The Travel Giant Built on Billions of Reviews | Steve Kaufer on TripAdvisor
Grit28 Heinä 2025

The Travel Giant Built on Billions of Reviews | Steve Kaufer on TripAdvisor

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:

Connect with Steve

Connect with Joubin

Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

Jaksot(284)

From Airbnb to Linear: How Karri Saarinen Redefined Product Design

From Airbnb to Linear: How Karri Saarinen Redefined Product Design

In a market that hadn’t changed in decades, Linear didn’t win by being faster. They won by being more thoughtful.Karri Saarinen helped shape design at Airbnb and Coinbase before building Linear around...

20 Huhti 1h 17min

How Kevin Mandia Built the Most Trusted Name in Cybersecurity

How Kevin Mandia Built the Most Trusted Name in Cybersecurity

What does security look like when attackers use AI better than you do?Armadin recently raised $200M to build for the “attacker of the future,” where attacks are autonomous and harder to contain.On the...

6 Huhti 1h 2min

The Silicon Valley Insider In The Pentagon | DoW Emil Michael

The Silicon Valley Insider In The Pentagon | DoW Emil Michael

Emil Michael went from scaling Uber across 600 cities to rewiring the world's largest military.In the midst of the Pentagon-Silicon Valley debate, the now U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Research ...

23 Maalis 40min

How Sierra Is Pulling Ahead in the AI Race | Co-founder Bret Taylor

How Sierra Is Pulling Ahead in the AI Race | Co-founder Bret Taylor

Few founders have seen Silicon Valley from every seat at the table.After co-creating Google Maps at Google, serving as CTO at Facebook, and later as co-CEO of Salesforce, Bret Taylor is now building A...

9 Maalis 1h 12min

The AI Era of Cybercrime: How Malwarebytes Is Evolving Its Security Stack | Marcin Kleczynski

The AI Era of Cybercrime: How Malwarebytes Is Evolving Its Security Stack | Marcin Kleczynski

What began as a 14 year old fixing infected computers became Malwarebytes, an 800 person cybersecurity company trusted by millions of customers.On Grit, Marcin Kleczynski joins Joubin Mirzadegan to ex...

23 Helmi 1h 3min

The Truth Behind Automation Claims in Customer Support | Cresta CEO Ping Wu

The Truth Behind Automation Claims in Customer Support | Cresta CEO Ping Wu

Can you scale customer support without burning out agents or frustrating customers?Ping Wu shares how Cresta combines AI and human intelligence into a single system that scales sustainably for compani...

9 Helmi 43min

The Safest Dollar on the Internet | Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire

The Safest Dollar on the Internet | Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire

USDC closed the gap between software and law in modern finance.On Grit, Jeremy Allaire discusses how fully reserved, dollar backed digital currency became part of the financial system after more than ...

26 Tammi 1h 5min

Why We’re Only Using 1% of AI | Glean CEO Arvind Jain

Why We’re Only Using 1% of AI | Glean CEO Arvind Jain

Glean has grown into a $7.2B company by giving employees AI assistants and agents that extend their capabilities.CEO Arvind Jain is back on Grit alongside Joubin Mirzadegan. Here’s what stood out:“My ...

12 Tammi 58min

Suosittua kategoriassa Liike-elämä ja talous

sijotuskasti
mimmit-sijoittaa
rss-rahapodi
psykopodiaa-podcast
rss-rahamania
hyva-paha-johtaminen
inderespodi
ostan-asuntoja-podcast
rss-lahtijat
rss-oivalluksia-rahasta-elamasta
rahapuhetta
rss-bisnesta-bebeja
rss-sisalto-kuntoon
leadcast
oppimisen-psykologia
mihin-sita-saastais
rss-startup-ministerio
rss-rikasta-elamaa
rss-kohti-unelmia
rss-40-ajatusta-aanesta