Not to mention the fact that Rad was briefly stripped of his CEO-ship after a sexual harassment case that lost his best friend and co-founder Justin Mateen his job. The complaint includes allegations that her co-founder title was inexplicably revoked and that after her relationship with Mateen ended, Mateen repeatedly harassed her about spending time with other men, at one point accusing her of “social climb”-ing with “middle aged Muslim pigs.” 
 
 The suit, which spurred a national conversation about women in tech, was settled within months. The Evening Standard’s Charlotte Edwards observed in the article that in person, Rad “seems more geek than jock” — and he’s certainly tried to present himself as a hopeless romantic who created Tinder for all the right reasons. He tells me he was thrilled that his audience at the recent Web Summit in Dublin was “bigger than Instagram’s” and full of “screaming” fans. It’s like the new rock.” 
 
 On Friday, Tinder’s parent company, The Match Group, is due to float on the New York stock exchange for more than $3 billion. The article noted that Analysts believe the [Tinder] app, which launched in 2012, has around 80 million users worldwide and records 1.8 billion swipes a day. While these statements were not made by Mr. Rad, the Company notes that they are inaccurate and directs readers to the Preliminary Prospectus, which states that for the month of September 2015, Tinder had approximately 9.6 million daily active users, with Tinder users swiping through an average of more than 1.4 billion user profiles each day. It is reported that Rad owns more than 10 per cent of the company, so the float will make him richer and more eligible than he is already. At turns beguiling, confusing and comical, the article detailed a sit-down conversation with Tinder co-founder and CEO Sean Rad, 29, and Tinder vice president of communications Rosette Pambakian. Basically, the long and short of this speech was that I shouldn’t date, get married or do anything and just become a priest.” 
 
 He admits he’s “addicted” to Tinder — “every other week I fall in love with a new girl” — but right now is single. Traditionally, the time between when a company files its S-1 for an IPO (Match Group put in its S-1 last month) and when it actually goes public is called a “quiet period.” It’s unclear why Rad gave an interview in the days leading up to an IPO. Still, he played up the fact that he’s been in four relationships and “loved them all.” (One of them was with Alex Dell, scion of the multinational computer company and poster child for “Rich Kids of Instagram.”) Rad lost his virginity at age 17, in what he called “a serious relationship, my first love.” He told Edwards that he has slept with 20 women — which is either egregious or a “nice low number,” depending on whom you ask. A photo posted by Alexa Dell (@alexakdell) on Aug 31, 2014 at 10:13am PDT 
 
 Rad (far left) appears in an Instagram posted by ex-girlfriend Alexa Dell. “Is 20 low?” 
 
 He’s desperate to impress on me how gallant he is, citing the fact that a “supermodel, someone really, really famous” has been “begging” him for sex “and I’ve been like, no”. “She’s one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen but it doesn’t mean that I want to rip her clothes off and have sex wit her,” he said. “Attraction is nuanced.” 
 
 What isn’t so nuanced is Rad’s opinion of Vanity Fair reporter Nancy Jo Sales, who wrote a scathing piece holding Tinder responsible for the “Dawn of the ‘Dating Apocalypse” in late August. While discussing his preference for “intellectual” girls whom his “friends might think ugly,” Rad told the Evening Standard, “Apparently there’s a term for someone who gets turned on by intellectual stuff. You know, just talking. What’s the word?” His face creases the effort of trying to remember. “Or they say something like ‘I’m looking for something quick within the next 10 or 20 minutes—are you available?’ ‘O.K., you’re a mile away, tell me your location.’ It’s straight efficiency.” 
 
 Tinder swiftly responded to the piece with a lengthy string of tweets, addressing everything from Tinder marriages to users in China and North Korea. In the article, Rad confused the definition of sodomy and stressed that he had only slept with 20 women. “What? “That’s definitely not me. The war between Tinder’s view of itself and the media’s view of Tinder has been fierce. He’s obsessed with journalists — “too many are not seeking truth but fame” — and baffled by critics because “you can’t deny Tinder is what the world wants”. Rad is “defensive” and still “upset” about the article, muttering mysteriously that he has done his own “background research” on the writer Nancy Jo Sales, “and there’s some stuff about her as an individual that will make you think differently.” He won’t elaborate on the matter. He further insinuated that he had gathered some incriminating information on Sales after doing “background research” that led him to conclude “there’s some stuff about her as an individual that will make you think differently.” 
 
 As for Vanity Fair’s main claim that Tinder advances an unhealthy hookup culture, Rad responded: “Feminism has led to [hookup culture] because now women are more independent and pursuing their desires. And that leads to both parties being more sexually active. Rad likes to tell reporters that he struggled with acne as a teenager and was given his first phone because his parents felt bad for him.
– There's candid, and then there's "painfully candid." Tinder CEO Sean Rad chose the latter route in an interview with the Evening Standard published Wednesday—a day before Tinder holder Match Group went public, reports the Washington Post. The result: The group has basically disowned him. Though joined by Tinder's communications VP—who cut him off at one point, noting "That's it! We're going to be fired"—the 29-year-old delivered some uncomfortable lines, including when trying to describe himself as sapiosexual, or someone who finds intelligence the most attractive quality. Rad accidentally threw out the word "sodomy," then had to Google what it meant. "What? No, not that. That's definitely not me. Oh, my God," he then clarified. Rad went on to say he doesn't approve of penis pictures and has slept with 20 women, per Re/code. That led him to brag that a "really, really famous" supermodel has been "begging" him for sex. "She's one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen but it doesn't mean that I want to rip her clothes off and have sex with her," he said. It wasn't just Rad that seemed odd. The interview itself was surprising since most companies keep quiet ahead of an IPO. Match Group's statement on the interview, however, explains all: "Mr. Rad is not a director or executive officer of the Company," it states in a new filing. "The article was not approved or condoned by, and the content of the article was not reviewed by, the Company or any of its affiliates." Rad's comments aside, Reuters notes that Match Group's shares were up as much as 12.5% in their IPO Wednesday morning.