# Harper Reed

> Harper Reed is a technologist, entrepreneur, and team builder. As CTO of the Obama 2012 campaign, he brought the tech mentality to politics. He pioneered crowdsourcing at Threadless.com, founded Modest Inc (acquired by PayPal), and is CEO of 2389.ai. He lives in Chicago with his partner Hiromi and their poodle Lulu.

## About

Harper Reed is a technologist that predicts the future for a living. He spends his life traveling around the world showing people the possibilities of tech and sharing his experiences to propel the greater good, all while raising the level of fun in the room.

Harper knows his incredible luck has led him to achieve many wonderful things. At PayPal, his roles as Head of Commerce and as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence allowed him to guide teams into the thrilling future of e-commerce. The technology he developed as co-founder at startup Modest Inc. had initially garnered the attention of PayPal, which led them to acquire Modest only a few years after launch.

Harper also believes the talent of a great bunch of humans can transform an organization like nothing else and he uses that belief to strengthen, deploy, and inspire every team he works with. Previously, Harper was CTO of the Obama 2012 campaign, where he was the first to bring the mentality and connective capabilities of tech to the political stage. He was also the CTO of Threadless.com, where he pioneered crowdsourcing and grew the company from a 12 person startup to a multi-million dollar enterprise. Harper is an MIT Media Lab Director’s Fellow, sits on the advisory boards for IIT Computer Science and the Royal United Service Institute, and is on the Cornell College Board of Trustees.

Harper was most recently the CEO of General Galactic Corporation, a web3 company building software for the new internet. Galactic focused on creating rational crypto off-ramps for crypto workers and others who earn crypto. The company shut down in 2023.

In 2024, Harper founded 2389 Research Inc, a venture-backed AI company where he serves as CEO. 2389 Research is building multi-agent workflows that unlock new possibilities for intelligent automation.

You can find Harper hacking on personal projects and enjoying life in Chicago with his partner, Hiromi and their beautiful and bizarre poodle, Lulu.

- [About Harper Reed](https://harperreed.com/about/index.md): Detailed background, philosophy, and personal info
- [Resume](https://harperreed.com/resume.md): Full work history, education, awards, and skills

## Current Work

Harper Reed is the CEO and co-founder of 2389 Research Inc (founded 2024), a venture-backed AI company focused on applied AI for commerce and building multi-agent workflows for intelligent automation.

- [2389 Research Inc](https://2389.ai): Harper Reed's current company

## Speaking

Harper Reed is an international keynote speaker who has spoken for premier brands worldwide. He speaks on Artificial Intelligence, Creativity & Innovation, Disruption & Technological Change, Entrepreneurship, Future of Work, Leadership & Building Teams, Politics & Elections, Team Building, Work Culture.

Past clients include Amazon AWS, BlackRock, Bloomberg, Booking.com, Cisco, Credit Suisse, Facebook, Google, GreenPlum, HEDNA, HSBC, Intel, PayPal, Pictet, Santander, SAS, TIGO, UBS, Volkswagen, Zalando.

- [Speaking page](https://harperreed.com/speaking/index.md): Topics, clients, videos, and booking info
- [Speaking materials](https://harperreed.com/speaking/materials/index.md): Bios, headshots, and technical requirements for event organizers
- [Book Harper Reed](mailto:speaking@harperreed.com): Email for speaking inquiries

## Press

Notable coverage:

- ["Conviction Collapse" and the End of Software as We Know It](https://www.oreilly.com/radar/conviction-collapse-and-the-end-of-software-as-we-know-it/) (O'Reilly Media, 2026)
- [Which Workers Will A.I. Hurt Most: The Young or the Experienced?](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/business/ai-job-cuts.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Uk8.1ZrA.dJASBCtLvtau&smid=url-share) (New York Times, 2025)
- [At Amazon, Some Coders Say Their Jobs Have Begun to Resemble Warehouse Work](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/25/business/amazon-ai-coders.html) (New York Times, 2025)
- [An interview about the 2024 election with Harper Reed, chief technology officer for Obama 2012](https://thebulletin.org/premium/2024-09/an-interview-about-the-2024-election-with-harper-reed-chief-technology-officer-for-obama-2012/) (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 2024)
- [Punk Techie Harper Reed Chats with Students](https://www.susqu.edu/132-punk-techie-harper-reed-chats-with-students/) (Susquehanna University, 2020)
- [What Harper Reed Thinks: A Conversation With Obama’s Former CTO](https://postlight.com/trackchanges/podcast/what-harper-reed-thinks-a-conversation-with-obamas-former-cto) (Track Changes, 2019)
- [Obama CTO says 'Big Data is BS' in keynote to hoteliers and vendors at HEDNA 2018](https://www.tnooz.com/article/obama-cto-says-big-data-is-bs/) (tnooz, 2018)
- [Your Amazon Order Could Get You in Trouble With Customs](https://www.racked.com/2018/1/8/16849298/amazon-counterfeits-global-entry-customs) (RACKED, 2018)
- [Harper Reed: Als Nerd im Dienst der Zukunft](http://www.fuw.ch/article/harper-reed-als-nerd-im-dienst-der-zukunft/) (Finanz und Wirtschaft, 2017)
- [Nobody wants 'federation' of mobile messaging, says PayPal](http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/nobody-wants-federation-mobile-messaging-says-paypal/1425795) (Campaign, 2017)

