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Justin Mcleod

Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Hinge, Match

Search every verified Justin Mcleod interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Justin McLeod, founder and CEO of Hinge, has discussed his philosophy that love is not about finding a perfect match but about building a relationship through vulnerability and effort. In a 2021 interview, he stated, "You don't find the one, you create the one," and in a 2020 podcast, he elaborated that there are "many ones for us out there" and that relationships require work. McLeod also described Hinge's deliberate design choice to have a longer sign-up process, noting that the app loses over 20% of users during registration, which he called "a feature, not a bug" because it filters for users seeking meaningful connections. McLeod has also shared personal habits for maintaining focus and balance. In a 2020 interview, he said he avoids having Slack and email on his phone to prevent a "reactive mode" and to allow space for strategic thinking. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he described establishing a routine with his partner that included morning yoga, walks, and designated work hours to create normalcy and boundaries.

Selected quotes

Recent appearances

  • Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021)

    In 2010, Justin McLeod was in business school, still trying to get over a bad breakup that had happened years before. Determined to solve his own problem and convinced that the best way to meet people was through friends of friends, he built an app to replicate that experience. Gradually, Hinge grew into a streamlined swiping platform that yielded mixed results: good dates, bad hookups, mismatched swipes, and missed opportunities. Disappointed with this outcome and inspired by a sudden twist in his own love life, Justin redesigned Hinge as an app for finding meaningful relationships, with the…

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  • Hinge: Justin McLeod

    In 2010, Justin McLeod was in business school, still trying to get over a bad breakup that had happened years before. Determined to solve his own problem and convinced that the best way to meet people was through friends of friends, he built an app to replicate that experience. Gradually, Hinge grew into a streamlined swiping platform that yielded mixed results: good dates, bad hookups, mismatched swipes, and missed opportunities. Disappointed with this outcome and inspired by a sudden twist in his own love life, Justin redesigned Hinge as an app for finding meaningful relationships, with the…

    Watch on YouTube ↗

  • Justin McLeod ON: How To Fall In Love During Quarantine & Finding “The One” Perfect Partner

    Justin McLeod created the dating app, Hinge. The developer shares his intent was to take online dating past swipe right or swipe ...

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  • How Hinge founder Justin McLeod’s love story shaped a dating empire

    Long before he founded the dating app Hinge, Justin McLeod was a little boy in Louisville, Kentucky, belting out Meat Loaf’s “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” from the backseat of his mom’s car. Looking back, that song feels almost prophetic, after Justin met – and briefly lost – the love of his life, only to win her back with a big, movie-worthy gesture. In this episode, Justin charts the story of building one of the most influential dating apps in the world – a journey intertwined with his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction and his own epic love story. He reflects on t…

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  • Hinge CEO Justin McLeod says dating AI chatbots is 'playing with fire' | Decoder

    In this episode, Nilay is talking with Hinge founder and CEO Justin McLeod. Hinge is one of the biggest dating apps in the United States — it’s rivaled only by Tinder, and both are owned by the massive conglomerate Match Group, which has consolidated a huge chunk of the online dating ecosystem. Justin and Nilay dug into that here and also explored some of the thorny issues around AI and dating, Hinge’s monetization, and data privacy in the second Trump administration. This is a fun one, with a whole lot going on. Read the full transcript here: https://bit.ly/3KL6R0j This interview was ori…

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  • How Hinge is using AI (with CEO Justin McLeod) | Rapid Response

    As young people report feeling lonelier and less connected than ever, the dating app Hinge is driving its users into real life, human experiences. CEO Justin McLeod returns to Rapid Response to share how the platform is combating digital fatigue amongst users, as well as navigating the risks and opportunities of AI in online dating. McLeod also explores Hinge’s recent collaboration with renowned psychologist Esther Perel, and offers insider tips to find that special someone in the chaos of modern romance. Chapters: 00:00 Introducing Justin McLeod 01:37 Hinge's growth despite a tough market fo…

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  • Addiction, Redemption, and Sobriety | Justin McLeod’s Second Chance

    In this episode of “Edge of My Seat,” host and founder of TUSHY, Miki Agrawal, sits down with Justin McLeod, founder of Hinge, to revisit the night he woke up in a hospital bed with a 0.4 blood alcohol level—and the summer that changed everything. We dive into the moment his mother called the fire department, the chaos of addiction, and the internal tug-of-war between the part of him that wanted to break free and the part still clinging to escape. Justin shares how that experience led him into rehab, and how sobriety became the starting point of a deeper, more personal transformation. Plus, we…

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  • On The Go with Justin Mcleod, Founder of Hinge

    Get in - we’re going for a ride. In this segment of Edge of My Seat, host and founder of TUSHY Miki Agrawal takes Justin Mcleod, founder of Hinge, on a rapid-fire joyride through life’s biggest themes - love, legacy, money, power, purpose, and poop. It’s fast, fun, and wildly human. Fast questions, real answers, no filter. Don’t miss the full sit-down conversation! Edge of My Seat is a raw, riveting podcast about life’s messiest moments—and what it really takes to clean them up. Hosted by taboo-smasher and TUSHY founder Miki Agrawal, each two-part episode kicks off with an unfiltered Cybertr…

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  • Hinge CEO Justin McLeod on how he rebuilt Hinge from scratch

    When Hinge CEO Justin McLeod realized the dating app wasn’t bringing the value he wanted it to, he decided to reboot and start from scratch. And that was the birth of Hinge that we know today. “I think that entrepreneurship is really the art of being both hopelessly idealistic and ruthlessly practical at the same time.” In part one of Hinge CEO Justin McLeod’s conversation with LinkedIn Editor in Chief Dan Roth’s they discuss: Defining the culture of your company How to hire the right fit for your team Not focusing on the competition Subscribe to the #ThisisWorking newsletter for more sto…

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  • How A.I. Could Improve Your Love Life with Hinge C.E.O. Justin McLeod | Interview

    We’re joined by Hinge’s founder and C.E.O., Justin McLeod, to discuss how he thinks A.I. can help users find love. This is a clip from Hard Fork episode 123:    • A.I. for a Better Love Life | EP 123   Guest Justin McLeod, founder and C.E.O. of Hinge Additional Reading When Cupid Is a Prying Journalist https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/st... Hard Fork is a weekly look into the future that's already here. Hosts Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore stories from the bleeding edge of tech. Casey’s publication, Platformer: https://www.platformer.news/ FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL TikTok:https://ww…

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The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →