Background
Adler grew up in Palo Alto, California. His father, John R. Adler, is a neurosurgeon at Stanford University and also an entrepreneur.
Adler grew up in Palo Alto, California. His father, John R. Adler, is a neurosurgeon at Stanford University and also an entrepreneur.
He graduated from Harvard University with a biophysics degree in June 2006.
Among his schoolmates at Harvard, Trip was known by a colorful array of nicknames including Tiny, Golden Boy, Tiny Tony, Stone Pony, Nerd, Nerdman, and Entreprenerd. 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."
Adler received inspiration for from a conversation with his father, who had difficulty publishing an academic paper in a medical journal. Adler then built with Jared Friedman, a fellow Harvard student, and they attended Y Combinator in the summer of 2006. was launched from a San Francisco apartment in March 2007.
In 2008, it ranked as one of the top 20 social media sites according to Comscore.
In June 2009, launched Store, and shortly thereafter closed a deal with Simon & Schuster to sell ebooks on In 2012, the company became profitable. In October 2013, launched a subscription ebook service, and signed a deal with HarperCollins to make their backlist books available on currently has more than 300,000 titles from 1,000 publishers in its book subscription service.
He also plays the saxophone. In 2007, Adler earned the company’s first $17 in revenue by playing the saxophone outside ’s office at Christmas time.
Named to TIME’s list of tech pioneers of 2010
Named to Bloomberg Businessweek’s list of best young entrepreneurs
Forbes 30 Under 30.
As a member of the Harvard Surfing team, Adler Participated in the first Ivy League Surf Championships in May 2003.