- [Press kit](https://harperreed.com/about/index.md): Short and long bios in multiple languages (English, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, French), high-resolution headshots, and past press coverage
- [Press contact](mailto:press@harperreed.com): Email for press inquiries

## Career History

- **2389 Research Inc** (2024-present): CEO & Co-founder — venture-backed AI company
- **General Galactic Corporation** (2019-2023): CEO & Co-founder — web3 and crypto fintech (shut down 2023)
- **MIT Media Lab** (2018-2020): Director's Fellow
- **PayPal** (2015-2018): Senior Director, Software Development — contextual commerce, SE Asia research
- **Modest Inc** (2012-2015): Founder & CEO — mobile commerce platform (acquired by PayPal)
- **Obama for America** (2011-2012): CTO — built technology platform for the 2012 reelection campaign
- **Rackspace** (2009-2010): Customer in Residence
- **Threadless.com** (2005-2009): CTO — grew from 12-person startup to multi-million dollar enterprise
- **Squidoo** (2005): Summer intern with Seth Godin
- **Cramer-Krasselt** (2004-2005): Web Programmer
- **World Book Publishing** (2001-2004): Security and Software Engineer

## Awards

- Prix Ars Electronica Net Vision Honorary Mention (2002)
- MCIC Data Innovation Award (2010)
- Crain's Chicago Business 40 Under 40 (2013)
- Webby Award — Breakout of the Year (2013)
- Moxie Award — CTO of the Year (2013)
- Cornell College Young Alumni Achievement Award (2014)
- Asian Financial Society AaA PrMMAE (2017)

## Board & Advisory Positions

- Pardee RAND Graduate School — Board of Governors (2020-present)
- Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Negaunee Music Institute — Board Member (2020-present)
- Royal United Services Institute — Advisory Board (2017-present)
- Cornell College — Board of Trustees (2016-2024)
- IIT Computer Science — Advisory Board

## Contact & Social

- Email: [harper@modest.com](mailto:harper@modest.com)
- Github: [harperreed](http://github.com/harperreed)
- Bluesky: [@harper.lol](https://bsky.app/profile/harper.lol)
- Linkedin: [harperreed](https://linkedin.com/in/harperreed)
- Mastodon: [@harper@social.modest.com](https://social.modest.com/@harper)
- Instagram: [harperreed](http://instagram.com/harperreed)
- Signal: [@harper.666](https://signal.me/#eu/WUgv1GZSbX7DRINkL9Uu7i0a-GHdlQIBjtIUU9iUW-ea-OYLPbxNAp0AajiCjJXh)
- Threads: [@harperreed](https://www.threads.net/@harperreed)
- Facebook: [Harper Reed](https://www.facebook.com/harperrules?_rdr)
- Twitter: [@harper](http://twitter.com/harper)

## Other Projects

- [harper.blog](https://harper.blog): Blog and personal writing
- [harper.photos](https://harper.photos): Photography portfolio
- [reading.lol](https://reading.lol): Recently read books
- Lulu the poodle

## Optional

- [Privacy policy](https://harperreed.com/privacy-policy/index.md): Site privacy policy
- [Colophon](https://harperreed.com/colophon/index.md): Site built with Hugo, Tailwind CSS, hosted on Netlify
- [Contact page](https://harperreed.com/about/index.md#contact): All contact methods and social links
- [Sitemap](https://harperreed.com/sitemap.md): Machine-readable index of every public page
- [AGENTS.md](https://harperreed.com/AGENTS.md): Instructions for AI agents consuming this site