Sam Yagan (born April 10, 1977) is an American

Internet entrepreneur An Internet entrepreneur is an owner, founder or manager of an Internet-based business. This list includes Internet company founders and people brought on to companies for their general business or accounting acumen, as is the case with some CEOs ...

best known as the co-founder of

OkCupid OkCupid (often abbreviated as OKC, but officially OkC) is a U.S.-based, internationally operating online dating, friendship, and formerly also a social networking website and application. It features multiple-choice questions to match members. ...

. ''Time'' named Yagan one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2013. He is the co-founder and managing director of Corazon Capital.

Family and education

Yagan is the son of Syrian immigrants, Al and Dr. Haifa Yagan, and grew up in Bourbonnais, Illinois; he studied at Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School, Illinois Math and Science Academy,

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

, and eventually

Stanford Graduate School of Business The Stanford Graduate School of Business is the Postgraduate education, graduate business school of Stanford University, a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California. For several years it has been the most selective ...

. Yagan holds a bachelor's degree in Applied Mathematics and Economics from Harvard University and an MBA from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, 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. His brother Danny Yagan is an economics professor at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. His wife Jessica Droste Yagan is the CEO of Impact Engine, an

impact investing Impact investing refers to investments "made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return". At its core, impact investing is about an a ...

fund.

Career

In 1999, during his senior year at Harvard, Yagan and his classmates, Chris Coyne, Max Krohn, and

Christian Rudder Christian Rudder (born September 1, 1975) is an American entrepreneur, writer, and musician. Education Rudder graduated from Little Rock Central High School in 1993. He attended Harvard University, graduating with a degree in mathematics in 1998 ...

started TheSpark.com, which would later be known as

SparkNotes SparkNotes, originally part of a website called The Spark, is a company started by Harvard students Sam Yagan, Max Krohn, Chris Coyne, and Eli Bolotin in 1999 that originally provided study guides for literature, poetry, history, film, and phil ...

. In 2000, Yagan and partners sold SparkNotes to iTurf for $30 million, the partners then helped iTurf sell the site again to

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. The company operates approximately 600 retail stores across the United States. Barnes & Noble operates mainly through its B ...

. in 2001. After the sale, Yagan then stayed at Barnes & Noble for a year. eDonkey was a part of MetaMachine Inc and was a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing network. Yagan was the CEO of MetaMachine Inc. As the developer of eDonkey, Yagan testified before the

Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally known as the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a Standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the United States Departm ...

expressing a need for balance between innovation and intellectual property. In 2006, MetaMachine, Yagan, and founder Jed McCaleb agreed to pay $30 million to avoid potential copyright infringement lawsuits brought by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. 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. In 2003, Yagan again teamed up with his Harvard classmates Chris Coyne, Max Krohn, and Christian Rudder to found online dating website

. Yagan and partners designed OkCupid with a question-and-answer-based system. In 2011, Yagan led the sale of OkCupid to Match Group, a subsidiary of IAC, for $50 million. 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. While Yagan was CEO, Match Group started

Tinder Tinder is easily Combustibility and flammability, combustible material used to Firemaking, start a fire. Tinder is a finely divided, open material which will begin to glow under a shower of sparks. Air is gently wafted over the glowing tinder unt ...

. In 2009, Yagan, Kelli Rhee, and Kapil Chaudhary co-founded Excelerate Labs with the financial backing from Sandbox Industries. Excelerate Labs merged with Techstars in 2013. In 2014, Yagan co-founded Corazon Capital with Steve Farsht. In 2016, Yagan became the CEO of ShopRunner, an e-commerce network that provides two-day shipping across multiple merchants that was founded by Michael Rubin. He led the sale of the company to

FedEx FedEx Corporation, originally known as Federal Express Corporation, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company specializing in Package delivery, transportation, e-commerce, and ...

in December 2020. Yagan shut down ShopRunner's office in

San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ) is the most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. It is part of the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan region, and is located about south of San Francisco. San Mateo border ...

, and established its headquarters in Chicago. He attributed this move to the labor market and ability to recruit.

Board memberships

Yagan has participated on the board for several companies including

Grindr Grindr () is a location-based social networking and online dating application for gay, bisexual, queer, and transgender people. It was one of the first geosocial apps for gay men when it launched in March 2009, and has since become the large ...

, Match Group, Rush University Medical Center, Start Early, Shiftgig, SpotHero,

, and Techstars.

Recognition

''Time'' named Yagan one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2013. In 2011, Yagan was named to '' Crain's'' "40 under 40" in Chicago.

Personal life

Sam Yagan is married to his high school sweetheart, Jessica Droste Yagan. They have three children. Yagan and his wife started the Yagan Family Foundation.

References

External links

Profile
at IAC {{DEFAULTSORT:Yagan, Sam Living people 1977 births Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences alumni Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni American people of Syrian descent American technology chief executives People from Bourbonnais, Illinois American technology company founders Syrian businesspeople