Christian Rudder (born September 1, 1975)[1] is an American technology entrepreneur and writer known for co-founding the online dating service OkCupid and publishing the site's popular blog posts, which offered insights on dating based on data of user behavior. Following OkCupid's sale to the owner of Match.com in 2011, Rudder remained at the company for four years, and in 2014 published the book Dataclysm with further analysis of online dating statistics. He left OkCupid in 2015.
Rudder joined SparkNotes in October 1999, a few months after its founding. Rudder was the creative voice of TheSpark.com,[3] which was the viral content arm of SparkNotes during the site's early rise to popularity. He became TheSpark's creative director in March 2001. Soon after the site's sale to Barnes & Noble, Rudder began building OkCupid with SparkNotes founders Chris Coyne, Sam Yagan, and Max Krohn.
OkCupid and writing
The online dating site OkCupid launched on January 19, 2004, with Rudder and his three business partners as co-founders. Rudder focused on the front-end product and developed the site's editorial voice.[4] From 2009 to 2011, OkCupid published statistical observations and analysis of members' preferences and connections; the blog posts were written by Rudder and gained widespread media attention.[5] In February 2011, OkCupid was sold to IAC Inc., the owner of Match.com and other dating properties, for $90 million.[6] Following the sale, Rudder served as president of OkCupid until he left in 2015.[7]
