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

I build and scale companies by raising standards, strengthening teams, and scaling execution.

I’m an entrepreneur with over 14 years of experience founding and scaling businesses. 
I’m the Co-Founder of Inner Circle, a dating app founded in 2012, which has grown to over 8 million users across 50 countries. 

As Chief Operating Officer and acting Chief Marketing Officer, I sit at the intersection of leadership, hiring, execution, and growth.

Across that journey, I’ve helped build teams from 0 to more than 50 people across two continents. 
I’ve interviewed 1,000's of candidates and hired 100's of high performers, giving me a front-row seat to what separates teams that scale from those that stall. 

As companies grow, performance rarely breaks because of strategy. It breaks when clarity fades, standards slip, and execution becomes inconsistent. My perspective is practical and grounded in operating reality. High-performing companies are built by A-player teams, clear priorities, and leaders who combine ownership with humanity. 

My leadership principles are:

⟶ Disciplined execution beats complexity. 
⟶ Trust works when standards are explicit. 
⟶ Momentum comes from focus, not motion.

This account is for founders and leaders who want to build companies that perform consistently as they grow, without losing speed, accountability, or their human edge.

To collaborate with me as a creator please contact: enquiries@alecrickard.com

Most founders don't have a talent problem.

They have an "overthinking" problem.

The way you frame a hard moment decides everything.
Not your skills. Not your network.

The story you tell yourself.

Every team eventually hits a wall.
A bad hire. A missed target. A product that didn't land.

What separates the ones who recover from the ones who don't?

They see the same situation differently.

Learning to code at 35 wasn't about code.
It was about proving to myself that hard things are learnable.
That discomfort isn't a stop sign. It's a starting line.

That shift changed how teams around me operate too.

When the leader treats hard problems as puzzles, not threats,
the team starts doing the same.

It's not about being positive all the time.
It's about training yourself to ask a better question.

Not "why is this happening to us?"
But "what does this make possible?"

That's the real competitive edge.
Not the strategy deck. Not the funding round.

The mind you bring into the room every morning.

Train it like a muscle.
Push it when it wants to stop.
Question the first story it tells you.

The obstacle doesn't change.
But what you do with it always depends on how you see it.

What's one moment where changing your thinking changed the outcome entirely?

Drop it below. I'd love to read it.

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Michael Krayenhoff

I've interviewed over 1,000 people.

And the best ones all ask the same question during their interview:

"What does your culture actually look like day-to-day?"

They don't mean ping pong tables.

They want to know if the words match the actions.

Here are 7 phrases I hear weekly in healthy company cultures.

1️⃣ “How can I support you?”
↳ Said before deadlines slip.
↳ A good manager notices pressure early and steps in, instead of waiting for things to break.

2️⃣ “Let’s figure it out together.”
↳ Said when someone shares a rough idea or admits a mistake.
↳ It reinforces that ownership doesn’t mean being left alone.

3️⃣ “Great job on that.”
↳ This is specific and timely.
↳ People know exactly what worked and can repeat it.

4️⃣ “Your growth is important to us.”
↳ Backed by stretch projects, feedback, and actual time for development.
↳ Not just something said during annual reviews.

5️⃣ “Take a break when you need it.”
↳ Only matters if it’s respected in practice.
↳ People aren’t punished for resting.

6️⃣ “We trust your judgment.”
↳ Autonomy is real, decisions aren’t second-guessed later.
↳ Trust shows up through freedom, not words.

7️⃣ “It’s okay to make mistakes. Let’s learn from them.”
↳ Mistakes are handled without blame.
↳ The focus stays on improvement, not fear.

Healthy cultures are built through small, repeatable behaviours.
When support and accountability coexist, performance follows naturally.

Which one of these do you hear most often at work?
Drop a comment 👇

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Co-Founder at Inner Circle | Grew app from 0 → 8M users in 50 countries | Bootstrapped team from 0 → 50+ | COO & CMO | To collaborate see my about section

The strongest teams I know barely talk about being a team.

They're too busy having each other's backs.

Watch them work and you'll notice something special.

No one keeps score. Everyone just shows up.

In a fast-growing team, trust is built on speed.
It removes overhead, reduces rework, and lets a small team ship faster.

Without it, you get meetings, politics, and missed quarters.

Here’s how I practice it:

You’re not building trust if you skip these basics:

1) Model vulnerability
↳ Weekly, lead with one miss and lesson, invite input.
Check unplanned work drops 15 percent.

2) Ask for help
↳ By noon daily, flag blockers in channel, tag owner.
Check 80 percent cleared in 24 hours.

3) Celebrate honesty
↳ In standups, thank admitted mistakes publicly, extract learning.
Check repeats decline month over month.

