Justin McLeod

Justin McLeod is the founder and former CEO of Hinge, the dating app designed to be deleted. He founded Hinge in February 2011 after a personal breakup in college led him to use online dating — and finding it unsatisfying — which inspired him to create a platform focused on meaningful, real connections rather than endless swiping.

Growing up in Louisville, Kentucky, McLeod was a creative kid who belted out Meat Loaf songs and dreamed of big adventures. He attended Harvard Business School, graduating in 2009, where he built the first version of Hinge as a class project. The idea was simple but revolutionary: show users one potential match at a time and encourage them to engage with specific profile details rather than judge based on photos alone.

Under McLeod's leadership, Hinge evolved from a modest startup into one of the world's most popular dating apps. It was acquired by Match Group in 2018 for an undisclosed amount, and by the mid-2020s the app was generating over $400 million in annual revenue. McLeod remained CEO throughout, steering the company's "designed to be deleted" philosophy and iterating on features like prompts, roses, and video dates.

In December 2025, McLeod made a surprising move: he stepped down as CEO to launch Overtone, an AI-powered dating startup backed by Match Group. He expressed a desire to continue pushing the boundaries of how technology can help people form genuine relationships, while Jackie Jantos took over as Hinge's new CEO.

McLeod is also known for sharing his entrepreneurial journey on platforms like Masters of Scale and through interviews with outlets such as CNBC, The New York Times, and Men's Health. He lives in New York and remains active in the tech and dating spaces, exploring how AI can make dating feel less transactional and more human.