Business | An innovator’s dilemma

When should a founder step down?

With investors prizing profits over growth, new skills are required of bosses

An illustration of a man in a suit ascending a staircase toward a pile of money bags at the top, while another casually dressed man is sliding down a ramp from the opposite direction, symbolizing contrasting financial trajectories. — Image: Travis Constantine

Nov 9th 2023

“I’m an entrepreneur. I’m a founder. That’s the way my mind and brain works,” mused Whitney Wolfe Herd in an interview with Fortune magazine on November 6th, the day she announced she would be stepping down as chief executive of Bumble, a dating app she founded in 2014. Ms Wolfe Herd, who had previously co-founded Tinder, a rival app, confessed to her lack of enthusiasm for the drudgery of running a public company. She will move to the role of executive chairwoman, where she will spend her time “looking at the future of love and connection”.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “An innovator’s dilemma”