Greg Blatt: Hubris is the Enemy of the Startup CEO

Greg Blatt, an internet and technology executive who has over two decades of experience leading companies in corporate America, and has been CEO at a number of companies including Match.com, IAC, Match Group and Tinder joins Enterprise Radio.

Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Greg Blatt discuss the following:

1. Can you start by giving us a bit of background information about your career? How did you come to lead at an executive level?
2. How do you feel the industry has changed over the past two decades? Do you view these changes as largely positive or negative?
3. Your time as a leader has seen you head both large corporations and fast-growing startups. What are the unique challenges each presents?
4. You’ve talked in the past about the importance of experience when it comes to leading large companies, and how it is a fairly recent trend for young entrepreneurs of fast-growing startups to continue at the top leadership level. Do you anticipate this trend to grow more prevalent in the future, or do you foresee the pendulum swinging the other direction?
5. What advice would you give to young entrepreneurs trying to successfully lead their internet companies?

Greg Blatt is a technology industry executive with over twenty years of leadership experience. Beginning his career in corporate law before becoming general counsel for Martha Stewart Omnimedia and InterActivCorp (IAC), Blatt eventually went on to hold the CEO position at  IAC as well as its subsidiaries Match.com, Match Group and Tinder.

Blatt has been recognized for his time with the internet holding company IAC and its family of businesses. Known for its early acquisition of some of the largest websites of the era such as Expedia, Ask.com, Ticketmaster, Hotels.com and the Home Shopping Network, Blatt started with the company as an executive vice president in general counsel in 2003 before becoming CEO of its subsidiary Match.com in 2009. IAC had acquired the company a decade earlier, and although it was one of the first modern dating websites on the internet in recent years it had begun to lose its inertia. Blatt was brought in to help the company regain its growth and profits.

A protégé to celebrated IAC executive Barry Diller, Blatt left Match.com to become replacement for Diller when he decided to step down as CEO of IAC in 2010. In his first year in the role, IAC experienced a 26 percent increase in annual revenues and a 75 percent increase in profits.

Blatt went on to become executive chairman for Match Group, the multi-brand company IAC had created to hold its dating website portfolio of businesses. In the role he facilitated the company’s initial public offering, which it completed in 2015 with a $2.9 million valuation. He then became CEO and chairman of the company.

In 2016 Tinder was becoming one of Match Group’s fastest growing brands, and Blatt was brought in as executive chairman and subsequently CEO in order to help provide direction and focus for the young company. He remained CEO at both companies simultaneously until 2018 when he made the decision to move on from the IAC family of businesses.

Prior to his time with IAC, from 1999 to 2003 Blatt was an executive vice president in general counsel and business affairs at Martha Stewart Omnimedia. A career highlight for the role was leading the company’s transition from private to public, and on its first day trading on the New York Stock Exchange Martha Stewart Omnimedia saw its initial public offering price nearly triple in value.

Blatt has also worked in entertainment and corporate law, serving as an associate at the law firm Grubman Indursky & Schindler PC from from 1997 to 1999 and at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz from 1995 to 1997. Known as both one of the best and most demanding M&A firms in New York City, Blatt has called his time at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz formative and said it taught him invaluable lessons about work ethic, perfectionism and teamwork.

Blatt earned his J.D. from Columbia University in 1995 and has a B.A. in English language and literature with a minor in economics from Colgate University.

Website: https://www.gregblatt.co

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