Executive: Tristan Pineiro, Chief Marketing Officer
Company: Grindr
Industry: LGBTQ+ social app (freemium, ads + subscriptions)
Company Snapshot: A global, location-based app serving millions, operating in 190 countries with a lean team of under 200 people; also an advertising platform and a publicly listed company.
Format: CMO Journeys Interview
Why It Matters
Tristan Pineiro came to marketing through language, culture, and communications—and it shows. As CMO of Grindr, he’s shaping a brand that sits at the intersection of community and culture. For agencies, his viewpoint is simple: surface-level gestures don’t work here. Understanding and trust do.
Their Path, in Short
Tristan grew up on Menorca, a small Spanish island in the Mediterranean, and lived there with his family until he was 14. His father was a self-made man, a chef, and ran a restaurant. Tristan describes a clear expectation: stay and follow that path.
But he didn’t. He says he rebelled against that future. Because his mom is English, he was able to move to the UK and live with family there.
At university, he studied linguistics with languages and also studied French drama. He calls it “artsy,” but it trained him to pay attention to how words carry meaning and identity. That led him into communications and then into marketing. He says it’s rare for “comms people to make it to CMO,” and he’s glad the industry is moving toward what he’s believed for a long time: story, engagement, and entertainment belong closer to the center of modern marketing.
Outside class, he stayed close to the world he cared about. He talks about promoting underground queer clubs in Manchester while he was at university. It gave him a front-row seat to how communities form.
He also tells a story that became a personal lesson in brand. As a teenager, he worked in a fashion store that wasn’t doing well. The store closed for a refurbishment, then reopened with a new look and a new name. The clothes were the same—only the labels changed. Suddenly, there were lines around the block. For Tristan, it proved that perception can change everything.
Big Themes From the Conversation
As a kid, Tristan was obsessed with TV ads—he memorized them and repeated them. He was learning what sticks: a clear idea, a feeling, and the right delivery.
He keeps returning to emotion. Rational arguments are everywhere. The harder work is making people feel something—and doing it in a way that doesn’t talk down to them.
He’s also realistic about attention. He says traditional campaigns “don’t get cut through anymore,” because you have seconds to capture people before they scroll by, flip the channel, or tune out. That’s why he keeps pushing one habit: think about your audience constantly.
Watch CMO Journeys Interview
How They Choose the Right Agency Partners
When I asked Tristan about agencies, he didn’t frame them as “support.” He framed them as relationship work.
He says working in an agency makes you a better client. Otherwise, he says, client relationships can start with a suspicion that the agency is trying “to get your money for the least possible amount of work.” But from the agency side, he’s seen the opposite: you want to do the best possible work, deliver, and make work your team is proud of.
So his partnership philosophy is built around closeness.
He talks about “inviting your agency into your brand” so they can see behind the curtain—who’s who, what the goals are, and how the business actually works. Otherwise, agencies get the final output of a long internal process with none of the context. He even calls that internal process the “sausage factory.” If agencies don’t understand how the sausage got made, their work will miss the mark.
He’s also clear about what not to do. Agencies can challenge a brief, and sometimes they should—but he’s seen it go wrong when the challenge comes without understanding the journey that led there. The best agencies, in his view, ask smart questions, learn the context, and push in a way that feels aligned.
That alignment matters at Grindr because the brand is tied to a real community. Tristan says the internal team knows the audience and community extremely well, and many team members are part of the community or strong allies. The company is lean—under 200 people—so the team stays hands-on. They work with agencies and freelancers, but the internal team remains close to the story.
He points to content published on social and inside the app, including Grindr Presents. He mentions a podcast called “Who’s the Asshole,” which faces an honest reality of platforms: bad behavior exists, and moderation isn’t perfect. He also mentions a travel series that reflects how people use the app while traveling—not only to connect, but also to find information like venues and safety.
Then there’s the question agencies always want answered: how do you prove you understand queer culture?
Tristan’s answer is blunt: people get it wrong all the time. He’s seen proposals loaded with “yass,” sparkles, and rainbows—signals that may be meant as supportive, but land as shallow. His point is: don’t fake fluency. Queer culture is broad and nuanced, and the audience will tell you when you missed it.
Finally, he values perspective. Grindr works with agencies around the world. He mentions a Spanish agency, Neurads, that helps produce the travel series. Different voices, different lenses—those inputs make the work stronger.
What Stood Out
What stood out most was Tristan’s consistency. Whether he’s talking about childhood ad obsession, a relabeled fashion store, or the realities of attention, he keeps returning to the same filter: be interesting, be honest, and respect the audience.
Underneath that is a quiet standard for partners: don’t perform understanding—do the work to earn it.
Inside Scoop
This article focuses on the journey, the leadership philosophy, and how this CMO works with agency partners. To access the exclusive analysis, including priorities, initiatives, and opportunities, become a Next Big Win Pro member.
