Jez San

San received his first computer, a TRS-80, at the age of twelve in 1978 from his father, who had a career in shipping the belongings of immigrants at the time. San became interested in video game development at a young age after playing a multi-user dungeon (MUD) in the 1970s. Within a year, he taught himself assembly language for several microprocessors.

San founded Argonaut Software as a teenager in high school at JFS to get software consulting jobs with large companies. He worked on security systems with British Telecom and Acorn. In 1984, he started developing his first game, Skyline Attack for the Commodore 64, and also co-wrote a book, Quantum Theory, about the Sinclair QL. He became a wizard (admin) at Essex MUD, the world's first multiplayer online role-playing game.

San's late-1986 game Starglider for the Atari ST and Amiga sold hundreds of thousands of copies (earning him £2 per copy in royalties). The money helped launch Argonaut, a larger company that hired others in 1986.