4) Set dissent rules
↳ In planning, invite pushback first, timebox debate, decide.
Check decisions stick for 90 days.

5) Protect relationships
↳ Weekly, hold 1:1s, ask one non-work question, note needs.
Check 100 percent completion.

6) Confront toxicity
↳ Same day, name behavior and impact privately, set consequence.
Check zero repeats in 7 days.

7) Define help protocol
↳ Publish how to ask, response time rules, channels, owners.
Check adoption in first sprint.

Teams that skip this stuff look fine on the surface. 
Until one bad quarter reveals everything. 

Trust is not a nice-to-have. 
It is the reason small teams outrun big ones.

When did you first feel real trust on a team? 
What made it click?

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"We're a family here" is the biggest lie in leadership.

It sounds warm. But it's a trap.

Family framing blurs roles, and people stop telling the truth.
Performance issues linger, feedback gets softened, trust erodes.

In fast growth, that costs speed, fairness, and your best people.

This is what happens when a founder calls the team a family.
A loyal early hire gets promoted over a stronger lead.
The room goes quiet, Saturday work spikes, and A-players start interviewing.

Stop calling it family, start leading like a team:

1) Set clear expectations
↳ Publish top 3 priorities and owners weekly.
↳ Make sure everyone can state them without checking a doc.

2) Apply fair standards
↳ One bar for performance and behavior always.
↳ Promotions match written criteria, not tenure or loyalty.

3) Earn trust daily
↳ Explain decisions and tradeoffs in writing within 24 hours.
↳ No surprises in all-hands or behind closed doors.

4) Support hard moments
↳ Give tools, time, and a clear plan within 48 hours.
↳ Make escalation paths obvious so no one gets stuck alone.

5) Protect healthy boundaries
↳ Set quiet hours and on-call rotations weekly.
↳ Respect people's time off the clock without exceptions.

That's the standard.

Which of these five made the biggest difference on your team?

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Jade McDuling

Ownership fades when you dictate steps.
Align on the goal.
Let them own how they get there.

Micromanagement looks like high standards.
It's actually control in disguise.

A-players won't stay if they need permission to breathe.

Use this cheat sheet to swap micromanagement for real leadership:

1) It Kills Trust
↳ Checking in all the time tells people you don't believe in them.
↳ Set the outcome. Run a 30-min review each week.

➟ People start taking initiative again.
➟ Use this when you feel the urge to check in daily.

2) It Shuts Down New Ideas
↳ People just follow steps. They stop thinking.
↳ Ask for two options. Say yes or no within 24 hours.

➟ Opens the door to testing and fresh thinking.
➟ Use this when work keeps looking the same.

3) It Slows Everything Down
↳ Everything sits in a queue waiting for your approval.
↳ Set clear limits. Let them make their own calls for 2 weeks.

➟ Things move faster and cleaner.
➟ Use this when tasks pile up behind you.

4) It Wears Everyone Out
↳ When you're the bottleneck, stress spreads to the whole team.
↳ Cut the noise. One async update per day.

➟ Less anxiety. More focus.
➟ Use this when Slack and DMs never stop.

5) It Pushes Top People Out
↳ Strong performers need room to work.
↳ Agree on the goal. Give them 30 days to run with it.

➟ Your best people stay engaged.
➟ Use this when stars keep asking for your sign-off.

6) It Sends the Wrong Signal
↳ It tells people: "You can't do this without me."
↳ At the start and in weekly reviews, say out loud that you trust them.

➟ Confidence goes up. So does pace.
➟ Use this when you're setting expectations or giving feedback.

7) It Builds Dependence, Not Leaders
↳ People wait to be told. They stop leading.
↳ Coach weekly in 1:1s. Ask before you tell.

➟ Better judgment. More independence.
➟ Use this when decisions stop without you.

8) It Kills Motivation
↳ Ownership disappears when every step is controlled.
↳ At the kickoff, agree on the goal. Let them choose how to get there.

➟ Energy comes back when people feel real ownership.
➟ Use this when handing off a project.

9) It Stops Growth
↳ No stretch means no new skills.
↳ Give a stretch goal. Check in at the two-week mark.

➟ Skills grow without the chaos.
➟ Use this when work feels too easy or too safe.

10) It Limits How Far You Can Scale
↳ The company can only grow as far as you can reach.
↳ Build SOPs this month. Assign one owner per area.

➟ You lead systems, not tasks.
➟ Use this when you're the default person people go to.

Leaders who scale don't carry everything.
They create clarity, then step back.
That's how you keep standards high without becoming the bottleneck.

How to use this:
Pick one pattern you see in yourself this week.
Run the action for 2 weeks.

Check the outcome in your next review.
Save this for your next project kickoff or 1:1.

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