Brandon Wade

Brandon Wade (born Lead Wey;[2][3][4] 1970) is an American businessman who is the founder and chief executive officer of InfoStream Group, an online dating company. He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and MIT Sloan School of Management[5] and a former software engineer. He is best known for founding the sugar dating web site Seeking.com. Wade's web sites have been criticised for being comparable to escort services.[6][7][8]

Brandon Wade
Born (1970-07-16) July 16, 1970
Singapore
NationalityAmerican
Other namesBrandon Wey,[1] Lead Wey
Occupation(s)Businessman, entrepreneur
Known forInfoStream Group
Seeking.com
Websiteaskbrandonwade.com

Early life

Born in Singapore to ethnic Chinese parents, Wade was raised in what he describes as a "Tiger Mom–type of upbringing" consisting of studying and not much else.[9] While growing up in Singapore, Wade attended Saint Andrew's Secondary School and Hwa Chong Junior College.[10]

In 1993, Wade graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he received a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering on an Overseas Merit Scholarship awarded by Singapore's Public Service Commission. Upon graduating in 1993, Wade opted to stay in the United States, breaking his contractual obligation to return to Singapore and forcing his parents to pay about $300,000 in damages.[11] Wade then enrolled in the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he graduated with a Master of Business Administration in 1995.

Career

After completing his MBA, he moved to New York City to work for technology consultants Booz Allen. He later joined General Electric as a technology infrastructure manager.[12]

Wade is the author of two books titled Seeking Arrangement: The Definitive Guide to Sugar Daddy and Mutually Beneficial Relationships [13] and Connecting with the IN Crowd: How to Network, Hang Out, and Play with Millionaires Online.[14]

In a 2014 essay for CNN titled "Dating website founder says love doesn't exist",[15] Wade wrote, "Love is a concept invented by poor people."

Dating websites

In 2006, Wade founded the sugar dating website Seeking.com. In 2007, Wade launched a companion dating site WhatsYourPrice.com, a dating website where members bid for dates in an online auction environment. In May 2012 he launched MissTravel.com, which pairs 'generous' travelers with 'attractive' travelers who would love the opportunity to travel the world for free.[16] Marlow Stern of The Daily Beast criticised MissTravel.com for its lack of safety precautions, including the high potential for sex trafficking.[17] And in May 2015, Wade launched OpenMinded.com, a dating website that caters to those who are monogamish with the goal of providing a safe and stigma-free environment that brings the ease and flexibility of online dating to the currently underserved world of open relationships.[18] He further states the website caters to those looking to engage in 'ethical cheating'.[19]

In America, Wade has hosted Sugar Daddy dating events to publicise his sites.[20] According to Wade, the website already has a large membership in the United Kingdom.[21]

Wade's websites, which are based around rich men paying for dates with attractive women, have received controversy and criticism in the media, with Forbes,[22] The Atlantic,[23] ABC News[24] and MSNBC[25] all reporting on the moral ambiguity of the websites SeekingArrangement and WhatsYourPrice.com. The websites have been accused of treating their female members like prostitutes,[25] with WhatsYourPrice.com being described as "indistinguishable from prostitution".[26] It has been reported that a large proportion of women using the site are students,[27] and about 40 percent of the male users are married men.[17][28] Wade has strongly denied there is an illicit side to the site.[29][30]

References
  1. Padawer, Ruth (2009-04-10). "Keeping Up With Being Kept". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-05-19.
  2. Normandin, Ryan (2011-09-06). "The dark side of an MIT brain". The Tech. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
  3. "Not-So-Sweet Arrangements". 20 February 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2020. the brainchild of Singapore-born Lead Wey
  4. "'I'm rich. You're hot.' The cold mathematics of sugar daddy dating". SFGate. 13 March 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2020. An immigrant from Singapore (his real name is Lead Wey)
  5. Edwards, Jim. "How This Never-Been-Kissed MIT Nerd Built A $10 Million Sugar Baby Dating Empire" Business Insider. April 27, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  6. Edwards, Jim (27 April 2012). "How This Never-Been-Kissed MIT Nerd Built A $10 Million 'Sugar Baby' Dating Empire". Business Insider. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  7. Wade, Brandon (29 September 2014). "Dating website founder says love doesn't exist". CNN. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  8. Jefferies, Adrianne (23 April 2012). "Online Dating Entrepreneur Starts an Escort Service Disguised as a Travel Site". Observer. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  9. Stern, Marlow. "Brandon Wade: The Man Behind ‘Sugar Daddy’ Websites Miss Travel and Seeking Arrangement" The Daily Beast. May 10, 2012. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
  10. Tai, Janice. "Boss of sugar dating sites on the defence" The Straits Times. Aug 30, 2015. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  11. "Boss of controversial dating websites a PSC bond-breaker" Archived 2016-03-07 at the Wayback Machine AsiaOne. August 7, 2011. Retrieved February 29, 2016
  12. Edwards, Jim. "How This Never-Been-Kissed MIT Nerd Built A $10 Million Sugar Baby Dating Empire" Business Insider. April 27, 2012. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  13. Wade, Brandon (2013-06-30). Seeking Arrangement: The Definitive Guide to Sugar Daddy and Mutually Beneficial Relationships. ISBN 978-0991008926.
  14. Wade, Brandon; Sheiner, Marcy (2011-09-28). Connecting with the IN Crowd: How to Network, Hang Out, and Play with Millionaires. ISBN 978-0991008902.
  15. "CNN — Dating website founder says love doesn't exist". CNN. 2012-01-09. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
  16. Misstravel.com MissTravel.com. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
  17. Stern, Marlow (10 May 2012). "Brandon Wade: The Man Behind 'Sugar Daddy' Websites Miss Travel and Seeking Arrangement". Daily Beast. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
  18. Wells, Jane. "OpenMinded.com: New dating site caters to the monogamish" CNBC. May 11, 2015. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  19. Rosman, Katherine. "Is There Such a Thing as Ethical Cheating?" New York Times. July 16, 2015. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  20. Schuster, Dana. "Are you my new sugar daddy?" New York Post. August 17, 2011. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
  21. Swaine, Jon. "America's 'sugar daddy' scene moves to Britain" Daily Telegraph. October 28, 2011. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
  22. "Paying for Dates". Forbes.com. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
  23. "Worse than Prostitution?". The Atlantic. 25 April 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
  24. "Dating Website: Members Buy, Sell First Dates". ABC news. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
  25. "New Dating Site Treats Members Like Prostitutes". MSNBC. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
  26. Chen, Adrian. "New Dating Site Indistinguishable From Prostitution". Archived from the original on 21 August 2013. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
  27. "Sugar and spice and all things nice"
  28. Furness, Hannah. "'Sugar daddy' dating site to launch in Britain" Daily Telegraph. May 21, 2012. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
  29. Koppel, Nathan. "A Q&A With Brandon Wade, Mr. Sugar Daddy" Wall Street Journal. August 17, 2011. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
  30. Padawer, Ruth. "Keeping up with being kept" NYTimes.com. April 10, 2009. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
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