Shel Kaphan

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Shel Kaphan
Born1953 (age 70–71)
NationalityAmerican
Education University of California, Santa Cruz (BS)
OccupationComputer programmer
Employer Amazon (1994–1999)
OrganizationKaphan Foundation

Shel Kaphan is an American computer programmer who was the first employee of technology company Amazon. Working there from 1994 to 1999, he co-wrote the first Amazon website, wrote the product review system, and contributed to 1-Click.

Contents

Early life and education

Kaphan grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a teenager he was interested in computers and would use the ARPANET. He met the writer Stewart Brand as a teenager and started working for his Whole Earth Catalog , a counterculture publication. There he worked in the lending library and education service Whole Earth Truck Store in Menlo Park. [1] : 14 

Career

In 1975, Kaphan began his career as a progammer at Information International, Inc., where he worked until he decided to finish his education at UC Santa Cruz in 1978. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in mathematics, he worked at several companies in the Bay Area, including Xerox and Kaleida Labs. [1] : 14  In Spring 1994, he resigned from Kaleida Labs and began talking with a friend about starting a business venture together. Through his friend's professional connections, Kaphan met Jeff Bezos, who was preparing to create Amazon. [2] [3]

After meeting with Bezos, Kaphan was interested in working with him because they shared an interest in creating new web technologies. [4] [5] In a 2011 interview, Kaphan said that Bezos initially made a good impression and came across as a "really intelligent and focused person [..] who was going to be able to make whatever he got involved with into a success." He also stated that he liked the idea of using an online book store to provide information to remote locations which otherwise might have difficulty obtaining information. [3] He was initially skeptical about Amazon's ability to succeed [1] : 14  and reluctant to leave his long-time residence of Santa Cruz, but Bezos convinced him to move to Seattle and hired him as Vice President of Research and Development. [2] He wrote the company's first website with another employee, wrote the website's product review system, [1] : 17–19  and helped create 1-Click. [6] In 1997 he became Chief Technology Officer, which did not act as a promotion as he had no direct responsibilities and acted as an adviser. According to Kaphan, Bezos asked him if he wanted the job, to which he said he did not, and Bezos gave him the job without choice. [1] : 40  Kaphan described Bezos moving him away from hands on work as "a betrayal of a sacred trust" and "one of the biggest disappointments of my entire life". After his stock payments ended in 1999, he stopped coming to the office and resigned later that year. [1] : 41–42  [6]

Bezos has described Kaphan as "the most important person ever in the history of Amazon.com". [7] Brad Stone described Kaphan in his book about Amazon, The Everything Store , as "an introverted hacker with an idealistic streak and little intuitive leadership ability." [1] : 41 

In 2005, Kaphan founded the Kaphan Foundation, a non-profit organization which primarily funds grants for left-of-center leaning causes, and serves as its president. [8]

Views of Amazon

In February 2020, Kaphan was interviewed as part of an episode of the PBS program Frontline , in which he stated, "I am proud of what [Amazon] became, but it also scares me." He characterized the company as both a monopoly and a monopsony — in his words, "If you want to buy something, you go to Amazon because that's where all the products are; if you want to sell something you go to Amazon because that's where all the customers are" — and stated he believes it is taking advantage of the system and has no plans to stop. When asked about proposals for federal intervention to break up Amazon, he replied that they "could potentially make sense" and compared Amazon to Standard Oil and Bell Telephone Company in terms of scale. Relating to these concerns, he suggested that individuals might be deterred from starting up a business due to a "justifiable fear that they might not be able to hold onto their businesses" because they cannot compete with Amazon's size and scale. [4] [5] [7] [9] He also criticized Amazon's Ring doorbells for sharing video with police. [5]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Stone, Brad (2018). The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon (Updated with a new preface ed.). New York, NY Boston London: Back Bay Books/Little, Brown and Company. ISBN   978-0-316-21926-6.
  2. 1 2 Cannon, Craig (September 6, 2016). "Employee #1: Amazon" (Interview). Interviewed by Craig Cannon. Y Combinator. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  3. 1 2 Cook, John (June 14, 2011). "Meet Amazon.com's first employee: Shel Kaphan" (Interview). Interviewed by John Cook. GeekWire . Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  4. 1 2 "Shel Kaphan". pbs.org. Archived from the original on March 7, 2024. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 Pinchin, Karen; Bourg, Anya; Jacoby, James (February 13, 2020). "Exclusive: Amazon's First Employee Calls Company a "Huge and Unstoppable Force"". pbs.org. Archived from the original on October 27, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  6. 1 2 Bixenspan, David (October 22, 2023). "This Is What Amazon's First Employees Are Up To Today". SlashGear. Archived from the original on October 31, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  7. 1 2 Rey, Jason Del (February 13, 2020). "Jeff Bezos's first employee: Amazon "scares me"". Vox. Archived from the original on March 25, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  8. ↑ "Kaphan Foundation". Influence Watch. n.d. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  9. ↑ Jacoby, James; Bourg, Anya; Robertson, Megan (February 18, 2020). "Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos". Frontline. Season 2020. Episode 12. Kaphan's portion of the program starts at 1:47:03. PBS. KSPS. Archived from the original on December 2, 2023. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
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