Shel Kaphan

Shel Kaphan
Born1952 or 1953 (age 71–72)
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of California, Santa Cruz (BS)
OccupationComputer programmer
EmployerAmazon (1994–1999)
OrganizationKaphan Foundation

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. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos described Kaphan as "the most important person ever in the history of Amazon.com,"[1] and Brad Stone wrote in his book about Amazon, The Everything Store, that "Kaphan was an introverted hacker with an idealistic streak and little intuitive leadership ability."[2]: 63 

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference stone was invoked but never defined (see the help page).