Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd shares advice that helped make her the youngest woman to take a company public

The closely-watched leadership transition is a time of reflection for Wolfe Herd, who wrote on Instagram that she “never want[s] to stop growing” as she steps into the board role. 

Her reflection started before this week; late last year, I spoke with Wolfe Herd as she debuted a class on the educational platform MasterClass. A decade into her journey as a startup founder and CEO, she wanted to share her business lessons with those who have followed her career. 

“I, on paper, shouldn’t really be where I am today,” she told me. “I want to show that anything’s possible for anyone if you allow yourself to think differently and trust yourself.” 

Wolfe Herd’s MasterClass covers her path to founding Bumble after being forced out from competitor dating app Tinder and suing her former employer over sexual harassment. (The case was settled.) She describes the steps she took to figure out what to do next. 

Courtesy of Masterclass

The first move was to identify a “big problem.” For Wolfe Herd, that was toxicity online and in interpersonal relationships. Next, she clarified the white space her startup could address within that issue, coming up with Bumble’s signature feature in which women “make the first move.” She worked to pinpoint underserved audiences—in this case, women in the dating market—and figure out what they wanted and didn’t want in their romantic lives. Wolfe Herd tells MasterClass viewers that their idea “doesn’t have to be complex” to be successful. It should be authentic and carry their DNA. 

Yet as she moves on from the CEO role, Wolfe Herd doesn’t take sole credit for the business she built. “I don’t think anything is all me,” she told me. “It’s an imprint of everyone that came in and touched it in their own unique way. Even if it was someone who dropped off a package and had a quick line they said—that can change the directory of a company. I’ve left my mark on it, but it’s a collective.” 

Since that Bumble origin story, the company has been through many iterations. The biggest changes came in 2019, when Blackstone bought a majority stake in the business and elevated Wolfe Herd to CEO of Bumble’s parent company, and in 2021, when Wolfe Herd became the youngest woman to take a company public. Since then, Bumble’s stock has fallen by about 80% in a challenging market for the online dating industry. 

Wolfe Herd urges aspiring founders to ask big questions constantly—as she did as she figured out how to navigate each stage of her business. “If something’s not changing, if something’s not growing, it’s dying,” she says. “You never want to be in a place of stagnancy.” 

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe

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