Shawn Fanning

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shawn Fanning (born November 22, 1980) is a computer programmer, entrepreneur, and angel investor.

Shawn Fanning
Shawn Fanning
Born (1980-11-22) November 22, 1980 (age 43)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materNortheastern University (dropped out)
Occupation(s)Computer programmer, entrepreneur, angel investor
Known forCo-founder and lead software engineer of Napster
Notable workNapster, Snocap, Rupture, Path

Career[change | change source]

Fanning released a preliminary beta program of Napster and soon, hundreds of college students at Northeastern were trading music. Fanning was named to the MIT Technology Review TR100 as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35. He opened a new company, Snocap, along with Jordan Mendelson (Napster's Chief Architect), and Ron Conway.

In late 2007, Snocap laid off 60% of its workforce. The ValleyWag wrote an article that Fanning had long left Snocap and began to collaborate with another venture, Rupture. The ValleyWag article stated that the failure was largely due to Snocap's CEO Rusty Rueff and that of former VP Engineering Dave Rowley.[2][3]

References[change | change source]

  1. Bleznak, Becca (15 March 2021). "Shawn Fanning". MD Daily. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  2. "CD Baby - What happened with CD Baby and Snocap". web.archive.org. 2009-08-15. Archived from the original on 2009-08-15. Retrieved 2021-05-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. "The Rise & Fall of Snocap – What Did We Learn? | Penny Distribution's Blog". web.archive.org. 2014-04-08. Archived from the original on 2014-04-08. Retrieved 2021-05-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)