How did Tripadvisor become every traveler’s starting point?

Steve Kaufer joins Joubin Mirzadegan on Grit to break down how Tripadvisor became the internet’s trusted travel companion, built on over a billion reviews and decades of trust. He also shares why early personalization fell short and how AI is finally doing what travel agents once did by understanding the traveler, but faster, smarter, and at scale.

Guest: Steve Kaufer, co-founder of TripAdvisor

Chapters:

(00:00) Trailer
(00:45) Introduction
(01:32) Early days of Tripadvisor
(08:14) Catching the startup bug
(18:42) Luck and timing
(26:54) $200M: a combo of money and risk
(37:37) I love creating stuff
(40:45) Hardest part of being a public CEO
(46:21) Never let a good crisis go to waste
(51:54) An average traveler
(55:49) Social proof vs artificial intelligence
(1:02:59) Back in the saddle
(1:09:54) Not for the faint of heart
(1:12:16) What “grit” means to Steve
(1:12:31) Outro

Mentioned in this episode: Google, Expedia Group, Barry Diller, Interactive Corporation (IAC), Uber, Dara Khosrowshahi, OpenAI ChatGPT, IMDb, CJ Affiliate (Commission Junction), Amazon, Google Chrome, Give Freely, Honey, Rakuten, Macy’s, American Cancer Society, Google Gemini

Links:

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• Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com

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