"If you had told me as a teenager in Soviet Georgia that one day I'd be running an American public tech company - let alone something like Grindr - I couldn't have grasped it. The moment I stepped out of JFK airport, I felt something different - later I realized it was freedom. America gave me not just liberty, but the chance to unleash my potential, pursue my dreams, and come to terms with being gay."
"Taxis were a mess, so I co-founded Taxi Magic. Buying a used car was miserable, so I built Shift. And when Grindr called in 2021, I saw the ultimate refounding challenge. I wasn't there on day one, but I had the chance to reimagine the world's most important platform for gay men. Every impossible moment in my life taught me the same lesson: dissatisfaction isn't a burden, it's fuel. At Grindr, and with my family, that energy is what drives me."
A Georgian émigré experienced a sense of freedom upon arriving in America and used that freedom to pursue personal and professional ambitions, including coming to terms with being gay. Practical frustrations led to entrepreneurship: Taxi Magic addressed chaotic taxis and Shift eased buying used cars. A 2021 leadership role at Grindr offered an opportunity to refound and reimagine a central platform for gay men. Repeatedly, impossible challenges taught that dissatisfaction can serve as productive fuel for change. Daily routines prioritize roughly seven hours of sleep to maintain cognitive speed and social demeanor, achieved through experimentation with beds, pills, and trackers.
Read at Business Insider
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