How Greg Blatt Defied the Odds and Built a Name in the Tech Industry
Building a brilliant reputation in the corporate world is not a walk in the park for any business leader. It takes a lot of effort and sacrifices to display an exemplary performance that will enable you to stay at the top of the industry. Greg Blatt is one of the few corporate leaders who have managed to portray this kind of performance in the online dating industry. He has worked in the industry for the past two decades, leaving tremendous marks that everyone will live to remember. Greg entered the dating industry in 2003 when he was invited by his former employer, Wachtell, to become the general counsel for IAC. While acting in that capacity, the organization founded Match.com, a subsidiary company that would deal with online dating. Due to the excellent leadership skills that Blatt had exhibited as the general counsel, the management promoted him to become the executive vice president of Match.com. He was later made the CEO of the same company.
In 2013, the owners of IAC had gained enough confidence with Greg. They made him the Executive Chairman of the entire company, while still acting as the CEO. Tinder, another online dating firm, recruited him as its CEO. This was after evaluating his performance as the leader of the other two firms. In 2016, both Tinder and Match Group promoted Greg Blatt to become the Executive Chairman of the two organizations. He was poised to take up the responsibilities and performed the functions until 2017 when he decided to venture into other business sectors.
While leading all the organizations mentioned above, Blatt maintained a track record of excellent performance in all the companies. For instance, while he was the CEO of Tinder, the company grew its user base tremendously. At some point, the company had more than one million users. Other members of the management team were worried about the growth, fearing that it would affect the growth of the other firms that he was leading. This was because the company was managing numerous online dating sites. To their surprise, the user base for all companies grew simultaneously. This was a milestone that only a few leaders in the corporate world would achieve.
Despite all these achievements, it is worth noting that Greg Blatt was never born with a leadership crown on his head. He had to build his reputation and shape his career path to achieve the business success that he did. Where did all this begin? From Colgate University, Greg graduated with bachelor’s degrees in economics and English Language. His guts showed him that he would make a brilliant lawyer if he pursues a degree in law. He did so, and from Columbia Law School, he graduated with a J.D. At that point, he thought that nothing stood between him and his success as an attorney.
Immediately after his J.D, a prominent law firm in New York, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, recruited him as an associate. This firm dealt with matters related to mergers and acquisitions, a field that Greg never found exciting. He decided to switch gears and pursued entertainment law. While practicing entertainment law as an attorney, one of his clients, Martha Stewart, admired his work. She employed him as the general counsel of her firm, a position that he held until he was offered the opportunity to move to the online dating industry by his former boss.
The career life of Greg Blatt has been full of transitions from one industry to another. This indicates how open he is to new ideas and opportunities. In his advice to young leaders, Greg submits that any idea or opportunity is worth trying. However, rational and objective thinking is necessary to reduce the chances of remorse that could be associated with decisions to follow such ideas.