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

Startup Dad

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.

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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/

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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

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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

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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/

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