[1][2][3] Adler grew up in Palo Alto, California and attended Gunn High School.

"[5] 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.

[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.

[1][24] In 2007, Adler earned the company's first $17 in revenue by playing the saxophone outside Scribd's office at Christmas time.