Christian Rudder | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | September 1, 1975 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, writer, musician |
Christian Rudder (born September 1, 1975)[1] is an American entrepreneur, writer, and musician.
Rudder graduated from Little Rock Central High School in 1993. He attended Harvard University, graduating with a degree in mathematics in 1998.[2]
Rudder joined SparkNotes in October 1999, a few months after its founding. Rudder was the creative voice of TheSpark.com,[3] which was the viral content arm of SparkNotes during the site's early rise to popularity. He became TheSpark's creative director in March 2001. Soon after the site's sale to Barnes & Noble, Rudder and the SparkNotes founders (Chris Coyne, Sam Yagan, and Max Krohn) left and began working on OkCupid, a dating site. OkCupid launched in February 2004.
Rudder was a co-founder of OkCupid. In the years immediately following the site's creation, he worked on the front-end product and developed the site's editorial voice.[4] From 2009 - 2011, OkCupid published statistical observations and analysis of members' preferences and connections; the blog posts were written by Rudder and gained widespread media attention.[5] In February 2011, OkCupid was sold to IAC, the owner of Match.com and other dating properties, for $90 million.[6] After the sale to IAC, Rudder assumed day-to-day control of OkCupid as President and General Manager until he left in 2015.[7]
Rudder expanded his writings for OkCupid into the non-fiction book Dataclysm, which became a New York Times Best Seller in September 2014 and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize that year, in the Science & Technology category.[8][9][10]
Rudder played guitar in the hardcore punk band Pissed Officers and indie rock group Bishop Allen, both with Justin Rice on bass and Rudder and Ruce sharing songwriting and vocal duties.[11][12] On Bishop Allen's first three albums, Rudder played most of the instruments except drums and piano.[13] Through Bishop Allen, Rudder has contributed to the soundtracks of the movies Saved, Sleepwalk with Me, No Strings Attached, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Bully, and several other smaller films and commercials.[14]
He appeared in Andrew Bujalski's film, Funny Ha Ha, as Alex, and appeared as himself in Peter Sollett's film, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.
Christian met his wife, Reshma Patel, at a concert in Boston. Patel ran a public relations firm. They live in New York and have a daughter together. They now live in Central America [15]
