Trip Adler

John R. "Trip" Adler III is an American entrepreneur.[1] He is

Trip Adler
the CEO and co-founder of Scribd, a digital library and document-
sharing platform, which has 80 million users.[1][2][3]

Contents
Background and early career
Scribd
Personal life
Nationality American
Awards and recognition
Alma mater Harvard University
References
Occupation CEO and Co-founder
External links of Scribd
Known for Founding Scribd
Background and early career Website www.scribd.com (htt
p://www.scribd.com)
Adler grew up in Palo Alto, California and attended Gunn High
School. He graduated from Harvard University with a biophysics degree.[4] His father, John R. Adler, is a
neurosurgeon at Stanford University and also an entrepreneur.[1]

After graduating from Harvard, Adler contemplated starting various online ventures, including a ride-
sharing service, a Craigslist-type site for colleges, a call center called 1-800-ASKTRIP, and a social media
site called "Rate your happiness."[5]

Scribd
Adler received inspiration for Scribd from a conversation with his father, who had difficulty publishing an
academic paper in a medical journal.[4] Adler then built Scribd with Jared Friedman, a fellow Harvard
student, and they attended Y Combinator in the summer of 2006.[6][7][8] Scribd was launched from a San
Francisco apartment in March 2007.[9] In 2008, it ranked as one of the top 20 social media sites according
to Comscore.[10] In June 2009, Scribd launched Scribd Store,[11] and shortly thereafter closed a deal with
Simon & Schuster to sell ebooks on Scribd.[12] In 2012, the company became profitable.[13]

In October 2013, Scribd launched a subscription ebook service, and signed a deal with HarperCollins to
make their backlist books available on Scribd.[9][14][15][16] Scribd was once known for unlimited
audiobooks and downloadable books. In 2016 the subscription limited the number of titles available to
subscribers. This was reversed in 2018, wherein readers were offered access to an "unlimited number of
books and audiobooks for $8.99 per month".[17]
Scribd has over 300,000 titles from 1,000 publishers in its book subscription service.[18][19] In August
2017, the company announced a partnership with Zinio, which calls itself the world's largest digital
magazine producer and distributor, to add 30 new magazine titles to the Scribd portfolio.[20]

Personal life
As a member of the Harvard Surfing team, Adler participated in the first Ivy League Surf Championships
in May 2003.[21] He also plays the saxophone.[1][22] In 2007, Adler earned the company's first $17 in
revenue by playing the saxophone outside Scribd's office at Christmas time.[1]

Awards and recognition

Named to TIME’s list of tech pioneers of 2010[23]
Named to Bloomberg Businessweek’s list of best young entrepreneurs[24]
Forbes 30 Under 30[25]

