One of the co-founders of Napster and a principal developer of its software is leaving the company for a position at a San Francisco start-up.
22-year old Jordan Ritter says he'll become vice president of technology at Round1 Private Capital Marketplace, which provides venture-capital-related services over the Internet to corporations, leveraged-buyout groups and others.
Ritter joined Napster, the popular but controversial music-exchange Web service, in 1999 after meeting Shawn Fanning, Napster's inventor, online. Ritter was one of the company's first three employees, and is considered a co-founder by Napster executives.
He eventually became responsible for overseeing all of the work on the "server" software that operates on Napster's central computer and keeps track of which Napster users are logged on and what music files they have to share.
Major music labels have gone to court to try to force Napster to curb its popular music-transfer functions, which the industry regards as a violation of copyright laws. An appeals court is expected to issue a ruling in the case any day now. Napster recently agreed, in effect, to sell itself to Bertelsmann AG of Germany in a deal that officials of both companies said they hope will lead to a settlement of the lawsuit.
Ritter said he expected that Napster would ultimately triumph in its legal action and he wasn't leaving because he thought the company's existence was endangered. Rather, he said he had a chance for "personal growth and professional career development" at the new company that he couldn't pass up.
The closely held Round1, which has about 40 employees, said it aims to significantly change the workings of much of the venture-capital process by bringing Internet-style efficiencies to the process.
