Sam Yagan

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Sam Yagan
Born (1977-04-10) April 10, 1977 (age 47)
NationalityAmerican
Educationdegree in Applied Mathematics and Economics and an MBA
Alma mater Harvard University
Stanford University
Occupation(s)Co-founder of OkCupid
Co-founder of SparkNotes
Vice-Chairman of Match.com
Former CEO of Shoprunner
Years active1999–present
Spouse
Jessica Droste Yagan
(m. 2003)
Parent(s)Al Yagan
Dr. Haifa Yagan

Sam Yagan (born April 10, 1977) is an American Internet entrepreneur best known as the co-founder of OkCupid. [1] In 2013, he was named to TIME Magazine's '100 Most Influential People in the World' list. [1] He is the Vice-Chairman of the e-dating site Match.com. [2]

Contents

Family and education

Yagan is the son of Syrian immigrants, Al and Dr. Haifa Yagan, [3] [4] and grew up in Bourbonnais, Illinois, and studied at the Illinois Math and Science Academy and eventually Harvard University.

Yagan holds a bachelor's degree in Applied Mathematics and Economics from Harvard University and an MBA from Stanford University, where he earned distinction as a Siebel Scholar, an Arjay Miller Scholar, and the Henry Ford Scholar, the award granted to each class’s valedictorian. [5] His brother Danny Yagan is an economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley. [6] His wife Jessica Droste Yagan is the CEO of Impact Engine, an impact investing fund. [7]

Career

In 1999, during his senior year at Harvard, Yagan and two of his classmates, Chris Coyne and Max Krohn, started the online study guide SparkNotes. [8] Christian Rudder joined shortly after the founding. A year later they sold the company to Barnes & Noble for $30 million. [9]

eDonkey was a part of MetaMachine Inc and was a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing network. Yagan was the CEO of MetaMachine Inc. [10] As the developer of eDonkey, Yagan testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee expressing a need for balance between innovation and intellectual property. [11]

In 2006, MetaMachine, Yagan, and founder Jed McCaleb agreed to pay $30 million to avoid potential copyright infringement lawsuits brought by the RIAA. [12] In accordance with the agreement, MetaMachine, Yagan and McCaleb agreed to discontinue distribution of its software as well as to deprecate previous copies of its software. [13]

In 2003, Yagan again teamed up with his Harvard classmates Chris Coyne, Max Krohn, and Christian Rudder to found online dating website OkCupid. [14] Yagan and partners designed OkCupid with a question-and-answer-based system. [15] [16] In 2011, Yagan led the sale of OkCupid to Match Group, a subsidiary of IAC, for $90 million. [17] Yagan was the CEO of Match Group for three years and left at the end of 2015 before joining the company’s public board as vice chairman. [18] While Yagan was CEO, Match Group started Tinder. [19]

In 2009, Yagan, Kelli Rhee, and Kapil Chaudhary co-founded Excelerate Labs with the financial backing from Sandbox Industries. [20] Excelerate Labs merged with Techstars in 2013. [21]

In 2014, Yagan co-founded Corazon Capital with Steve Farsht. [22] Yagan is also the former CEO of ShopRunner, an e-commerce network that provides two-day shipping across multiple merchants. He led the sale of the company to FedEx in December 2020. [23]

Awards and recognition

In April 2013, Yagan was listed as one of TIME Magazine's '100 Most Influential People in the World'. [1] In 2011, Yagan was named to Crain's "40 under 40" in Chicago. [24]

Personal life

Sam Yagan is married to his high school sweetheart, Jessica Droste Yagan. [25] [26]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Time 100 - Sam Yagan". Time Magazine. April 18, 2013. Archived from the original on April 24, 2013. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
  2. Pletz, John (April 18, 2013). "Sam I am". Crain's Chicago Business. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
  3. "Yagan's influence no illusion". The Daily Journal. December 2013.
  4. "Time magazine ranks Bourbonnais' Sam Yagan among 100 most influential people". The Daily Journal. April 2013.
  5. "Executive Profile: Sam Yagan". Bloomberg Businessweek. Bloomberg. Retrieved April 23, 2013.[ dead link ]
  6. "Faculty Profiles: Danny Yagan". UC Berkeley Department of Economics. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
  7. "Jessica Droste Yagan IMPACT ENGINE" . Retrieved December 1, 2023.
  8. Aucoin, Don (August 2007). "Digital Man". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
  9. "Confessions of a Former Entrepreneur". Inc. Magazine. July–August 2011.
  10. McCarthy, Caroline (September 26, 2006). "File-sharing site eDonkey kicks it". CNET. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  11. "Testimony of Sam Yagan". United States Senate Judiciary Committee. Archived from the original on December 20, 2012. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
  12. McCarthy, Caroline (September 26, 2006). "File-sharing site eDonkey kicks it". CNET. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  13. Billboard Staff (September 12, 2006). "eDonkey Settles With Majors To Tune Of $30m". Billboard. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  14. Hemmerdinger, J. (March 3, 2011). "Matchmaking math: 1 + 1 = $50 million". Press Herald. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  15. Ciment, Shoshy (February 14, 2020). "The 'grandfather of online dating' reveals the 3 crucial questions that can predict long-term compatibility in a relationship". Business Insider. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  16. NPR Staff (September 6, 2014). "Online Dating Stats Reveal A 'Dataclysm' Of Telling Trends". NPR. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  17. Elahi, Amina (December 22, 2015). "Sam Yagan set to join Match Group board after IPO". Business Insider. Retrieved March 1, 2024. OkCupid and SparkNotes co-founder Yagan is a prominent figure in Chicago's technology scene. He sold the dating company to Match Group parent IAC in 2011 for $90 million and went on to co-found local accelerator Excelerate Labs, now Techstars Chicago.
  18. Elahi, Amina (December 22, 2015). "Sam Yagan set to join Match Group board after IPO". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  19. Roberts, Daniel (September 25, 2013). "The nerd king of online dating". Fortune. Retrieved March 1, 2024. Many of Tinder's users don't realize that it is owned by Match; the app came from its R&D lab and launched under Yagan's guidance.
  20. Rao, Leena (March 20, 2010). "Excelerate Labs Brings A Startup Incubator To Chicago". TechCrunch. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  21. Harris, Melissa (February 1, 2013). "City's top tech-startup incubator to merge with national competitor". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 1, 2024. Excelerate Labs, Chicago's first and most prominent tech startup incubator, is joining TechStars, a Boulder, Colo.-based competitor
  22. Moore, Galen (October 5, 2016). "OkCupid Founder Sam Yagan's Corazon Capital Is Back With a Bigger Fund II". Chicago Inno. Retrieved March 1, 2024. The $13 million Corazon I, also led by Yagan and Farsht, was known for bringing in local entrepreneurs as limited partners, including Inventables founder CEO Zach Kaplan...The firm has participated in Series A-sized rounds for several Chicago startups.
  23. Cremades, Alejandro. "This Founder Bounced Back From Startup Failure To Leading A $400M IPO That Transformed Online Dating". Forbes. Archived from the original on February 12, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
  24. " "40 under 40". Crain's Chicago Business. 2011. " Archived from the original on April 16, 2013. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
  25. Kapos, Shia (February 11, 2013). "Married to their high school sweethearts". Crain's Chicago Business. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022. Retrieved April 19, 2014.
  26. "Jessica Droste Yagan '95 and Sam Yagan '95 Step Up for IMSA". IMSA360. November 6, 2012. Archived from the original on April 19, 2014. Retrieved April 19, 2014.