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offered words of encouragement. Controversy can be a good thing, he said, as long as you know how to navigate it.

I was trying to figure out if these types of things were normal for this area, or if Conway was just a madman, Shawn said. It was all for a good cause, so it was cool, but it was a scene. Definitely a scene. For a time, Shawn and Parker just stood and watched the street as arrivals emerged from one amazing car after another. I thought maybe this happened weekly, Parker said. We thought we had been inducted into this inner circle, where everyone you bumped into was worth $50 million.

Richardson’s toughest assignment had come to an end. Originally having signed on for six months, she had needed nine. She wanted nothing more to do with the firm, and Hummer Winblad was ready to put in Hank Barry as her temporary replacement. She resigned with a clear conscience. There was nothing more I could do, Richardson said. The suit needed attention, and in some ways, who better than Hank Barry for that?

It would be hard to exaggerate the contrast in personality between Richardson and Barry. Richardson was a den mother and a cheerleader, sometimes energetic to the point of ineffectiveness. Barry was a corporate lawyer only recently turned venture capitalist, with no real way of bonding with the kids doing most of the actual work at Napster. Yet Barry harbored a rebellious streak that was unusual for one in his position. Once again, it was all about the liberating feeling of music. Not too many big-firm lawyers or VCs had spent seven years playing rock ’n’ roll. Those times were well behind Barry, now a breadwinning family guy driving a minivan. But Napster was giving him a chance to recapture that side of himself. Mr. Barry, Silicon Valley lawyer turned private investor, would be transformed magically back into Hank the Cool Drummer, He Who Brings Music to the People.

One of five children in an Ann Arbor, Michigan, family, Barry played in bands in high school and during his first two years at the University of Michigan. It was a lot more fun than studying, and Barry dreamed of drumming for real. Deciding to take the chance while he could, Barry quit school, supporting himself with a radio day job while he played in bands five sets a night, six nights a week. He cut records with some of the

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