65BloombergBusinessweek January 27, 2020my original vision,” she said, “a woman- and girl-only social
network.” Correction: stuff women Googled.
This erratic vision isn’t new. Former Badoo employees
who worked on the Bumble app said Wolfe Herd sometimes
announced new features to the press and then asked the team
to build them. The company spokesman said, “Bumble has
never announced a feature without the full awareness of the
product development team.”
Later that day I sat in on a planning meeting for the
New York coffee shop and bistro, which was set to open in
December. “It’s called Brew-ery,” Wolfe Herd said. “During
the day, it’s ‘brew,’ and then it’s this ‘-ery’ nighttime thing.”
Brew-ery could be a meetup spot for Bumble dates and a
way to introduce people to the brand who didn’t know about
the app. Bumble had signed a lease on a space in SoHo and
teamed up with Delicious Hospitality Group for the food.
“Boom!” said Caroline Ellis Roche, Bumble’s chief of staff,
when she showed Wolfe Herd renderings of the restaurant.
“How cute is that?”
She’d revealed a royal blue brick exterior accented with
Bumble’s signature shade of yellow for a sort of French bistro
look. There were striped awnings, sidewalk seating, and ter-
razzo floors. Ellis Roche clicked through slides of coffee cup,
coaster, and napkin prototypes as Wolfe Herd reacted with an
“uh-uh,” “keep going,” or “this is good.” At one point, there was
an intense discussion about whether the pattern on to-go cups
should be triangular or squiggly. “Let’s be mindful not to be
too copycat of other brands we love,” Wolfe Herd said. “I don’t
want it to look like we’re borrowing too much from Outdoor
Voices or Glossier. Or the Wing. Let’s be our own thing.”
The next day was the bill signing. It was almost 100F in
Austin that morning, and Wolfe Herd was about six months
pregnant. If she was uncomfortable ascending the Capitol
steps in a blue dress and matching suede heels, she didn’t
show it. She shook state senators’ hands, answered questions
about her due date, and posed for a photo with Governor
Abbott. It’s almost impossible to pass a law in Texas without
Republican support, which normally would be a problem
for a company that sponsors Pride events and has donated
$100,000 to the gun control advocate March for Our Lives.
(The organization is affiliated with Everytown for Gun Safety,
founded by Michael Bloomberg, owner of Bloomberg LP,
which owns Businessweek.) But Wolfe Herd’s husband had
given almost $325,000 to Republicans, including to Donald
Trump’s campaign, during the 2016 election cycle, accord-
ing to OpenSecrets.org.
Still, Bumble had to be careful about making public state-
ments on partisan social issues while the bill was under con-
sideration. Bumble has run at least two donation campaigns
for Planned Parenthood, and Wolfe Herd is unabashed in
her support for a woman’s right to choose. “That is some-
thing that Bumble should stand for,” she told me. But not
while the bill was being passed. “One thing we did not react
to, which I wanted to, and we were going to, but it came too
close to our law,” Wolfe Herd said, “was this crazy abor-
tion stuff.” She was referring to laws passed in 12 states lastyear restricting abortion. Planned
Parenthood had just lost $60 mil-
lion in federal funding as a result
of a Trump administration rule bar-
ring clinics that refer patients for
abortions from getting government
money. Bumble’s social media chan-
nels were silent.
Apparently, the company had
made the decision that outlawing
dick pics would do more for women
than making a statement about—or raising more money for—
reproductive rights. As far as the science goes, there’s not a
lot of evidence a law would be helpful. To date, there’s only
one psychological study of men who send unsolicited lewd
photos. Published last year in the Journal of Sex Research, it
surveyed more than 1,000 men, half of whom had sent unso-
licited pictures of their genitals. It found that only 6% did
so because they had feelings of animosity toward women.
Women’s reactions to dick pics haven’t actually been stud-
ied, and surveys of gay men indicate that they sometimes
respond positively to photos. In the first three months since
the law went into effect, Austin police said they’ve received
10 lewd-photo complaints but would not say how many were
investigated or followed up on.
There are plenty of people at Bumble who think the com-
pany lives up to its ideals. Some employees told me they felt
Bumble was being held to a higher standard because of what
it represents and what it’s trying to do. Tinder’s not lobbying
for laws, they pointed out, or taking out ads that say “Believe
Women.” But that’s the point. When young women are prom-
ised equality and safety—even something as nebulous and
indefinable as empowerment—they’ll use a service or buy a
product because they want so badly for those things to exist.
If they later come to believe that this vision of the future isn’t
female but just female marketing, they won’t feel just disap-
pointment: Several women who worked for Bumble said the
company had broken their heart.
When the bill signing was over, Bumble’s legal team went
out for a celebratory lunch. Before they left, Wolfe Herd
pulled me aside. She said she wanted Bumble employees
to feel free to talk to me and asked if I’d please relay the
message. That was the last time we spoke. Over the inter-
vening months, the opening of Brew-ery was again delayed
and Wolfe Herd had a son and started a four-month mater-
nity leave. Bumble workers still didn’t trust her assurance
that they were free to talk. Not only were they still hindered
by the nondisclosure agreement, but Austin is a small city.
Many of them still live there. They were applying for jobs
orstartingtheirownbusinessesandworriedWolfeHerd
wouldretaliateagainstthem.Shewastoowealthy,toowell-
connected, employees said. Compared with her, they were
nobodies. Once Wolfe Herd was named CEO of MagicLab, I
asked Bumble if her promise not to sue held true. Now that
she was officially in charge, would she let people speak out?
The answer was no. <BW>WolfeHerdspeaking
atTechCrunch
Disruptin 2018
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