Colin Hodge: Scaling Dating Apps With User Psychology

Posted on September 15, 2026

LTR – In this conversation, Mark Brooks sits down with Colin Hodge, co-founder of DOWN, to discuss his new book, Outrageous Startup Growth: Uncovering the Secrets of User Psychology to Scale Your Success.

Colin shares lessons from growing DOWN from 6 million to 17 million users, as well as his experience scaling social products to more than 100 million users worldwide. He explains how principles of user psychology can be applied across dating, social apps, SaaS, and other businesses.

The conversation explores some of the book’s key ideas, including FOMO, decision architecture, “magic moments,” acquisition, retention, and North Star metrics, and why sustainable growth depends on creating meaningful outcomes for users, not simply driving engagement.

[**See the video here on YouTube**]

The March LTR was kindly sponsored by HubPeople, LeadThink and Courtland Brooks

Hily’s Julia Kolesnyk Is Betting on Creativity Over Big Budgets

Posted on September 14, 2026
Hily Julia Kolesnyk

ADAGE – Hily has increased its brand marketing budget from $500K to $3M since Julia Kolesnyk joined two years ago. She built its marketing operation from scratch and now leads a 13-person team. With less money than larger dating apps, Hily is focusing on YouTube rather than expensive TV advertising. Its latest campaign promotes authentic dating profiles without AI-generated enhancements.

See full article at AdAge

Grindr Generates More Revenue per Employee Than Apple and Meta

Posted on September 14, 2026
Logo of Grindr

BENZINGA –  Grindr generates $3M in revenue per employee. The platform outperforms both Meta and Apple, which each sit at $2.5M. It also easily surpasses Alphabet with $2.1M in revenue per employee, and Microsoft with $1.5M. In an interview with the Financial Times, Grindr CEO George Arison detailed plans for a luxury tier designed as a “social club for the modern gay man,” targeting “people who have significant disposable income and who value their time in a very significant way.”

See full article at Benzinga

Dating Apps Are Ditching ‘The Swipe’ for Meet-ups IRL

Posted on September 14, 2026
Surf Hyrox partnership

CNN – Dating apps are turning to IRL events to bring users together. Surf, a dating app focused on shared interests and fitness, runs blind dates through its partnership with Hyrox. Breeze, a Dutch dating app with no in-app chat, arranges dates at partner bars and group dates for six to ten people. Feeld, a dating app for non-monogamy, polyamory and kink, also organises in-person activities for its members.

See full article at CNN

Anthropic Finds Claude Powering Thousands of Fake Dating Profiles

Posted on September 14, 2026
Anthropic Claude

STORYBOARD 18 – Anthropic found that a China-based studio had used its Claude AI to operate ~ 4,700 fake profiles across 20 dating apps. ~75% of the profiles shown to users were AI personas, which exchanged 2M+ messages with 25K people in two weeks. Human workers handled video calls and social-media follow-backs to make the profiles appear real. Anthropic banned the accounts and reported the apps to Apple and Google.

See full article at Storyboard 18

Match Survey Finds Singles Still Believe in Love

Posted on September 11, 2026
Match.com Singles in America

MASHABLE – Match’s 2026 Singles in America survey found that 76% of U.S. singles believe romantic love can last forever, although only 16% are actively seeking a committed relationship. Most prefer flexible relationship roles over traditional gender roles, despite increased exposure to “tradwife” content on social media. Financial compatibility is also important, with 89% saying couples should share financial decisions equally and 71% saying openness about money builds trust. Singles remain cautious about AI in dating, but attitudes are softening: 34% now consider AI-edited profile photos a dealbreaker, down from 44% last year. However, 66% believe AI cannot replace human connection.

See full article at Mashable

Blackstone Prepares to Exit Bumble After Nearly Seven Years

Posted on September 11, 2026
Bumble logo

BUSINESS INSIDER – Blackstone is preparing to exit its remaining stake in Bumble after nearly seven years, despite the dating company’s shares falling 96% from their peak. Blackstone and Accel invested $2.1B in Bumble’s parent company in 2019 and ultimately recouped roughly twice that amount, largely by selling shares early. Blackstone recovered much of its investment around Bumble’s 2021 IPO and sold another $1B of shares later that year. Its remaining 22.4M shares are now worth just over $60M. Blackstone has been reducing its position through an agreement with UBS and could be fully out by early 2027. The exit comes as Bumble undergoes a turnaround, with paying users down 16.4% YoY in Q2 2026, while the company is also reportedly exploring a potential sale.

See full article at Business Insider

Thursday Raises $1.5M and Launches 500-Investor Fundraising Push

Posted on September 11, 2026
Thursday logo

LINKEDIN – Thursday has raised $1.5M from existing backers, filling 76% of its current angel allocation. Co-founders George Rawlings and Matthew McNeill Love are now launching a “500 Calls in 50 Days” campaign, aiming to speak with 500 potential investors before closing the round. The meetings will include VCs, angels, founders, and family offices.

See full article at LinkedIn

Matrimony.com Says Trust and Personalisation Drive Brand Growth

Posted on September 11, 2026
Logo of matrimony.com

PITCH – Matrimony.com CEO Murugavel Janakiraman says trust remains the key differentiator in online matchmaking, with ~80% of the company’s traffic coming organically. Matrimony.com receives close to 8M sign-ups annually, and Janakiraman says ~1M people find a life partner through the platform each year. The company operates ~ 300 matrimony sites targeting different communities and customer segments, alongside services including Elite Matrimony, Jodi and Rainbow Love. It also employs ~500 relationship managers for its Assisted Matchmaking service, combining algorithmic recommendations with human matchmaking.

See full article at Pitch

Chapter 2 Dating Reaches Break-Even After Record Revenue

Posted on September 11, 2026
Logo for Chapter 2

PROLIFIC NORTH – Chapter 2 Dating has reached break-even for the first time, following three consecutive months of record revenue. Its three platforms, Chapter2Dating.app, WidowsFire.dating and SoberLove.app, now have ~20K members across the UK, US, Canada and Australia, with around half based in the US. Chapter 2 has raised £450K to date and has another £50K of EIS-approved investment available. The company acquired white-label dating platform M14 in September 2025, bringing its technology in-house. It is now planning further international expansion and developing a new AI product.

See full article at Prolific North