Whitney W. Herd

Meet the youngest woman to take a company public.

In 2014, after her exit from Tinder, Whitney Wolfe Herd envisioned a platform where women would make the first move.

In dating, in friendships, in business.

With a vision for flipping traditional power dynamics, she partnered with Badoo founder Andrey Andreev to launch Bumble.

The twist? Women had control.

By 2017, Bumble had 22 million users.

By 2021, it had engineered 8.6 billion connections and introduced features like Bumble BFF and Bumble Bizz to foster platonic and professional connections.

But the road wasn’t always smooth.

Whitney faced criticism over Bumble’s early branding as “Tinder for women.”

She weathered challenges like the pandemic, which shuttered Bumble’s community-driven spaces, and workplace culture controversies tied to its parent company.

Yet, she emerged stronger, steering Bumble to ban unsolicited explicit images and implement AI-driven safety measures… years ahead of its competitors.

From her teenage years in Utah, navigating an abusive relationship, to standing on Nasdaq’s stage with her toddler in tow, Whitney’s story is proof that empowerment is often born from adversity.

At 31, Whitney became the youngest woman to take a company public, with Bumble soaring to a $13 billion valuation the day of its IPO.