The Dating App Founder | 8M members | Bootstrapped startup with a team of 50+ | Co-founder & COO of Inner Circle | Follow for insights on business, leadership and relationships

Co-founder of dating app Inner Circle — a global community where people with similar lifestyles meet. No games. No endless swiping. Just real people, genuinely worth dating.

Built from the ground up without external funding, Inner Circle now connects over 8 million people across the world, through shared lifestyles, intentional design and a belief that opposites don’t attract.

Currently every 4 seconds 2 people meet through Inner Circle.

keen to meet your match?
try the app with code MK2024 for a month of premium access.

Follow me for honest insights about work, life and love.

Looking for stars to join the team, check out the careers page: www.about.theinnercircle.co/careers. 

About me: 
I believe no strategy is better than its execution. 
My scope includes:
🏆 Hiring and developing winning teams 
✅ Alignment and execution driven by OKRs
🚀 Marketing that drives growth with ROI
🥾 Data to accelerate experiments that move the needle
🍸 Advisor and angel

In 2025, I stepped back into marketing as COO CMO. Content is the most powerful lever for any brand, so I started posting here to understand what makes it tick, share my learnings and lead my team better.

Michael Krayenhoff

Reminder for managers:

Your new hire’s failure is your failure.

One of the biggest mistakes companies make...
is not setting new hires up for success.

You can’t expect people to “hit the ground running”...
if you never put them in the race.

If they fail in their first 3 months,
it’s not their fault.
It’s yours.

Because great onboarding isn’t just a process.


It’s training.
It’s preparation.
It’s sharing knowledge.
It’s building relationships.
It’s learning what good looks like.

Managers don’t just hire talent...
they shape it.

Set people up to win,
and they’ll make your whole team stronger.

♻ Repost to remind others that leadership starts with day one.
✅ Follow Michael Krayenhoff for more on business, leadership and careers

People won’t remember what you said,

But they will remember how you treated them.

The best leaders don’t just manage tasks,

They connect with people.

And empathy is their most powerful tool.

✅ It’s how you earn trust.
✅ Diffuse conflict.
✅ Build loyalty.

And lead with heart, not ego.

Here are 15 Ways to Lead With Empathy:
(That Your Team Won’t Forget)

1/ Flex when life gets messy
↳ Be adaptable and offer options when life takes over.

2/ Listen to what isn’t being said
↳ Watch body language, mood shifts, and what’s left out.

3/ Make it safe to say “I don’t know”
↳ Reward curiosity and remove fear from learning.

4/ Stay steady when emotions run high
↳ Help to stabilize uncertainty and guide people back to the goal..

5/ Give people grace when they make mistakes
↳ Use errors as coaching moments, not moments for judgment.

6/ Ask “How can I support you?” and mean it
↳ Let them define what support looks like. Then step up.

7/ Lead with transparency in hard moments
↳ Share context honestly. Don’t leave people in the dark.

8/ Give feedback that grows, not shames
↳ Be direct, but kind. Critique behaviors, not people.

9/ Ask them how they’re really feeling
↳ Go beyond work and show you’re invested enough to listen.

10/ Listen without fixing or finishing
↳ Don’t rush to solve, but give people room to learn and grow.

11/ Support the person, not just the performer
↳ Check in when they struggle not just when they shine.

12/ Model positive boundaries and respect theirs
↳ Don’t glorify burnout, but lead with respect and boundaries..

13/ Make space for quieter voices
↳ Invite input early rather than letting the loudest dominate. 

14/ Act before they have to ask
↳ Anticipate needs and pay attention to signals.

15/ Praise progress, not just perfection
↳ Recognize the progress people make - not just the end result.

16/ Defend people when they’re not in the room
↳ Speak up when it counts. Loyalty is leadership.

17/ Speak to their potential, not just performance
↳ Reflect back the future you see in them regularly.

Let me know below 👇 

♻ Repost this to help your network.
✅ Follow Michael Krayenhoff for more on business, leadership and careers.

Power moves get tasks done.
Care moves people forward.
That’s the real scoreboard of leadership.

But it’s also the part most leaders overlook.

They chase performance.
Defend their image.
Micromanage the process.

But legacy doesn’t live in your CV.
It lives in the people who have worked beside you.

Want to build the kind of leadership people remember?
Start with these 10: 

1/ Protect people’s energy
↳ Respect workload. Notice burnout. Make space to breathe.

2/ Listen with intent
↳ Not to fix. Not to reply. Just to truly understand.

3/ Notice quiet effort
↳ The loudest voice isn’t always the one carrying the weight.

4/ Remove the ego
↳ The team wins when credit is shared and blame is absorbed.

5/ Be the same person every day
↳ Stability builds trust. Emotional swings erode it.

6/ Give trust early
↳ Ownership starts when people feel believed in.

7/ Ask better questions
↳ Good leadership isn’t about answers, it’s about curiosity.

8/ Celebrate progress, not perfection
↳ Consistency matters more than flawless performance.

9/ Step in before things break
↳ Don’t wait for a mess to show leadership. Prevent it.

10/ Grow people quietly
↳ No micromanaging. No spotlight. Just steady belief and stretch.

Because in the end,

No one talks about your job title.
They talk about how they felt under your leadership.

Seen.
Safe.
Trusted.
Stretched.

That’s the legacy people carry.

Which one of these do you wish more leaders practiced?
Drop your thoughts below 👇

♻ Repost to raise the bar for leadership.
✅ Follow Michael Krayenhoff for more on business, leadership and careers.

taplio