Joel Simkhai emigrated from Israel at age 3 with his family to New York, where he was raised. In 1998, he attended Tufts University, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in a double major of International Relations and Economics. Joel then went on to work in several different fields, from finance to a news desk to a start-up, before starting his own Internet marketing firm in 2003. After establishing his business, Joel decided to move to Los Angeles for a change of scenery in March 2008. It was here in 2008 that the capability for Joel to create Grindr occurred. Throughout his life and career, Joel had always been looking for a better way to meet the people around him. After countless missed connections and lost opportunities, he decided there must be a better way to find new people and friends around. With the announcement of the second-generation iPhone, combining GPS technology and application development for the mobile platform, the pieces came together and created the perfect combination to achieve Joel's idea. He began working with a developer in August 2008 to make his vision a reality. In March 2009, Grindr was launched and has been going strong ever since, with currently over 3 million users in 192 countries worldwide. On the heels of the success of Grindr, Joel launched Blendr in September 2011. Blendr is the ultimate social compass for individuals seeking to strike conversations with new people nearby and check out what’s happening at surrounding venues in the moment. Unlike other social networks that connect users to people they already know, Blendr takes advantage of award-winning proprietary technology and real-time functionality to intelligently unite users looking for ways to discover new people rooted in common pursuits and pastimes.