According to Fast Company, Hinge founder and CEO Justin McLeod is stepping down from the dating app he launched in 2011. He’s leaving to launch a new AI-driven venture called Overtone, focused on facilitating connections, which will be backed by parent company Match Group. McLeod calls the move “a wildly bittersweet moment.” He’s handing the CEO role to Jackie Jantos, who joined as CMO four years ago and became president in March. Jantos is credited with the breakout “No Ordinary Love” campaign and steering outreach to Gen Z users, who now make up more than half of Hinge’s user base. She also recently helped launch the app in Mexico and Brazil.
Founder Exodus Pattern
Look, founder-CEOs leaving after their company gets acquired by a giant is a classic tech story. It happened to Instagram, WhatsApp, and countless others. McLeod sold a majority stake to Match Group back in 2018, so he’s been operating under their umbrella for six years. That’s a long time for a founder who, by his own admission, loves the “early-stage part of building.” You can’t really do that inside a publicly-traded conglomerate obsessed with quarterly earnings. So his departure isn’t shocking. But here’s the thing: the timing is interesting. Dating apps are facing serious headwinds—user fatigue, monetization pressures, the whole “dating apocalypse” narrative. Is McLeod getting out while the getting’s good, or is he genuinely just following his heart back to startup chaos?
The AI Pivot Question
Now, about this new venture, Overtone. An “AI-driven venture focused on facilitating connections between people.” That’s a pretty vague mission statement, isn’t it? Basically, it sounds like he wants to build… another social or dating app, but with an AI buzzword slapped on it. And it’s backed by Match Group. This feels less like a clean break and more like a skunkworks project that Match is funding to see if McLeod can bottle lightning twice. But let’s be skeptical. The world does not necessarily need another “AI for connection” platform. We’re drowning in them. What problem is this solving that Hinge, or any other app, isn’t? Is the AI just going to be a better matching algorithm, or is it something else? The whole premise feels like it needs a lot more definition.
Jantos Inherits a Challenge
All credit to Jackie Jantos—her track record with Gen Z and marketing is clearly solid. Taking Gen Z from a segment to more than half of all users is a huge win. But the CEO job is different. She’s not just acquiring users now; she’s responsible for the entire P&L during a tricky phase. Hinge has been the “relationship app” darling, but that’s a positioning that can get stale. Competitors are constantly iterating. And Gen Z is a famously fickle audience. Her success with marketing doesn’t automatically translate to success with, say, navigating Match Group’s corporate demands or deciding on global expansion roadmaps. It’s a big leap from President to CEO, especially when you’re following the charismatic founder.
What’s the Real Story?
So what’s really going on? I think it’s a mix of everything. McLeod probably did miss the startup grind. He also probably has less control than he’d like over Hinge’s direction now. Match Group gets to keep a talented founder in their orbit with Overtone, betting he might create the next big thing for them. And they install a loyal, proven operator at the helm of Hinge to keep the revenue flowing. It’s a neat corporate maneuver. But the risk is clear: Hinge loses its founder’s vision and becomes just another asset in a portfolio, and Overtone becomes an expensive AI experiment that goes nowhere. Only time will tell which outcome we get.
