Over a decade after founding Grindr, Joel Simkhai wants a do-over
When Joel Simkhai left Grindr five years ago, he had a lot of time to think. Simkhai, a gay man and tech entrepreneur, helped launch the groundbreaking gay hookup and dating app in 2009. Grindr, which piloted geolocation software to show users’ distance from one another, fundamentally changed queer culture. By retrofitting gay social and romantic interactions to the digital age, Grindr brought millions of people together in ways that gay bars — the longtime focal points of LGBTQ social scenes — simply couldn’t. But under Simkhai’s watch, it also laid bare, and some say worsened, the physical and racial discrimination that has long plagued the gay community. Now, more than a decade later, he wants a do-over. Motto co-founders Alex Hostetler, left, and Joel Simkhai. Gregory Scaffidi / Motto Simkhai launched a queer dating and hookup app this month called Motto, which he says has innovative features to help prevent the “toxicity” and “discrimination” that have cast shadows over othe...