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After they all hung up, Richardson held her breath. Just as she feared, only an hour passed before Fanning told her that he had changed his mind. He said Gigabeat was getting too much of Kleiner's money. Richardson thought another reason was that he feared—correctly—that Kleiner wouldn't want him to stay on the board.

Just like that, the deal died.

Strategically, Napster's last best chance went down with it, according to Richardson and her confidant, Xtime CEO John Lee. "They wanted him off the board. That's where the battle was lost," Lee said. "Either John Fanning gets off and they get real financing and legitimize themselves, or he doesn't. . . . He didn't care about the kids. He was a greedy bastard."

Without Kleiner, Richardson worried that everything she and her team had worked so hard for would fall apart. At two o'clock one morning during the funding crisis, she sent a long e-mail of encouragement and exhortation to the troops that spoke to those fears. "Fellow Napsters, our company has come to a critical stage," she began. "What attracted each and every one of us to Napster is the chance to change the world. A chance to make things better for consumers, a chance to change the life of an inner-city kid by letting him make a living as a musical artist. A worthy goal for sure, but a long, hard road lies ahead." She listed all the ways Napster could blow it: executing poorly, making bad decisions, failing to get the New Artist Program running, and infighting. She asked the staff to work harder, stay focused, and be nicer to each other. "Someday we will be basking in the glory of having created the fastest growing, most successful company in the Valley. And you, the first 25 employees of this company, will be the ones who created the foundation for success." She signed the memo: "Your Sometimes Fearless, Sometimes Freaked-Out Leader, Eileen."

Having no alternative besides resigning and leaving Shawn and the others flat, Richardson trudged on. Her next stop on Sand Hill was Mohr, Davidow Ventures. Another well-established firm, Mohr, Davidow had backed Rambus, Sierra Semiconductor, and Vitesse Semiconductors Corp., all thriving chip firms. And it wasn't afraid to make selective software and Internet bets, though it had wisely avoided dot-com retailers. It had supported Viant Corp., the big Web consultant, and Critical Path