Napster

Sean Parker: 16-year-old Freeloader intern, then a $100K Napster check

A teenage Sean Parker cold-emailed Pincus offering to work free for the summer at Freeloader. When Parker later co-founded Napster and the servers were full, he asked for $100,000 and Pincus simply mailed a check.

“He was, I think he was 16. And I said, sure. And he came and he was awesome. I don't know if he actually knew how to program Unix or not. I still haven't actually ever gone back and asked him. But, but he, you know, he was a force even then. And, and then he started Napster with the other Sean Fanning and emailed me about Napster and just said, we turn on these couple servers, this music sharing, and it's— every server is full. We need more money and we need $100,000. And I just mailed them a check for $100,000 because Again, that was just a no-brainer. You always send that check.”