Tinder is a well-known dating app which matches users based on location and social media profile compatibility. It is infamous for its “swipe” interface where users register their reaction to potential matches by swiping right on the screen to register an interest in connecting or swiping left to dismiss.

Tinder was founded by a group of childhood and university friends, most prominent among them Sean Rad. The spirit during the early days of Tinder is presented as rowdy, social, creative, and disruptive – a start-up with a millennial energy where the fun and approachability embodied in its product was inspired by its corporate identity.

Eventually, however, friendships began to sour, the novelty started to wear off, and controversy began to take seed. One of the co-founders, Whitney Wolfe, fell out with Rad and another co-founder, Justin Mateen and filed a lawsuit alleging discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation. Wolfe has gone on to found a competitor dating app, Bumble, in which only women can initiate communicate with their male matches. Gender imbalance, public health, personal security, and data privacy are all major concerns which have been raised against Tinder’s operating model.

In all cases, Tinder has only been able to be reactive to these issues, not to preventively address them. This goes down directly to the fact that Tinder has no native culture of compliance. Tinder has a start-up culture as described above – entrepreneurial, excitable, informal, and innovation-focused. In these dynamic cultures there is a tendency to eschew traditional foundations as staid, too likely to impose restrictions or rules that will stunt growth and prevent transformative achievements. All the focus goes on being fast-moving.

Indeed, the image of the plucky entrepreneur starting a business by maxing out personal credit cards and taking customer calls from the garage at home is an endearing and enduring one. However, when this start-up gets some cash and energy and scales up, often the investment is concentrated on people who will bring the product to market – engineers, designers, marketing and sales staff.   The below the line functions – HR, operations, finance, and indeed compliance – often stay with the principals or outside vendors for as long as possible, to the detriment of the development of compliance values at the core of the organization. This may be practical to achieve profit objectives, but it’s not professional.

A forced culture of compliance will never be a natural one. In the complex business and regulatory environment today, it would be wise to include among the early employees someone who can set the stage for a genuine culture of compliance from the beginning. A company that grows up aware of compliance and ethics obligations and has an authentic, competent champion for employee integrity will not have to try to develop this later on when it may be too late for it to take genuine hold.

For a deeper look into Tinder’s roots and Rad’s growing pains, check out this story by Nellie Bowles for The California Sunday Magazine.