Shawn Fanning

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

 Career 
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. 

References

Category:1980 births
Category:Living people
Category:American computer engineers
Category:Businesspeople from Massachusetts