Startup Dad
Startup Dad
Surrogacy, Raising Twiblings, and Navigating Fatherhood as a Gay Man | George Arison (father of 2, CEO of Grindr)
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Surrogacy, Raising Twiblings, and Navigating Fatherhood as a Gay Man | George Arison (father of 2, CEO of Grindr)

George Arison is the CEO of Grindr and the former co-founder and CEO of Shift. George grew up in Republic of Georgia when it was still part of the former Soviet Union and immigrated to the U.S. as a teenager. George knew he always wanted to be a Dad and he got that wish about 4 years ago. He's a husband and father of two kids.

In this episode we discuss:

  • Growing up (and leaving) Georgia

  • The surrogacy process

  • The birth of his twins (or twiblings) and what *is* a twibling

  • The difficulties gay men face when becoming parents

  • His husband as the rule enforcer in the house

  • His family's love of books and some of his *favorites*

  • His parenting philosophies and the values central to raising his kids

  • How to prepare your kids to understand different family structures and questions they might get

  • The growing acceptance and supportive communities he's experienced

Listen, watch and subscribe: Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Overcast and Google.

Where to find George Arison:

- Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/georgearison

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgearison/

Where to find Adam Fishman

- Newsletter: http://startupdadpod.substack.com

- Newsletter: http://www.fishmanafnewsletter.com

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjfishman/

- Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/fishmanaf

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startupdadpod/

In this episode, we cover:

[1:37] Welcome

[2:25] George's Background

[4:27] Childhood in the U.S. vs. Republic of Georgia

[7:28] How he met his partner

[10:33] Their decision to start a family/surrogacy

[15:10] Surrogacy challenges

[18:41] Discrimination 

[21:04] Surrogacy blockers

[21:51] His earliest memory of being a Dad + raising financing while his son was born!

[24:47] Most surprising part of becoming a dad

[26:38] Conversation w/ kids about same sex partners and more

[30:51] Household of books

[35:39] Where doesn't he always align with his partner?

[37:38] Challenges as same sex parents

[42:38] Husband/default parent

[45:47] Mistake as a dad?

[46:33] Play and work

[49:07] Rapid fire round

Show references:

Do Say Gay - George's notes on the most meaningful books for his family: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/do-say-gay-fathers-day-george-arison/

Julia Donaldson (Author) - https://www.juliadonaldson.co.uk/

The Gruffalo - https://www.gruffalo.com/

The Pip and Posy Collection - https://www.goodreads.com/series/81031-pip-and-posy

Axel Scheffler - https://axelscheffler.com/

The Grumpy Monkey Book Series - https://www.goodreads.com/series/265196-grumpy-monkey

Production support for Startup Dad is provided by Tommy Harron at

http://www.armaziproductions.com/

Episode art designed by Matt Sutherland at https://www.mspnw.com/

Discussion about this podcast

Startup Dad
Startup Dad
Adam Fishman (author of a top business newsletter on Substack with 10K+ subscribers) interviews executives, entrepreneurs, and company leaders in technology companies who are also fathers. They discuss the tough aspects of work, parenting, family, the mistakes made and lessons learned along the way.