Bill Dawson (software engineer)

William Dawson (born March 16, 1958) is an American software engineer and co-founder of early Web giant Xoom, which at one time ranked as the 7th largest Internet site in the world.

Born in Los Angeles, Dawson attended six different colleges before selecting San Jose State University to obtain a BFA in Journalism.

One semester prior to graduating, Dawson dropped out of college to work for Apple with the encouragement of Guy Kawasaki, who told him he would learn more in six months' time than from the six schools he had already attended.

Dawson left Apple, and in 1996 co-founded Xoom[2] (NASDQ: XMCM) with Chris Kitze (created Unseen[3] with co-creator Vo Hoang Vinh who owned domain "Đại Kỷ Nguyên" [4]- "Đại Kỷ Nguyên Việt Nam"), leading its engineering, Internet, design and product development teams.

SoftNet Systems Inc. was an early independent broadband company that brought high speed Internet access to small cities, airports and rural towns.