References
1. Guynn, Jessica (November 10, 2013). "Scribd co-founder wrote his own story" (http://articles.
latimes.com/2013/nov/10/business/la-fi-himi-adler-20131110). Los Angeles Times.
2. Jeff Bercovici and Emily Inverso (2014). "30 Under 30: Trip Adler" (https://www.forbes.com/s
pecial-report/2014/30-under-30/media.html). Forbes.
3. Neary, Lynn (October 4, 2013). "New E-Book Lending Service Aims To Be Netflix For
Books" (https://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/10/04/229207519/new-e-book-len
ding-service-aims-to-be-netflix-for-books). NPR.
4. "John R. "Trip" Adler III '06 (Physics) Broke Tradition but Still Ended up on Top" (http://www.s
eas.harvard.edu/news-events/publications/qa/trip-adler). Harvard School of Engineering and
Applied Sciences.
5. Penenberg, Adam L. (June 18, 2012). "How Trip Adler Found His Idea For Scribd After
Hanging Up On 1-800-ASKTRIP" (http://www.fastcompany.com/1839420/how-trip-adler-foun
d-his-idea-scribd-after-hanging-1-800-asktrip). Fast Company. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
6. Schubarth, Cromwell (October 28, 2013). "Y Combinator's 10 most valuable startup alumni"
(http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/10/28/10-startups-that-helped-fuel-y.html?s=
image_gallery). Silicon Valley Business Journal.
7. Johnson, Bobbie (July 22, 2009). "How Scribd made pages pay" (https://www.theguardian.c
om/technology/2009/jul/22/scribd-trip-adler-youtube). The Guardian.
8. Spencer E. Ante (June 11, 2009). "Scribd: An E-Book Upstart with Unlikely Fans" (http://ww
w.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_25/b4136054153678.htm). Businessweek.
9. Reid, Calvin (October 1, 2013). "Scribd Launches E-book Subscription Service" (http://www.
publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/devices/article/59324-scribd-launches-e-book-sub
scription-service.html). Publishers Weekly.
10. "Scribd Had A Blowout Year, And So Did the Web Document" (https://techcrunch.com/2008/
12/31/scribd-had-a-blowout-year-and-so-did-the-web-document/). TechCrunch. December
31, 2008. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
11. "Scribd Invites Writers to Upload Work and Name Their Price" (https://www.nytimes.com/200
9/05/18/technology/start-ups/18download.html). The New York Times. Retrieved July 11,
2012.
12. "Simon and Schuster to Sell Digital Books on Scribd.com" (https://www.nytimes.com/2009/0
6/12/technology/internet/12books.html). The New York Times. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
13. Ha, Anthony (August 13, 2012). "Social Publishing Startup Scribd Gets A Facelift: New
Website, New Logo, New iPhone App" (https://techcrunch.com/2012/08/13/scribd-redesign-
2/). TechCrunch.
14. Ha, Anthony (October 1, 2013). "With HarperCollins Deal, Scribd Unveils Its Bid To Become
The Netflix For Books" (https://techcrunch.com/2013/10/01/scribd-harpercollins-book-subscri
ptions/). TechCrunch.
15. Ong, Josh (January 29, 2014). "Scribd takes aim at Amazon by bringing its subscription
ebook app to the Kindle Fire" (https://thenextweb.com/apps/2014/01/29/scribd-takes-aim-am
azon-bringing-subscription-ebook-app-kindle-fire/#!wGapz). The Next Web.
16. Bosman, Julie (October 1, 2013). "HarperCollins Joins Scribd in E-Book Subscription Plan"
(https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/02/business/media/harpercollins-pursues-e-book-subscri
ption-service-with-scribd.html?_r=0). The New York Times.
17. Scribd Returns to Unlimited Access Subscription Model, byCalvin Reid. Publishers Weekly.
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-e-books/article/75986-
scribd-returns-to-unlimited-access-subscription-model.html
18. Chen, Angela (February 18, 2014). "What Your iPad Knows About You" (https://online.wsj.c
om/news/articles/SB10001424052702303704304579383381987497914). The Wall Street
Journal.
19. About Us (https://www.scribd.com/about). Scribd.
20. Mullin, Benjamin (August 11, 2017). "Scribd, on the hunt for a bigger trove of journalism,
doubles down on magazines" (https://www.poynter.org/news/scribd-hunt-bigger-trove-journa
lism-doubles-down-magazines). Poynter.
21. "60 SECONDS" (http://www.surfingmagazine.com/surfing-magazine-features/surfing-current
issue/sep03_60seconds/). SURFING Magazine. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
22. Christmas at Scribd featuring Trip Adler (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VMNMPZDv5
U)
23. Fletcher, Dan (2010). "Tech Pioneers 2010: Trip Adler and Jared Friedman" (http://content.ti
me.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2017050_2017049_2017046,00.html).
TIME.
24. Hesseldahl, Arik (2010). "Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs 2010" (http://images.businesswee
k.com/ss/10/04/0419_best_young_tech_entrepreneurs/2.htm). Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
25. "30 Under 30: Trip Adler" (https://www.forbes.com/special-report/2014/30-under-30/media.ht
ml). Forbes. 2014.

External links
Adler's profile page on Scribd (https://www.scribd.com/people/view/2-trip)
Scribd CEO Trip Adler on the Economics of Ebook Subscription Models, the ‘Big Five,’ and
the Competition (http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/scribd-ceo-trip-adler-on-the-economi
cs-of-ebook-subscription-models-the-big-five-and-the-competition/) on Digital Book World
Scribd CEO Explains His 'Eureka' Moment (http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=30000851
24) on CNBC
Scribd CEO Trip Adler Speaks! (http://kara.allthingsd.com/20090929/scribd-ceo-trip-adler-sp
eaks/) on All Things Digital

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