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Since Bumble\u2019s blockbuster<\/span> IPO at the height of the pandemic, investors\u2019 ardor with the dating service has cooled. At least, Bumble\u2019s shares trade at roughly $11 per share right now, a far cry from the $76 where they ended on its first day as a public company in February 2021.<\/p>\n Of course, investors are fickle, which is a challenge for nearly every publicly traded company. The bigger concern for Bumble is user fatigue<\/a>. People aren\u2019t downloading dating apps<\/a> as enthusiastically as they once were, which means less subscription revenue. Younger people in particular are gravitating to other platforms to find love, including TikTok, Snapchat and even Discord<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Now, it\u2019s Lidiane Jones\u2019s job to reverse these trends. It\u2019s a tall order, and one faced by numerous CEOs who\u2019ve been tasked with rescuing outfits from their post-pandemic doldrums: in publishing<\/a>, in retail<\/a>\u00a0and in the automotive industry<\/a>, among other sectors. The outcome is far from certain, of course. But Jones, who was recruited<\/a> to Bumble in January from Slack \u2014 where she was also hired as a turnaround<\/a> CEO and left after just 10 months\u00a0 \u2014 has a game plan, as she explained recently over the din of lunchtime diners at a San Francisco restaurant. <\/span><\/p>\n Part of it ties to AI, which Bumble\u2019s rivals are also leaning into<\/a> more heavily. Part of it ties to \u201cmargin expansion.\u201d A big part of it, Jones told me, is simply restoring joy to an experience that is no longer fun for nearly half<\/a> of the participants. Much of that conversation follows, edited for length and clarity.<\/span><\/p>\n Like a lot of CEOs right now, you walked into a situation where, almost immediately, you had to lay off people<\/a> \u2014 in Bumble\u2019s case, 30% of a staff of 1,200. That\u2019s a lot to figure out fast. How did you manage it?<\/strong><\/p>\n I had a bit of onboarding that was going on before I even started. [Bumble founder] Whitney [Wolfe Herd] was incredibly engaged in my onboarding, which gave me an accelerated path to learning the organization. She\u2019s been really supportive. I think that made a huge difference. I\u2019m also a strong believer that if you\u2019re going to do a transformation, be really thorough and do it thoughtfully, so that you\u2019re not putting the company through a lengthy multi-phase process.<\/span><\/p>\n You are relaunching the Bumble app in the second quarter of this year. I read that you are reconsidering having women make the first move<\/a>, which seems like a big shift.<\/strong><\/p>\n Our brand awareness is so high, it\u2019s amazing. And if you ask anybody about Bumble, they\u2019ll say it\u2019s about women, and the core of that is not changing. We are a company that really cares about women\u2019s empowerment.<\/p>\n But as we approach our 10-year anniversary, it\u2019s a great moment to think about how we best serve our mission. For us, it\u2019s really about how we express women\u2019s empowerment today and for the next 10 years. What we really want is to go from women making the first move to women deciding [who should make the first move]. We\u2019re giving women more control and flexibility based on what works for them.<\/p>\n Do you think that by inviting women to make the first move, Bumble had an impact on who uses the platform? Friends have told me the men they\u2019ve met on the platform tend to be more passive, sometimes to their consternation.<\/strong><\/p>\n Historically, what we\u2019ve seen is that a lot of men will come to Bumble who believe in women being empowered. I\u2019ve heard that feedback about passive [men] a few times but not as much. Certainly, our ultimate goal is to ensure that our customers have a great experience.<\/p>\n Other areas of focus for you are security and AI. What can Bumble\u2019s users expect to see with this relaunch?<\/strong><\/p>\n If you think about the advancement of this incredible technology in the context of dating, it\u2019s only as good and as safe as a company\u2019s data and safety practices. Our customers\u2019 privacy and their trust has always been incredibly strong; we\u2019ve always had a high bar for healthy connections.<\/p>\n Over the last 10 years, we\u2019ve developed a lot of AI and a lot of technology that really safeguards behavior in the app, and we can tune the models to reflect our values and safety guidelines. But we want to take it even further. A huge part of Bumble\u2019s DNA is advocating for policies that will ensure women feel safe, and we want to be at the forefront of not only driving great technology development but also policy advocacy for safety online.<\/p>\n Bumble has long done physical verification of its users to ensure user profiles aren\u2019t bots or scams, but it does not conduct criminal background checks<\/a>. Is that changing with the help of AI?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Background checks are one that we are exploring. It\u2019s one that we certainly will partner with different [players]. But it is a priority for me. I think it\u2019s an important next step for us.<\/p>\n What else should people know about the coming update?<\/strong><\/p>\n It really is the beginning of a new pace of innovation for Bumble. It\u2019s the start of a new set of experiences. We are updating the profile experience, we\u2019re updating the visual language of the app, we want to feel more connected to our users and for the tone of voice to be fun and joyful. We\u2019re looking at AI to help augment some of the inflection points in people\u2019s lives that are particularly anxiety provoking, like the profile creation, which can be really challenging. <\/span>We really want dating be fun again \u2014 that\u2019s really the key of it.<\/p>\n User fatigue is a lot to combat. Is there a new user acquisition strategy to accompany the new app?<\/strong><\/p>\n Bumble has always been great at community-based marketing: hosting events and finding ambassadors who really want to represent the brand. That got a little disrupted during the pandemic; we\u2019re using this moment ahead of our launch to reignite a lot of community-based events because there are a lot of people who are excited to reconnect in person, and that\u2019s the starting point.<\/p>\n Bumble has always been about more than dating, too. Dating is a huge part of it, but we\u2019ve always believed that there is a need for connection and friendships, so we\u2019re expanding our investments in our friendship capability, because we believe that a lot of people want to just start by hanging out with other people. From a friendship perspective, when it comes to local and safe in-person events, there are tons of opportunities there and unmet need.<\/p>\n Bumble for Friends launched last year<\/a>. Would we ever see you spin this out as a standalone entity?<\/strong><\/p>\n We\u2019re still gathering customer feedback. I\u2019ve heard passionate cases for both. We\u2019re still exploring that one.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n