Investor enthusiasm for the dating service has cooled since Bumble's blockbuster IPO at the height of the pandemic. At least Bumble stock is currently trading at around $11 per share, a far cry from its closing price of $76 on its first day of trading in February 2021.
Of course, investors are fickle, so this is a challenge for almost all publicly traded companies. A bigger concern for Bumble is user fatigue. People aren't downloading dating apps as enthusiastically as they once were, which means less subscription revenue. Young people in particular are gravitating toward other platforms for love, like TikTok, Snapchat, and even Discord.
Now it's Lydiaan Jones' job to reverse these trends. It's a tall order, and one faced by many CEOs tasked with pulling industries like publishing, retail and the auto industry out of the post-pandemic doldrums. Of course, the results are not certain. But Jones, who was hired by Bumble from Slack in January and also hired as turnaround CEO, left after just 10 months. She has her own strategy, as she explained over the lunchtime din at a San Francisco restaurant recently.
Some of that has to do with AI, which Bumble's competitors are also increasingly leaning into. Part of this has to do with “margin expansion.” A big part of that, Jones said, is simply bringing joy back to an experience that is no longer enjoyable for nearly half of the participants. Much of that conversation follows, edited for length and clarity.
Like many CEOs today, you found yourself in a situation where you had to lay off employees almost immediately. For Bumble, it was 30% of its 1,200 employees. That's a lot to understand right away. How did you manage it?
There was a little onboarding going on before we started. [Bumble founder] whitney [Wolfe Herd] They were incredibly involved in my onboarding process, which helped me learn about the organization quickly. She was really supportive. I think that made a big difference. I also strongly believe that when implementing change, it must be done thoroughly and carefully to avoid exposing the company to a long, multi-step process.
We plan to relaunch the Bumble app in the second quarter of this year. I've read that women are rethinking being the first to act, and this seems like a big change.
The brand recognition is very high, which is amazing. And if you ask anyone about Bumble, they'll tell you it's a story about women, and that core hasn't changed. We are a company that seriously strives to promote the active participation of women.
But as we approach our 10th anniversary, it's a great time to think about how we can best fulfill our mission. It's important to us how we represent women's empowerment today and in the next decade. What we really want is to move from being a woman who makes the first move to a woman who makes decisions. [who should make the first move]. We give women more control and flexibility based on what works for them.
Do you think Bumble has had an impact on the platform's users by encouraging women to make the first move? Friends say the men they meet on the platform are more reluctant and sometimes surprised that's right.
Historically, what we've seen is that a lot of men come to Bumble because they believe in women being empowered.I've heard feedback about passive [men] A few times, but not that many times. Indeed, our ultimate goal is to provide our customers with a great experience.
Other areas of focus are security and AI. What can Bumble users expect from this relaunch?
When you consider this amazing technological advancement in the context of dating, its superior safety is just as important as the company's data and safety practices. Our customers' privacy and their trust has always been incredibly strong. Healthy connectivity has always had a high bar.
Over the last 10 years, we've developed a lot of AI and a lot of technology that actually protects the behavior within apps. We can also adjust the model to reflect our values and safety guidelines. But we want to take it even further. A big part of Bumble's DNA is advocating for policies that make women feel safe, and in addition to driving great technology development, we want to be at the forefront of policy advocacy around online safety. thinking about.
Bumble has long conducted physical verifications on users to ensure their profiles aren't bots or scams, but it doesn't conduct criminal background checks. Will the situation change with the use of AI?
Background checks are one of the things we're looking at.That's something we definitely partner with different partners. [players]. But it's a top priority for me. I think that's an important next step for us.
What else should I know about upcoming updates?
This is truly the beginning of a new pace of innovation for Bumble. It's the beginning of a new experience. We're updating the profile experience and updating the app's visual language. We want to feel more connected to our users and make our tone of voice fun and enjoyable. We are looking at AI to augment some particularly anxiety-provoking transition points in people's lives, such as profile creation, which can be a very difficult task. We really want dating to be fun again. That's what really matters.
User fatigue has a lot to deal with. Is there a new user acquisition strategy to accompany the new app?
Bumble has always been good at community-based marketing, including hosting events and finding ambassadors who really want to represent the brand. That got a little confused due to the pandemic. We are using this pre-launch moment to rekindle a number of community-based events. Because there are a lot of people who are excited about resuming in-person connections, and that's the starting point.
Bumble has always been about more than dating. Dating is a big part of that, but we've always believed that we need connection and friendship. So we're expanding our investment in friendships because we believe a lot of people want to start by just hanging out. Go out with other people. From a friendship perspective, there's a lot of opportunity and unmet need out there when it comes to local, safe in-person events.
Bumble for Friends was launched last year. Will this be spun out as an independent entity?
We are still collecting feedback from our customers. I've heard both passionate cases. We're still investigating that.