Sam Yagan (born April 10, 1977) is an American Internet entrepreneur best known as the co-founder of OkCupid. In 2013, he was named to ''TIME'' Magazine's '100 Most Influential People in the World' list. He is the Vice-Chairman of the e-dating site Match.com.

Family and education

Yagan is the son of Syrian immigrants, Al and Dr. Haifa Yagan, and grew up in

Bourbonnais, Illinois Bourbonnais ( ) is a village in Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. The population was 18,164 at the 2020 census. History The village is named for François Bourbonnais Sr., a fur trapper, hunter and agent of the American Fur Company, who ...

, and studied at the Illinois Math and Science Academy and eventually

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

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

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

, 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 land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

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

Career

SparkNotes

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.

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 1 ...

joined shortly after the founding. A year later they sold the company to

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. It is a Fortune 1000 company and the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. As of July 7, 2020, the company operates 614 retail stores across all 50 ...

for $30 million.

eDonkey, Inc.

By age 25, Yagan was the president of eDonkey (founded in 2002), a P2P file-sharing network. As the developer of eDonkey, Yagan testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee expressing a need for balance between innovation and intellectual property.

OkCupid

In 2003, Yagan again teamed up with his Harvard classmates Chris Coyne and Max Krohn and founded OkCupid.

Excelerate Labs

In 2009, Yagan and Troy Henikoff founded Excelerate Labs.

IAC

In 2011, Yagan sold his dating website (OkCupid) to IAC for $50 million and in 2012, Yagan became the CEO of Match.com (a subsidiary of IAC).

ShopRunner

Yagan is currently CEO of ShopRunner, an e-commerce network that provides two-day shipping across multiple merchants.

Honors and recognition

Time 100

In April 2013, Yagan was listed as one of TIME Magazine's '100 Most Influential People in the World'.

Fortune Magazine's 40 Under 40

In 2014, Yagan was listed as one of Fortune Magazine's "40 Under 40."

Crain's "40 Under 40"

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.

References

External links

Profile
at IAC {{DEFAULTSORT:Yagan, Sam Living people 1977 births Harvard 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