Oct. 13, 2025

How two straight guys bought Grindr and made $2B

How two straight guys bought Grindr and made $2B

Want to build a billion-dollar business? Get the playbook: https://clickhubspot.com/hwg


Episode 756 Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk to Rick Marini and Jeff Bonforte, the private equity guys who flipped Grindr for $2B dollars in 24 months.  

Show Notes:

(0:00) The story of Grindr

(13:34) Private Equity crash course

(38:10) Uncle Rick gives advice on what to buy

(43:07) Trends to jump on

(49:48) Buying lottery tickets

(1:03:58) The wisdom of Naval

(1:10:48) The emotional adoption curve


Links:

• Rick Marini - https://x.com/rmarini 

• Jeff Bonforte - https://x.com/bonforte 

• Grindr - https://www.grindr.com/ 

Check Out Shaan's Stuff:

• Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com 

• Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents.

• Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies!

Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC

Check Out Sam's Stuff:

• Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/

• Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/

• Copy That - https://copythat.com

• Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth

• Sam’s List - http://samslist.co/

My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano