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Second in Command: The Chief Behind the Chief with Cameron Herold

Ep. 571 - Grindr Former COO Rick Marini - How to Spot A-Players and Deliver Big Results Fast

Second in Command: The Chief Behind the Chief with Cameron Herold

Second in Command with Cameron Herold

Business, Entrepreneurship, Careers, Management

4.9 • 225 Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2026

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ever wonder why some COOs quietly double revenue while others burn out cleaning up someone else’s mess?

Cameron Herold unpacks the “second in command” reality with Rick Marini, serial entrepreneur, private equity veteran, and former COO powerhouse at iconic brands like Grindr. They dive into the realities most leaders dodge: gutting toxic teams, the cost of misaligned culture, and the real career advantage of NOT being CEO. You’ll get the battle-tested playbook for earning team trust, breaking through stagnant growth, and building companies where A-players fight to stay.

Miss this episode, and you risk leading a team that resents you, losing your top talent, or—worse—sleepwalking into irrelevance while your competition surges ahead. Listen now before your window to upgrade your influence and execution closes. This is unfiltered COO intelligence you won’t find anywhere else.

Timestamped Highlights

15:05 – How do you fix a company doing $100M with a 1.8-star Glassdoor? The turnaround playbook starts here.

17:15 – Three straight owners, one legendary LGBTQ brand: The wild truth about trust-building at Grindr

20:08 – Held hostage for a million? Why Rick Marini and team had to moderate user content—and what it taught the company

21:04 – The one line that made an exec break down in the NYSE lobby, and how you really know your team would run through walls for you

25:16 – A-players vs. B-players: The uncomfortable signs you’re settling, and how to actually spot (and hire) difference-makers

31:08 – Do you really have the right COO? How private equity calls BS on CEO/COO dynamics

42:00 – With AI moving this fast, how do you NOT get blindsided? The war room approach to offense vs. defense

46:06 – Mentorship, “work from home,” and why Gen Z will lap you if you hide behind Zoom

About the Guest

Rick Marini is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Catapult Capital and the Co-Founder, President and COO of Rails, and a renowned operator, investor, and board leader with over 25 years scaling and transforming businesses. Previously CEO/COO at Grindr and Rails, Rick specializes in high-stakes turnarounds, talent strategy, and innovative culture design for tech and consumer brands.

🔗 LinkedIn | Website

Mentioned Resources


Important Links


The Second in Command Podcast is an original production hosted by Cameron Herold. Brought to you by COO Alliance. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.

Sponsored by:

Redirect Health - Affordable healthcare benefits designed to make traditional insurance optional, with 24/7 access to primary care and Rx support that helps businesses reduce costs while keeping employees covered.

Learn more: http://www.redirectcoo.com/

Transcript

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0:00.0

People who are experts in their area that are experienced, that I can trust, that again, have

0:06.5

integrity, that work hard, where we can set these high yet attainable goals.

0:12.0

We're aligned.

0:13.0

And my job is actually to support them to make sure that they achieve those goals, because

0:17.5

if they achieve those goals, we're going to succeed as a company.

0:22.8

Welcome to the Second in Command podcast, produced by the C.O. Alliance and brought to you by its founder,

0:30.0

Cameron Herald. In the Second in Command podcast, we talked to top COs who share the insights,

0:36.2

strategies, and tactics that made them the chief

0:39.1

behind the chief.

0:40.7

And now, here's your host, Cameron Harold.

0:43.4

All right, it's time to meet Rick Marina.

0:47.3

He's a five-time founder with over 25 years of building and investing in tech companies.

0:52.2

He's currently the co-founder and managing partner of

0:54.5

Caterpult Capital, which is a private equity firm focused on consumer tech. And in 2020,

1:00.1

Catapult teamed up to buy Grindr for $600 million. Rick stepped in his C.O. And rebuilt the

1:05.8

entire team in every system and absolutely crushed it. Revenue and EBITDA both jumped by over 80% in just two and a half years.

1:13.5

App rating skyrocketed from two stars to 4.6. Employee approval on Glass Door went from 18% to 93.

1:21.1

And in November of 2022, they took Grindr Public on the New York Stock Exchange at over $2 billion

1:26.0

in market cap. So this is a success story,

1:28.7

and he's going to talk to you about how they did it. Rick is also the co-founder and president and

1:32.6

CEO of Rails, a self-custodial crypto perpetual exchange that just raised 20 million

1:38.1

from top investors like Slow Ventures and Cracken. He's going to talk to you about all of his

...

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