When Tinder CEO Spencer Rascoff asked employees how they measured success at the dating app, he was met with blank stares. Those who did respond largely spoke about financial targets rather than whether the platform was helping people find meaningful connections.
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The experience highlighted a problem Rascoff encountered after taking charge of Tinder in July 2025, months after becoming CEO of its parent company, Match Group.
In an interview with Fortune, Rascoff admitted that Tinder had fallen behind changing user expectations despite transforming online dating with its swipe-based matching system.
“In a lot of ways Tinder had lost product market fit with its users because it hadn’t innovated,” he said.
What did Tinder employees say?
According to Fortune, Rascoff wanted to understand how employees defined success. However, many struggled to answer his question, while others pointed to quarterly profitability targets promised to Wall Street.
Even software engineers, designers and product managers focused on financial goals instead of measuring improvements in users' dating experiences.
{{/usCountry}}Even software engineers, designers and product managers focused on financial goals instead of measuring improvements in users' dating experiences.
{{/usCountry}}The company was already facing declining engagement. In 2024, Tinder's paying user base fell 7%, while revenue grew just 1%.
Tinder introduces a new way to measure success
To address the problem, Rascoff introduced a company-wide metric called "sparks", which measures conversations between matched users that reach at least six back-and-forth exchanges.
An analysis of millions of messages found that conversations reaching this threshold were more likely to lead to flirting and plans to meet in person.
The company also introduced two fictional user personas, Abby the anxious romantic and Jasmine the joyful butterfly, to help employees better understand different dating preferences.
(Also read: Tinder's post on relationships sparks hilarious meme fest on Twitter)
Tinder has since introduced features including double dates, in-person events and AI-powered matchmaking recommendations.
Are the changes working?
Rascoff said the company was now producing 70% more code than a year earlier, allowing new features to launch faster.
One events feature, developed in January, launched in Los Angeles just eight weeks later. Previously, such a project could have taken six to 12 months.
The CEO claimed matches had increased 14% year on year, alongside improvements in conversations reaching the spark threshold.