 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

She flipped the script on modern dating and built a billion dollar global brand. But Whitney Wolfe Herd’s path to success hasn’t been easy. After co-founding Tinder and walking away under difficult circumstances, she founded Bumble, a dating platform where women make the first move. In this refreshingly honest conversation, she opens up about her missteps and lessons, how she’s redefined success, and why an obsessive focus on a bigger mission has made all the difference in her company culture. She also shares:  The near-spiritual moment that sparked Bumble’s “women make the first move” philosophy What most people totally miss about marketing Candid advice for women navigating toxic work situations or relationships How AI might reshape not just dating, but our understanding of compatibility Take your learning further. Get proven leadership advice from these (free!) resources: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The How Leaders Lead App⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: A vast library of 90-second leadership lessons to stay sharp on the go  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daily Insight Emails⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: One small (but powerful!) leadership principle to focus on each day Whichever you choose, you can be sure you’ll get the trusted leadership advice you need to advance your career, develop your team, and grow your business.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Men have to go first.

0:02.0

Women don't talk.

0:03.2

Why would you build something where there's no interaction?

0:05.8

This old age mindset was so convinced that this wouldn't work.

0:09.9

And a couple people, one being my husband and one being my former business partner,

0:13.0

they were like, we love it.

0:19.5

You're one of the most celebrated leaders I've ever talked to, and I've talked to a lot of

0:23.3

great ones.

0:24.3

Oh, gosh.

0:25.0

I don't know about that.

0:26.4

I don't know about that.

0:27.6

And you're one of the most successful entrepreneurs of this generation for sure.

0:31.2

But as I understand it, you wanted to be a photojournalist.

0:35.7

What's the favorite picture that you've ever taken and why?

0:40.4

You know, I actually, it's so weird that you just asked me this because I haven't thought about

0:45.1

this in a very long time, but I stumbled upon a photo in my phone the other day from 2011

0:52.0

when I had graduated from Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

0:58.1

And, you know, all of my friends were going to get these great jobs.

1:01.3

They were working at Goldman and they were working at Vogue and they were working at all

1:04.9

these various incredible business, you know, at these great companies and all their parents

1:09.7

were so proud.

1:10.5

And I remember my parents were like, so, you know, where are you going and all their parents were so proud. And I remember my parents

...

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