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Since the blockbuster Bumble IPO At the height of the pandemic, investor enthusiasm for the dating service cooled. At least Bumble stock is trading at roughly $11 a share right now, a far cry from the $76 where it finished on its first day as a public company in February 2021.
Of course, investors are fickle, which poses a challenge for almost every publicly traded company. The biggest concern for Bumble is… User fatigue. People are no longer downloading dating apps as enthusiastically as they used to, which means subscription revenue is down. Young people in particular are drawn to other platforms to find love, including TikTok, Snapchat, and even Sedition.
Now, it’s up to Lidiane Jones to reverse these trends. It’s a tough task, and one faced by many CEOs tasked with rescuing apparel from the post-pandemic doldrums: to publishin selling by pieces And in Auto industry, among other sectors. The outcome is far from certain, of course. But Jones, who was They were recruited She joined Bumble in January from Slack — where she was also named chief transformation officer and left after just 10 months — and she has a game plan, she recently explained to the din of lunchtime diners at a San Francisco restaurant.
Part of it is related to artificial intelligence, which Bumble’s competitors also tend to do so To a greater extent. Part of it is related to “margin expansion.” A big part of it, Jones told me, is simply bringing joy back to an experience that is no longer enjoyable for almost everyone half Of the participants. Much of that conversation follows, and has been edited for length and clarity.
Like a lot of CEOs right now, I got to a situation where I had to, almost immediately, lay off employees — in Bumble’s case, 30% of the 1,200 employees. That’s a lot to figure out quickly. How did you manage it?
I had a little preparation going on before I started. [Bumble founder] Whitney [Wolfe Herd] I was incredibly involved in the onboarding process, which gave me a fast track to learning the organization. She was really supportive. I think this made a huge difference. I’m also a firm believer that if you’re going to make a transformation, be very thorough and do it thoughtfully, so as not to put the company through a long, multi-stage process.
You’re relaunching Bumble in the second quarter of this year. I read that you are Rethinking making women make the first movewhich seems like a big shift.
Our brand awareness is so high, it’s amazing. If you ask anyone about Bumble, they’ll say it’s about women, and the core of that doesn’t change. We are a company that truly cares about women’s empowerment.
But as we approach our 10th anniversary, it’s a great moment to reflect on how best to serve our mission. For us, it’s really about how we express women’s empowerment today and over the next 10 years. What we really want is to move from women making the first move to women making the decision [who should make the first move]. We give women more control and flexibility based on what works for them.
Do you think that by inviting women to make the first move, Bumble has had an impact on who uses the platform? Friends have told me that the men they meet on the platform tend to be more passive, sometimes to their panic.
Historically, what we’ve seen is that a lot of men will come to Bumble who believe in female empowerment. I’ve heard those comments about the negative [men] A few times but not as much. It is certainly our ultimate goal to ensure that our customers have a great experience.
Other focus areas for you are security and artificial intelligence. What can Bumble users expect to see with this reboot?
If you consider the advancement of this amazing technology in the context of dating, it is only as good and safe as a company’s data and safety practices. Our customers’ privacy and trust have always been incredibly strong; We have always had a high level of healthy communication.
Over the last 10 years, we’ve developed a lot of AI and a lot of technologies that really protect behavior in the app, and we can adjust the models to reflect our values and our safety guidelines. But we want to take it further. A big part of Bumble’s DNA is advocating for policies that ensure women feel safe, and we want to be at the forefront of not only driving significant technology development but also advocating for online safety policies.
Bumble has long physically verified its users to ensure that user profiles are not bots or scams, but they are Do not conduct criminal background checks. Will this change with the help of artificial intelligence?
Background checks are what we explore. It is definitely a partner with whom we will partner differently [players]. But it’s a priority for me. I think it’s an important next step for us.
What should people know about the upcoming update?
This is truly the beginning of a new pace of innovation at Bumble. It is the beginning of a new set of experiences. We’re updating the profile experience, we’re updating the visual language of the app, we want it to feel more connected to our users and the tone of voice to be fun and cheerful. We’re looking to AI to help augment some of the turning points in people’s lives that are particularly concerning, like profile creation, which can be a real challenge. We really want dating to be fun again — and that’s really the key.
User fatigue is a lot to combat. Is there a new user acquisition strategy accompanying the new app?
Bumble has always been great at community marketing: hosting events and finding ambassadors who really want to represent the brand. That’s been disrupted a little bit during the pandemic. We’re using this moment before our launch to reignite a lot of community events because there are a lot of people eager to reconnect in person, and that’s the starting point.
Bumble has always been about more than just dating, too. Dating is a big part of it, but we’ve always believed there’s a need for connections and friendships, so we’re expanding our investment in our friendship capabilities, because we think a lot of people want to start commenting. Go out with other people. From a friendship perspective, when it comes to local, safe in-person events, there are a lot of opportunities and unmet needs.
Bumble for Friends has been launched last year. Will we ever see you spin this off as a standalone entity?
We are still collecting customer feedback. I’ve heard emotional states from both. We’re still exploring that.
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