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Tinder's #swiperight gesture changed how millions decide and revolutionised dating. Tinder didn’t just explode into the public consciousness, it was also the most successful dating product in history and one of the fastest companies to $100m in revenue.

Hannah and Hugh sit down with Tinder co‑founder Jonathan Badeen to trace the unexpected path from a flashcards epiphany to a cultural verb, and why #swiperight wasn’t meant to be the defining feature until a college student sent him an email.

Jonathan opens the hood on the craft behind the card: how a mobile‑first mindset shaped a one‑at‑a‑time interface, why he ditched Apple’s default swipe gesture recogniser, and how velocity‑aware, quadrant‑based rotation made the interaction feel alive in your hand. We get into naming drama, the fire‑themed brand, and the quiet logic of placing “yes” on the right, then follow the story through onboarding shortcuts, texting‑style messaging, and the decision to delay heavy tutorials in favour of just‑in‑time education.

The conversation goes deeper than UI. Jonathan explains the gritty systems work that kept Tinder feeling instant on fragile networks—preloading batches, caching swipes offline, filtering duplicates when servers fell out of sync—and how the team balanced freshness with efficiency. We revisit the polarising #Superlike, the design thresholds needed to resolve diagonal ambiguity, and the flourish that made a paid signal feel special without breaking the core gesture. We also talk patents, clones, and why many copies miss the subtle “feel” by locking animation to rails instead of responding to the user’s touch.

For builders and the simply curious, this is a masterclass in product thinking: constraints as creativity, minimal surfaces with maximum clarity, and the humility to let the market teach you what matters. Jonathan’s advice for founders is refreshingly human—prepare widely, meet people, say yes to opportunities, and remember that execution beats secrecy.

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