David Brown

If a connection was going to happen, women decided when it started.

This gave women control, safety, a sense of power, something no other dating app was offering.

Women responded.

By 2019, it's estimated that Bumble had more than 10 million users worldwide.

In 2021, Wolf Hurd became the youngest woman ever to take a U.S.

company public.

She also became a media sensation, gracing the cover of Forbes, speaking to audiences around the world, a high-profile advocate for women's issues.

But lately, to some users, Bumble looks like it's swiping left on its own principles.

The app now lets men message first.

The disastrous billboard campaign seemed to suggest users just need to try harder.

And more and more people are starting to wonder if Bumble and other dating apps are actually trying to help people find relationships or just keep them swiping and paying for as long as possible.

Bumble still has millions of paying users, but whether the company can keep them and attract new ones, that's another matter.

Because the app that once stood out for its unapologetically feminist approach has lost its defining feature.

Bumble was revolutionary.

Now, it's flirting with irrelevance.

But there may be one person who might be able to save it.

The person who built Bumble in the first place, Whitney Wolfe Hurd.

This is episode one, The Queen Bee.

It's July 2014 in Los Angeles.

24-year-old Whitney Wolf wakes up in the middle of the night.