Welcome to NetCapital's Team

John Fanning, Chairman and CTO Netcapital

John, Founding Chairman and CEO of Napster, has been a pioneer in Internet Technologies for over 15 years. In addition to his work with Napster on the distributed aggregation of content, he has introduced such net-related innovations as client-server game play, audio chat, and auto-upgrading/authentication. Since 1994, he has founded numerous successful Internet ventures, including Napster, NetGames, Sportsclub, and NetCapital. John attended Boston College, and has a background in Finance from his work at Fidelity Investments in Boston, MA.

John Zahner, Senior Vice President, Business Development

John Zahner is a successful start-up entrepreneur with a broad range of experience in information services, online media and software services. In 1999, he joined start-up eLogic, a content management and software developer for publishers, as VP business development and strategy. He increased sales by adding such clients as NewsEdge, Dow Jones, Excite@Home, Red Herring, Business.com, The New York Times, Clear Channel and Artist Direct. John opened discussions with Cahners publishing in May 2000 that resulted in the sale of eLogic to Cahners' parent Reed-Elsevier for $79 million cash in June of 2000.

Prior to eLogic, John co-founded Individual, Inc. in 1989. Individual exploited new advances in text-retrieval technology to build personalized news services sold as an enterprise solution to Global 500 companies, followed by a single-user service, HeadsUp, and online media site, NewsPage. As VP Marketing, VP Sales, and VP Business Development over a period of 8 years, John took the company from start-up to a successful IPO in March of 1996. Individual merged with rival Desktop Data in 1998 to form NewsEdge, now part of Thomson Corporation. Prior to Individual, John owned a special-interest magazine publishing firm he sold to Rodale Press and before that was a publisher for Ziff-Davis in New York.

Yosi Amram, Confidant, Coach, and Counselor for CEOs

Yosi Amram coached several dozen CEOs in a role that evolved from being an outside board member. As confidant and coach, provide a confidential sounding board for supporting CEOs facing a lonely role. Provide input and coaching on practical matters, as well as sensitive matters, related to building and managing a company, a team, investors, and a board. Support the development of greater inspirational leadership in CEOs. Work on enhancing leadership power by tapping and developing ones purpose, passion, authentic presence, and by creating and mobilizing deeper meaning through work. Also work on managing stress and enhancing well being given the inherent challenges of the job. Offer 360-degree feedback based on interviews with executive staff, and board members.

CEO. Joined 2-person technical team as founding CEO. Developed business plan, raised funding, and built the management team and Founder/Chairman/CEO. Conceived new business concept and founded this pioneer of personalized newspapers and interactive media. Built management team and cultivated unique culture that emphasized self-actualization and personal growth through the development of clear mission and values statement that resulted in high employee commitment and low turnover. Raised funding from premiere VCs and corporate partners, including Kleiner Perkins, Knight-Ridder, and Microsoft. Developed partnerships with AOL, Lotus/IBM, and Microsoft. Successfully completed IPO. Grew annual revenues: from $800 thousand in 1991 to $24 million in 1996. Yosi graduated Harvard Business School with an MBA. and received first and second year honors as well as graduating in the top 10% of his class. He also graduated with a M.I.T. graduated with a 5.0 GPA

Joe Abrams, Founder Myspace

Mr. Abrams has deep experience in helping early-stage, publicly held technology companies reach the next phase of growth. In 1999, he co-founded Intermix, the parent company of social networking leader MySpace. In 2005, MySpace was sold to News Corp. for $580 million.
In addition, Abrams was a founder of The Software Toolworks, a software company that released several hit titles in the 1980's, which ultimately led to the company's sale in 1994 to Pearson, Plc., for $462 million.

http://meetinnovators.com/2008/05/08/joe-abrams-from-the-software-toolworks/

Peter N. Schmidt, Director Cronus Partners

Pete Schmidt has a broad knowledge of software and other technology with a particular expertise in healthcare information technology. He has provided technology leadership and strategic management to a range of healthcare and technology businesses in the areas of capital raising, healthcare transformation, and internet technology. Prior to joining Cronus, Dr. Schmidt was the President of Doctor Global, Ltd. and a consultant to clients in high-tech private equity advising on product strategy and the marketplace. A patent holder for a total knee replacement, he has a Ph.D. in computer simulation for orthopedics and has published research on statistical modeling and the economics of technology-enabled healthcare delivery.
Cornell University, Ph.D.
Harvard University, B.S.