Five reasons Tinder is such a clever disruption

OPINION

Tinder looks like any other plucky, disruptive startup.

But it actually came to be because an incumbent provider decided to disrupt itself, rather than get disrupted by others. 

Tinder is the hottest trend in digitally-assisted dating. It has managed to get significant market share in a short space of time, by offering a fun new experience for singles.

In less than 200 days, Tinder stole the majority of user "sessions" from incumbent providers (see below). Not to mention that apps like Tinder are even disrupting the prostitution industry.

Full image including source can be found here (Click to zoom)

So hat's behind Tinder's rampant success?

1. There is more to the story than that
Tinder is actually a startup funded by an incubator called Hatch Labs, part of InterActiveCorp (IAC). This is the company that owns dating sites like Match.com and OkCupid – and has over 28% of the $2.1b dating services market .

Tinder has made over 1 billion matches, with over 800 million swipes and 10 million matches made per day. There have even been more than 300 marriage proposals.  Tinder is an example of an incumbent not being afraid to innovate. IAC chose to invest in Tinder, knowing that would take focus away from its existing services.

2. Making our lives easier
In an early presentation (found here), Tinder was originally pitched to use in bars and other public places to see who is single, close by and possibly interested.  See someone you like the look of across the bar? Don't bother talking to them, just get your smartphone out to see if they feel the same.

This may seem like a bit of a cop-out compared to summoning the courage to walk over, offer them a drink and start a conversation. But technology is supposed to make our lives easier – why not the first impression?

3. Tinder provides a different experience to online dating sites
One of the key differences between Tinder and the normal dating sites is that it provides instant gratification - and gamification. You just sign on with Facebook and don't need to fill out a lengthy dating profile.  In minutes, you can have fun silently judging singles in your area; swiping right if you like the look of them, swiping left if you don't. If you both swipe right on each other, that's a match. Then you can send a message and start talking.

4. The benefit of having a wealthy parent
The financial backing of IAC has meant that Tinder didn't have to monetise the service for the first few years. This meant a great, free user experience (no ads initially) and made it very easy for people to just download and try it out.  In March 2015, Tinder became a "freemium" app – you still don't have to pay for the basic service but you can now buy Tinder Plus. This is a premium service that adds some features and removes some annoyances.

5. Tinder proves the value of self-disruption
Tinder is a genuine digital innovation. It blends Social, Mobility, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) in a way that creates a compelling user experience. Instant gratification and the gamification elements appeal to the digital savvy.  

And it's not just the young ones; a friend of mine said that she finds plenty of guys over 50 on Tinder in Auckland. Apparently it's hard to find a man over 50 who still has his hair but that's no different in bars and nightclubs.

By being an agile startup with a big corporate backing, Tinder has grown market share very quickly. IAC has protected its market from a competitor coming in and offering the same experience.

I think that's clever.

David Reiss is a thought leader at Spark Digital. He writes about digital transformation, innovation and disruption on LinkedIn. You can follow him here.