Alastair Adam

Entrepreneur

Runner up in The British Monopoly Championships.

I want to do things better and disrupt the status quo.

Jet Blue, Aereo, Humon.

To bring US College Textbook prices back down to earth.

We have worked hard to create textbooks that are as high quality as they are affordable. This starts with our digital-first publishing platform, which cuts out significant waste and overhead compared to legacy publishers. We pass those savings on to students.

Our mission of bringing textbook prices back down to earth is gaining significant traction. Faculty at more than 1,500 institutions are now using a FlatWorld textbooks. In the 2019-2020 academic year alone, we saw nearly 2,000 new professors adopt a FlatWorld textbook. We expect continued growth in the years to come.

Managing and nurturing people can be both the most frustrating, and the most rewarding aspect of entrepreneurship. Frustrating, because it requires time, energy and commitment from both parties - yet doesn't always work out. Rewarding, because the growth and success that we've had the fortune to experience has been driven by the talented people we've had the opportunity to work with.

Trying to change every aspect of the business model. Not every aspect of a product needs to be differentiated, just the important ones; many of the features of the first iPod could be found in other MP3 players already on the market. The vast majority of the experience of a Jet Blue flight is identical to other airlines. But in both cases, there are small but key differences too.

Continue to refine who, precisely, is your customer - that may not be clear at the start.
Better to make the best decisions you can, with data that's available at the time, and to move on, than to not decide. You can usually loop back later and course correct.
You don't have to answer every question.

In 2016, Alastair Adam and his long-time business partner, John Eielson, assembled the assets, including acquiring the former Flatworld Knowledge business, built a team and launched FlatWorld, with a mission to bring college textbook prices back down to earth. FlatWorld’s high quality, affordable titles are now used by faculty in over 1,500 institutions across North America.

Prior to FlatWorld, Adam co-founded The Callidon Group, providing growth strategy and transaction advice to businesses and investors in the Information and Publishing space, including in scientific and scholarly publishing. In 2007, Callidon joined OC&C Strategy Consultants, a multinational firm. In 2014, he led the sale of the business to Oliver Wyman, part of the Marsh & McLelland Companies. He left Oliver Wyman in 2015, to pursue direct investments in Information and Publishing. 

Adam received his MA in Law from Cambridge University in 1993. He worked in corporate finance and M&A for Cazenove & Co. in London, before following his wife back to Boston in 1998.