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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 materHarvard 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]

Family and education

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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

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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

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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

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

References

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  1. ^ a b c "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.
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