Stephen Kaufer

Former President & Chief Executive Officer, Tripadvisor

Search every verified Stephen Kaufer interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Stephen Kaufer, co-founder and former CEO of Tripadvisor, was inducted into the Phocuswright Hall of Fame in 2023 for his role in shaping the online travel industry. In a 2024 interview, Kaufer discussed his philosophy of prioritizing speed in company culture, stating he placed a "speed wins" sign on his office door and encouraged employees to give optimistic deadlines without penalty for missing them. He also emphasized that a CEO's primary job is to prevent underperforming employees from joining the company in the first place, rather than relying on performance systems to remove them later. Kaufer has continued to comment on industry dynamics, including Google's influence on travel search. In a 2019 interview, he said Google should "stay a search engine" and argued that concentrated competitive landscapes burden innovation. He also addressed Tripadvisor's past content moderation policies, noting that the company initially removed a review about an assault at a Mexican resort because it violated a "G-rated" policy, but later changed the policy to allow such firsthand accounts. Kaufer has since launched a new venture, Give Freely, which redirects commissions from online purchases to users' chosen charities.