Christian Rudder

Who is Christian Rudder?

Christian Rudder is an American writer, musician and entrepreneur.

He attended Harvard University, graduating with a degree in mathematics in 1998.

Rudder was the creative voice of TheSpark.com, which was the viral content arm of SparkNotes during the site's early rise to popularity. Rudder joined the company in October 1999, a few months after its founding. He became TheSpark's Creative Director in March 2001. During Rudder's tenure at TheSpark it was one of the most popular humor sites on the web.

Soon after the site's sale to Barnes & Noble, Rudder and the SparkNotes founders - Chris Coyne, Sam Yagan, and Max Krohn - left and began work on OkCupid, a dating site. OkCupid launched in February 2004. Starting in 2009, Rudder maintained a blog on a subdomain of OkCupid named OkTrends. It featured statistical observations and analysis of members' preferences and connections.

Rudder's last blog update was on April 19th, 2011. On February 2, 2011, Rudder's hometown newspapers in Little Rock reported that Match.com had purchased OkCupid for $50 million in cash.

Rudder plays in indie band Bishop Allen. He and Justin Rice are the band's two permanent members, and they write the band's songs. On stage, Rudder plays guitar and ukelele; on Bishop Allen's recordings he plays most of the instruments save drums and piano.