If you had this obviously brilliant app idea why would you launch it as an internal project? Something about the founding story here has never added up.
There might be clauses in those Tinder founders' employment contracts with Match.com that any intellectual property that they came up with during their employment belongs to Match.com.
There's a similar plot in the Silicon Valley TV show (Piped Piper v.s. Hooli).
Only if there was a Gavin Belson in this version
Yea that’s one of a few plausible scenarios. However a real founder of this app would find a way around those contracts.
Obviously brilliant in retrospect
Not really. For people that work with social networks and social dynamics it was an obvious game changer. (Not obvious to invent, obviously, but once shown, anyone who understands the space could see its brilliance.)