Shel Kaphan
Shel Kaphan | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Education | University of California, Santa Cruz (BS) |
| Employer | Amazon (1994–1999) |
Shel Kaphan is an American computer programmer who was the first employee of technology company Amazon. Working there from 1994 to 1999, he co-wrote the first Amazon website, wrote the product review system, and contributed to 1-Click.
Early life and education[edit]
Kaphan grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a teenager he was interested in computers and would use the ARPANET. He met the writer Stewart Brand as a teenager and started working for his Whole Earth Catalog, a counterculture publication. There he worked in the lending library and education service Whole Earth Truck Store in Menlo Park.[1]: 14
Kaphan got a mathematics bachelor's degree at the University Of California, Santa Cruz. Afterwards he worked at several companies in the Bay Area including Kaleida Labs.[1]: 14
Career[edit]
In 1994 Kaphan was hired into the American company Amazon.com by Jeff Bezos as the company's first employee.[2] Kaphan was interested in working with Bezos as the two had an interest in creating new web technologies.[3] After being hired as the VP of Research and Development,[4] Kaphan moved from Santa Cruz to Seattle. He was initially skeptical about the company's ability to succeed.[1]: 14 He wrote the company's first website with another employee,[1]: 17 wrote the website's product review system,[1]: 19 and helped create 1-Click.[5] In 1997 he became chief technology officer, which did not act as a promotion as he had no direct responsibilities and acted as an adviser. According to Kaphan, Bezos asked Kaphan if he wanted the job, to which he said he did not, and Bezos gave him the job without choice.[1]: 40 Kaphan described Bezos moving him away from hands on work as "a betrayal of a sacred trust" and "one of the biggest disappointments of my entire life". After his stock payments ended in 1999, he stopped coming to the office and resigned later that year.[1]: 41–42 [4][5]
Bezos has described Kaphan as "the most important person ever in the history of Amazon.com".[6] Brad Stone described Kaphan in his book about Amazon, The Everything Store, as "an introverted hacker with an idealistic streak and little intuitive leadership ability".[1]: 41
Kaphan is currently president of his charitable foundation, the Kaphan Foundation, and does consulting.[5][2][7]
Views of Amazon[edit]
In February 2020, Kaphan was interviewed as part of an episode of the PBS program Frontline, in which he stated, "I am proud of what [Amazon] became, but it also scares me." He characterized the company as both a monopoly and a monopsony — in his words, "If you want to buy something, you go to Amazon because that's where all the products are; if you want to sell something you go to Amazon because that's where all the customers are" — and stated he believes it is taking advantage of the system and has no plans to stop. When asked about proposals for federal intervention to break up Amazon, he replied that they "could potentially make sense" and compared Amazon to Standard Oil and Bell Telephone Company in terms of scale. Relating to these concerns, he suggested that individuals might be deterred from starting up a business due to a "justifiable fear that they might not be able to hold onto their businesses" because they cannot compete with Amazon's size and scale.[2][3][6][8] He also criticized Amazon's Ring doorbells for sharing video with police.[3]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h Stone, Brad (2018). The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon (Updated with a new preface ed.). New York, NY Boston London: Back Bay Books/Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-21926-6.
- ^ a b c "Shel Kaphan". pbs.org. Archived from the original on March 7, 2024. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
- ^ a b c Pinchin, Karen; Bourg, Anya; Jacoby, James (February 13, 2020). "Exclusive: Amazon's First Employee Calls Company a "Huge and Unstoppable Force"". pbs.org. Archived from the original on October 27, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
- ^ a b D'Onfro, Jillian (April 19, 2014). "What Happened To 7 Of The Earliest Employees Who Launched Amazon". Yahoo Finance. Archived from the original on December 24, 2022. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
- ^ a b c Bixenspan, David (October 22, 2023). "This Is What Amazon's First Employees Are Up To Today". SlashGear. Archived from the original on October 31, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
- ^ a b Rey, Jason Del (February 13, 2020). "Jeff Bezos's first employee: Amazon "scares me"". Vox. Archived from the original on March 25, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
- ^ Hallam, Sarah. "The First Five Hires at Amazon". THE ORG. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
- ^ Jacoby, James; Bourg, Anya; Robertson, Megan (February 18, 2020). "Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos". Frontline. Season 2020. Episode 12. Kaphan's portion of the program starts at 1:47:03. PBS. KSPS. Archived from the original on December 2, 2023. Retrieved March 8, 2024.