David Brown

The house was once owned by Tinder co-founder Sean Rad, the same Sean Rad who was CEO of Tinder when Wolf Hurd sued the company, the lawsuit that ultimately led her to found Bumble.

Two years ago, she bought this place as a retreat from her hectic days at Bumble.

The days that would eventually burn her out.

Now, after a little more than a year away from Bumble's C-suite, Wolf Hurd finds herself wondering whether she should return to it.

It's not an easy decision.

Under Lidiani Jones, Bumble cut 30% of its workforce.

Its C-suite was hollowed out.

The rebrand fell flat, and the marketing campaign infuriated users.

And the company's stock has fallen more than 40%.

Maybe worse, revenue per user is in a steep decline.

In its push for growth at any cost,

Bumble added users aggressively, often through promotions, but that growth came with a trade-off.

More profiles didn't mean better matches.

It meant more low-quality interactions.

And that has weakened engagement with the app.

Wolf Hurd has watched all of this play out from her seat on the board.

And seeing Bumble fall from its peak has been hard.

But the grind of the CEO job is also hard.

She looks out the window of her ranch home toward the wisteria branches that'll soon be in bloom.

Her mind races.