54 | FORBES ASIA DECEMBER 2017
and is a third-generation legacy at Southern Methodist Universi-
ty in Dallas, she retreated to Texas and the family of her then boy-
friend Michael Herd, who’s now her husband. “I was broken,” she
says. Trying to give some purpose to this trauma, Herd began
sketching out a women-only social network called Merci, which
would focus on positivity. “No compliments on physicality,” she
says. “Compliments about who they are.”
Th en came an unsolicited e-mail from someone with an un-
familiar address and a Russian name, Andrey Andreev. Born
in Moscow and based in London, Andreev in 2006 had found-
ed Badoo, an online dating network that is today the world’s
largest, with over 360 million registered users in 190 countries.
Herd had met Andreev at a dinner in 2013 while she was at Tin-
der, and she’d made an impression. “To be honest, I immediate-
ly fell in love with Whitney’s passion and energy,” says the thick-
accented Andreev, who has acquired a reputation as a recluse
because he rarely grants interviews. “I thought she was a very
cool lady and that I should be watching her very carefully.”
When she didn’t reply, his team e-mailed Herd’s lawyers, wish-
ing her well with her legal battle and adding that he’d like to work
with her. “My original idea was to get her as CMO at Badoo,” says
Andreev, who’s 43.
As it turned out, Herd had plans to visit her little sister at cook-
ing school in Paris, and she made a pit stop in London. She didn’t
want any part of his job off er. “Dream on—I’m not for hire,” she
recalls saying. “I’m starting a company, and I don’t want to be in
dating.” She did pitch him on Merci, though. While Andreev liked
the idea of a women-centric social brand, he thought Herd should
stick to her forte and his: the dating sector. Th ey spent days walk-
ing around London’s streets and parks together, exchanging ideas.
Andreev told her he wanted to pair her innate talent for marketing
and branding with the infrastructure, capital and resources at his
disposal aft er almost a decade at Badoo.
Aft er she settled the Tinder lawsuit in September 2014 —
which, conveniently, did not contain a noncompete clause—she
took Andreev up on his off er. He’d make an initial investment of
about $10 million for launch marketing and commit addition-
al funds to fuel growth, taking 79% of the company. She’d be the
founder, the CEO and a 20% owner, with all the autonomy those
titles imply, while tapping into Badoo’s infrastructure and An-
dreev’s know-how. Both have
come in handy. At Badoo, An-
dreev has a decade’s worth of A-B
tests, data on the eff ectiveness
of various monetization eff orts
and experience bringing a prod-
uct to scale that have no parallel
in the dating market. When the
time came to start charging users
for in-app perks, for instance, the
team at Bumble was able to de-
velop sophisticated technology to
support subscriptions from day
one thanks to input from Badoo.
From September to Decem-3O 3O
BILLION-DOLLAR BUMBLETinder, told Forbes in 2014 that Herd bore part of the blame for
the bad blood between her and Mateen. Th e suit was quickly
settled for a sum that Forbes previously reported to be approx-
imately $1 million. (Th e settlement bars the parties from dis-
cussing the case.)
Th ere’s no question who the founder of Bumble is. Rath-
er than sulk about Tinder, Herd decided to compete against
it. In doing so, she belatedly entered one of the most crowded
and established digital fi elds (over 90% of online dating start-
ups fail) and nonetheless quickly carved out a lucrative space
by focusing on the needs of one segment: women. More than
10% of Bumble’s users pay $9.99 for a monthly subscription to
access perks like extra time to decide whether a suitor merits a
message. At Tinder, just about 5% of users pay for a similar ser-
vice, according to a report from the investment fi rm Jeff eries. It
helps, of course, that her segment also happens to represent a
majority of the population.
“I just don’t harbor resentment toward anything or anywhere
or anyone—I’m too busy,” Herd says. But if success is the best re-
venge, then nine digits in three years fl at off ers the kind of vindica-
tion people make movies about.
HERD’S PATH TO BUMBLE WAS UNINTENDED. In the months be-
tween fi ling suit against Tinder and settling, she experienced the
sort of online abuse that’s all too familiar to women who make
public sexual harassment allegations. “I was being told the ugli-
est things by complete strangers, and they were having full debates
about me,” Herd says. “I wasn’t running for offi ce. I wasn’t trying to
be on a reality show. I was just a girl who left somewhere.”
When that abuse turned into rape and murder threats from
strangers, she deleted her Twitter account. Panic attacks and para-
noia followed. A Salt Lake City native who attended private school
“The power
lunch is
no longer
just for
men. We all
deserve a
seat at the
table.”CEO Herd wants Bumble to
empower women in dating,
friendship and career.