Trip Adler

Trip Adler
NationalityAmerican
Alma materHarvard University
Occupation(s)former CEO and Co-founder of Scribd
Known forFounding Scribd
Websitewww.scribd.com

John R. "Trip" Adler III is an American entrepreneur.[1] He is the former CEO and co-founder of Scribd, a digital library and document-sharing platform, which has 80 million users.[1][2][3]

Background and early career

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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

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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]

In April 2024, it was announced that the Adler would step down from his CEO role, while remaining on the company's board of directors. Tony Grimminck[21] was appointed as the new CEO to lead the company.[22]

Personal life

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As a member of the Harvard Surfing team, Adler participated in the first Ivy League Surf Championships in May 2003.[23] He also plays the saxophone.[1][24] 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

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Guynn, Jessica (November 10, 2013). "Scribd co-founder wrote his own story". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 18, 2013.
  2. ^ Jeff Bercovici and Emily Inverso (2014). "30 Under 30: Trip Adler". Forbes.
  3. ^ Neary, Lynn (October 4, 2013). "New E-Book Lending Service Aims To Be Netflix For Books". NPR.
  4. ^ a b "John R. "Trip" Adler III '06 (Physics) Broke Tradition but Still Ended up on Top". 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". Fast Company. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
  6. ^ Schubarth, Cromwell (October 28, 2013). "Y Combinator's 10 most valuable startup alumni". Silicon Valley Business Journal.
  7. ^ Johnson, Bobbie (July 22, 2009). "How Scribd made pages pay". The Guardian.
  8. ^ Spencer E. Ante (June 11, 2009). "Scribd: An E-Book Upstart with Unlikely Fans". Businessweek. Archived from the original on June 15, 2009.
  9. ^ a b Reid, Calvin (October 1, 2013). "Scribd Launches E-book Subscription Service". Publishers Weekly.
  10. ^ "Scribd Had A Blowout Year, And So Did the Web Document". TechCrunch. December 31, 2008. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
  11. ^ Stone, Brad (May 17, 2009). "Scribd Invites Writers to Upload Work and Name Their Price". The New York Times. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
  12. ^ "Simon and Schuster to Sell Digital Books on Scribd.com". 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". TechCrunch.
  14. ^ Ha, Anthony (October 1, 2013). "With HarperCollins Deal, Scribd Unveils Its Bid To Become The Netflix For Books". TechCrunch.
  15. ^ Ong, Josh (January 29, 2014). "Scribd takes aim at Amazon by bringing its subscription ebook app to the Kindle Fire". The Next Web.
  16. ^ Bosman, Julie (October 1, 2013). "HarperCollins Joins Scribd in E-Book Subscription Plan". 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". The Wall Street Journal.
  19. ^ About Us. Scribd.
  20. ^ Mullin, Benjamin (August 11, 2017). "Scribd, on the hunt for a bigger trove of journalism, doubles down on magazines". Poynter.
  21. ^ Anderson, Porter (April 11, 2024). "Scribd Names Tony Grimmick to Succeed Trip Adler". Publishing Perspectives. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
  22. ^ Estrada, Sheryl. "Meet Scribd Inc.'s new CEO: Tony Grimminck was promoted from his role of CFO". Fortune. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
  23. ^ "60 SECONDS". SURFING Magazine. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
  24. ^ Christmas at Scribd featuring Trip Adler
  25. ^ Fletcher, Dan (2010). "Tech Pioneers 2010: Trip Adler and Jared Friedman". TIME.
  26. ^ Hesseldahl, Arik (2010). "Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs 2010". Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Archived from the original on April 23, 2010.
  27. ^ "30 Under 30: Trip Adler". Forbes. 2014.
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