# Trip Adler

> Trip Adler is a San Francisco tech founder who co-founded Scribd in 2007 and ran it for 16 years, building it into a reading platform used by roughly 100 million people. In 2024 he launched Created by Humans, a licensing marketplace that lets authors and other creators set terms and get paid when AI companies use their work to train and run models. His pitch is not to fight AI in court but to build the plumbing for a fair market between creators and the labs racing to license high-quality content.

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at Created by Humans
- **Organizations:** Created by Humans, Scribd, Y Combinator (alumnus)
- **From:** Palo Alto, California, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** High school, Henry M. Gunn High School, Palo Alto, B.A. in Biophysics, Harvard University
- **Known for:** Co-founded and led Scribd for 16 years, scaling it to about 100 million users., Named to TIME's list of technology pioneers (2010)., Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 (2014).

## Career timeline

- **2003** — Competes in the first Ivy League Surf Championships as a member of the Harvard surfing team.
- **2006** — Attends Y Combinator in the summer with Harvard classmate Jared Friedman.
- **2007** — Launches Scribd from a San Francisco apartment; earns the company's first $17 playing saxophone outside the office at Christmas.
- **2007-2023** — Serves as CEO of Scribd, growing it to roughly 100 million users and pivoting it to a subscription model.
- **2024** — Co-founds Created by Humans with Edward Igushev and Jen Singerman; becomes CEO.
- **2025** — Created by Humans launches its public beta for book authors in partnership with the Authors Guild.

## Achievements

- Co-founded and led Scribd for 16 years, scaling it to about 100 million users.
- Named to TIME's list of technology pioneers (2010).
- Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 (2014).
- Recognized among Bloomberg Businessweek's best young entrepreneurs.
- Raised roughly $10M in seed funding for Created by Humans from investors including Craft Ventures, Floodgate, Giant Ventures, and Emmett Shear.
- Recruited advisors and supporters including Walter Isaacson, Susan Orlean, and Douglas Preston.

## Latest updates

- **2024-06** — Launched Created by Humans as an AI rights and licensing platform for authors.
- **2025-01** — Opened a public beta for book authors in partnership with the Authors Guild.

## Links

- Website: https://createdbyhumans.ai
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/tripadler
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/tripadler

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/trip-adler
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-21