Sam Yagan

Yagan is the son of Syrian immigrants, Al and Dr. Haifa Yagan,^[3][4] and grew up in Bourbonnais, Illinois; he studied at Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School, Illinois Math and Science Academy, Harvard College, and eventually Stanford Graduate School of Business.^[5][6]

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.^[7] His brother Danny Yagan is an economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley.^[8] His wife Jessica Droste Yagan is the CEO of Impact Engine, an impact investing fund.^[9]

In 1999, during his senior year at Harvard, Yagan and his classmates, Chris Coyne, Max Krohn, and Christian Rudder started TheSpark.com,^[10][11] which would later be known as SparkNotes.^[12] In 2000, Yagan and partners sold SparkNotes to iTurf for $30 million,^[13][14] the partners then helped iTurf sell the site again to Barnes & Noble. in 2001.^[14][15] After the sale, Yagan then stayed at Barnes & Noble for a year.^[16]

eDonkey was a part of MetaMachine Inc and was a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing network. Yagan was the CEO of MetaMachine Inc.^[17] As the developer of eDonkey, Yagan testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee expressing a need for balance between innovation and intellectual property.^[18]

In 2006, MetaMachine, Yagan, and founder Jed McCaleb agreed to pay $30 million to avoid potential copyright infringement lawsuits brought by the RIAA.^[17] 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.^[19]

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.^[20][21] In 2011, Yagan led the sale of OkCupid to Match Group, a subsidiary of IAC, for $50 million.^[22] 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.^[23] While Yagan was CEO, Match Group started Tinder.^[24]

In 2009, Yagan, Kelli Rhee, and Kapil Chaudhary co-founded Excelerate Labs with the financial backing from Sandbox Industries.^[25] Excelerate Labs merged with Techstars in 2013.^[26]

In 2014, Yagan co-founded Corazon Capital with Steve Farsht.^[27]

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.^[28][29] He led the sale of the company to FedEx in December 2020.^[30] Yagan shut down ShopRunner's office in San Mateo, California, and established its headquarters in Chicago.^[31] He attributed this move to the labor market and ability to recruit.^[32]

Time named Yagan one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2013.^[2] In 2011, Yagan was named to Crain's "40 under 40" in Chicago.^[38]

Sam Yagan is married to his high school sweetheart, Jessica Droste Yagan.^[39][40] They have three children.^[1][41] Yagan and his wife started the Yagan Family Foundation.^[42]