// Workers AI · dad joke modeWho's Colin Hodge? A hodger of colin-ations?
Colin Hodge is an American entrepreneur and author.[1] He is a founder and co-owner of the dating application Down, which was released in January 2013 as Bang With Friends.[2][3]
Early life and education
[edit]Hodge is from Hughesville, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Hughesville High School in 2003.[1] He received a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Cornell University.[1][4]
Career
[edit]Hodge held roles at Microsoft and Amazon.[1] He founded the dating service HeardAboutYou and worked on it at the Boost incubator in San Mateo.[2][5]
Hodge, Omri Mor, and an unnamed third co-founder launched Bang With Friends in January 2013 as a Facebook application that matched users with friends who selected them in return.[2][6][5] Hodge was the chief executive officer.[2][4] The founders worked anonymously until May 2013, when Hodge's identity became public in connection with the Webutante Ball.[2][4] By late May 2013 the application had more than 1.1 million users and had produced 200,000 matches.[2] Apple removed the application from the App Store in May 2013 under a guideline barring crude content.[7][2] Zynga filed a trademark suit against the founders in July 2013 over the phrase "With Friends".[6] The application returned to the App Store in August 2013 under the name Down.[8][9] A November 2013 iOS release separated dating and casual matching into distinct swipe gestures and extended matching to friends of friends.[10]
Paktor, a dating company based in Singapore, acquired Down in a deal reported in January 2017.[3] Hodge joined Paktor and led Paktor Labs, a division announced in February 2017 that developed acquired social applications.[3][11] The division had eight staff and its projects included Down, Sweet, Goodnight and Kickoff.[11] After Paktor merged with 17 Media to form M17 Entertainment, Hodge became the company's chief growth officer and the chief executive of its United States livestreaming app, LiveAF.[12] He resigned from the company in 2019.[citation needed]
In 2018, Down, co-founded by Hodge, separated from its parent company, M17 Entertainment, and returned to independent operation.[13] In February 2021, Hodge co-founded Snowball, a Taiwan-based nonprofit organization that compiles ratings of milk tea shops and retail chains in Asia based on their positions on Hong Kong, Taiwan and other human rights issues.[14][15]
Hodge wrote Outrageous Startup Growth: Uncovering the Secrets of User Psychology to Scale Your Success, published by Wiley in 2026.[1][16] In April 2026 it reached number 29 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list, where it was the sixth-highest title in the business and economics category.[17][18]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 "Man from Hughesville writes book". Williamsport Sun-Gazette. 6 June 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Soper, Taylor (27 May 2013). "Bang With Friends: Behind the scenes (and under the covers) with this controversial app". GeekWire.
- 1 2 3 Roof, Katie (20 January 2017). "Casual dating app Down acquired by Paktor". TechCrunch.
- 1 2 3 Bertha, Mike (24 May 2013). "Everything you need to know about the CEO of 'Bang With Friends'". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
- 1 2 Taylor, Victoria (24 May 2013). "CEO of Bang With Friends app revealed". New York Daily News.
- 1 2 Soper, Taylor (31 July 2013). "Bang with Friends sex app founder responds to Zynga suit over 'with friends' trademark". GeekWire.
- ↑ Kumparak, Greg (17 May 2013). "Apple boots Bang With Friends from the App Store". TechCrunch.
- ↑ Soper, Taylor (29 August 2013). "Controversial hookup app Bang With Friends returns to App Store as 'Down'". GeekWire.
- ↑ LeJacq, Yannick (30 August 2013). "'Bang With Friends' is back on App Store, now called 'Down'". NBC News.
- ↑ Ha, Anthony (23 November 2013). "Down, the app formerly known as Bang With Friends, relaunches on the iPhone". TechCrunch.
- 1 2 Russell, Jon (8 February 2017). "Tinder rival Paktor launches 'Labs' division to experiment with the future of social apps". TechCrunch.
- ↑ Leskin, Paige (21 December 2018). "The founder of casual sex app Bang With Friends is trying to launch the next generation of influencers with a new live-streaming app called LiveAF". Business Insider.
- ↑ Brooks, Amber (2019-02-05). "The DOWN Dating App Gets Down to Business & Grows Organic Traffic by Facilitating Discreet Hookups". DatingNews.com.
- ↑ Allen-Ebrahimian, Bethany (19 April 2022). "Taiwanese group provides democracy ratings for milk tea shops". Axios.
- ↑ Bergström, Julia (14 January 2022). "The Great Shake-off: Surviving and Thriving in Taiwan's Tea Drink Market". Taiwan Business TOPICS.
- ↑ Hodge, Colin (2026). Outrageous Startup Growth: Uncovering the Secrets of User Psychology to Scale Your Success. Wiley. ISBN 978-1-394-38733-5.
- ↑ "Best-Selling Books: Week of April 22, 2026". USA Today. 22 April 2026.
- ↑ "Best-Selling Books: Business & Economics, Week of April 22, 2026". USA Today. 22 April 2026.