Elite Interviews: Justin Mateen, Co-Founder Of Tinder

Justin Mateen, Sean Rad, Jonathan Badeen, and Christopher Gulczynski are the four geniuses behind Tinder, a mobile app that plays match maker for all of you who have a minute to spare. With a few swipes you can instantly browse through hundreds of people, rating them as you go, and being paired up in the making.

Elite interviewed Justin Mateen to ask him a few questions about the mobile app sensation.

Finding a partner online is quickly becoming one of the most viable options for relationship seekers, what sets your application apart from the multitude of dating sites and apps out there?

Tinder limits your interactions to people you have expressed an interest in. We find out who likes you and enable you to chat with that person if there is mutual expressed interest, i.e. if both people like each other. Knowing that you're both into each other breaks the ice and starts a conversation at a much deeper level.

Your app is popular among, if geared towards, the younger demographic, how and why do you target these college students?

We introduced Tinder to college students as the truest test to see if we've built a product that solves the core issues surrounding dating. Since college students are not your likely candidates for a dating app (given that they live in a highly social environment), we figured if we can get them to use Tinder, then it's a signal that we've built a worthy product. But Tinder is not just for college students. It's for everyone.

The majority of dating websites experience a disproportionate male to female ratio, with male spamming and, consequently, limited female tolerance. How do you frame your app for an equal opportunity exploration?

By limiting conversations to those our users have expressed interest in, we drastically reduce the "male spamming" associated with dating. This along with our focus on tying user identities to Facebook has created a safe and engaged experience for both males and females.

The purpose of an app in the IOS world is its adaptive quality, how do you plan to keep your app evolving in order to meet the needs of the consumer market?

Wait and see. We have some great things up our sleeves.

Now that you've achieved success in this realm, do you have any plans to expand your brand to other territories?

We have a long way to go before we could say we've achieved "success in this realm." I would define "success" as the entire single mobile population using Tinder to create meaningful connections with new people around them.

Tinder really embraces anonymity and downplays rejection, two much appreciated amendments to the online dating world. Its ingenuity begs the question: Was there a moment in your dating life/lives that pushed you in this direction?

Not specifically. Rejection is a problem we all face on a daily basis. We figured if we could solve this problem, we could make people happier, and make the world a better place.

Was Tinder your first app attempt? Have you overcome any adversity or failure on your road to success?

This isn't our first attempt at building a mobile product nor our first attempt at building a company. Success and failure are both very relative. We have both faced adversity and disappointment, but we choose to get right back up. We use any road blocks we encounter as a means of making us better equipped to tackle the next issue and get over the hump.

Do you have any advice to give other aspiring inventors, entrepreneurs and techies?

An idea is just an idea. When and how you execute that idea is what will define the outcome.

When you have achieved the goals you've set for yourself today: 5, 10, 50 years down the line, where do you see yourself/ selves?

We plan to see Tinder through and so far we have only achieved what feels like 5% of what we have planned. We hope to continue spearheading innovation and causing meaningful disruptive changes in tech for years to come.

Evelyn Pelczar | Elite.