![](https://harperreed.com/avatar) Harper Reed =========== • Chicago, IL • [harperreed.com](https://harperreed.com) • [harper](https://X.com/harper) • [harperreed](https://github.com/harperreed) • [harperreed](https://www.linkedin.com/in/harperreed/) ### Summary Harper Reed is a seasoned technologist and entrepreneur known for his impactful contributions across various domains. He has held significant roles at PayPal, Modest Inc., the Obama 2012 campaign, and Threadless.com, showcasing his ability to drive innovation in e-commerce, politics, and crowdsourcing. Most recently, Harper was the CEO of General Galactic Corporation, where he focused on shaping the future of the internet through web3 technologies and rational crypto offramps. Harper's commitment to education and collaboration is reflected in his advisory board roles, while his personal life in Chicago adds a human touch to his impressive journey. ### Work Experience **CEO** • July 2024 - Present Cofounder and CEO of 2389 Research. - Focusing on the future of commerce and how applied AI can make commerce more excited and more robust - Building a team of amazing people - AI is wild **CEO** • July 2019 - July 2023 Cofounder and CEO of General Galactic Corporation. - Build a team of amazing people to build amazing products - Raised 10.5 million dollars in a pre-seed and see round - Built a handful of products that helped guide users within crypto and fintech - Shut down the company in 2023 due to regulatatory uncertainty **Delagate** • July 2019 - July 2023 - Worked with Japanese and American entrepreneurs to help build bridges between the two countries - Learned from our Japanese hosts about the culture and business practices in Japan **Director's Fellow** • May 2018 - May 2020 - Work within the various groups at Medialab - Work with the E14 fund to help their entrepreneurs **Senior Director, Software Development** • August 2015 - April 2018 - Helped establish and define contextual commerce and an emergent commerce function. - Did research about commerce in South East Asia - Helped facilitate build engineering teams and Braintree, Venmo and PayPal - Focused and fostered diversity efforts at the Chicago office of Braintree and PayPal **Founder / Chief Executive Officer** • December 2012 - August 2015 - Built a platform that enabled retailers to launch and support mobile buying apps. - Hired amazing team. - Launched beautiful and highly converting apps into the iOS app store - Sold company in late 2015 to PayPal, Inc **Chief Technology Officer** • April 2011 - October 2012 - Hired world class technology team to build the technology platform for the reelection campaign. - Worked with team to help define and architect the solutions that helped reelect the president. **Customer in Residence** • October 2009 - April 2010 - Worked with professional services department to help clients find the right solution. - Worked with executive staff to help define better customer experience - Represented Rackspace at conferences and small events. **Chief Technology Officer** • August 2005 - October 2009 - Acted as technology leader for a company of ~60 people with revenue of ~20-30M - Worked in a close team to design, execute and manage community websites - Lead the technology to support Threadless.com growth. - Grew Threadless.com from 2 barely functioning servers to over 45 devices. - Helped bridge the gap between the internet and reality with 2 retail stores. - Spoke about our technology at various events and conference, representing skinnyCorp and the Threadless vision. - Managed a small team of engineers to handle the day to day maintenance and projects. **Summer Intern** • June 2005 - August 2005 - Worked with Seth Godin and an amazing team to help build an design the initial version of Squidoo. - Helped define initial vision and technology for Squidoo before core staff was hired **Web Programmer** • October 2004 - July 2005 - Lead technologist and technical liaison to account management and creative staff. - Lead architect for client web applications. Worked with clients Airtran.com, Careerbuilder.com, and Barton Beers. (PHP, MYSQL, LINUX) - Lead engineer on full life cycle of Super Bowl viral campaign, Yeknominc.com. (PHP, MYSQL, LINUX) - Managed legacy operations for client web application management. (Perl, Navitaire SkyLights, JAVA) **Security and Software Engineer** • June 2001 - October 2004 - Lead development staff and managed offshore engineering team. Worked to develop and maintain World Book Publishing's client facing web presence. Helped usher in new technology and standards - moving from AIX, DB2 on IBM hardware to Solaris, Oracle on Sun Hardware. Introduced open source technology and solution. (Solaris, JAVA, DB2, AIX, XML) - Wrote desktop content management utilities to aid in management of XML content by non-technical staff. (C\#, PHP) - Developed practices to insure content accessibility and data portability. (JAVA, XML, XSLT, C\#, DB2) - Helped develop a solid software security plan. Worked with system engineers to architect a secure production environment. Deployed production servers using open source software to meet budget constraints. (LINUX, NMAP, NESSUS, SOLARIS, AIX) ### Volunteer Experience **Board of Governors** • Pardee RAND Graduate School • 2020 - Present **Negaunee Music Institute Board Member** • Chicago Symphony Orchestra • 2020 - Present **Advisory Board** • Royal United Services Institute • 2017 - Present **Board of Trustees Member** • Cornell College • 2016 - 2024 ### Education **Computer Science and Philosophy** • Cornell College • 1997 - 2001 Bachelor of Arts ### Awards **Net Vision Honorary Mention** • PRIX ARS ELECTRONICA • 2002 Awarded for the the audreyhacking.com community. The audreyhacking.com community was a community of people who hacked the 3Com Audrey, a linux based internet appliance. The community was a place for people to share their hacks and ideas around the 3com Audrey. **Data Innovation Awards** • MCIC • 2010 Awarded for hacking the Chicago Transit Authority Bus API **40 under 40** • Crain's Chicago Business • 2013 Awarded for being under 40 and for the work at Obama for America, Threadless, and the tech community **Breakout of the Year** • Webby's • 2013 Awarded for the work at Obama for America **CTO of the Year** • Moxie Awards • 2013 Awarded for the work at Obama for America **Young Alumni Achievement Award** • Cornell College • 2014 Awarded for the work at Obama for America **AaA 2017 PrMMAE** • Asian Financial Society • 2017 Awarded for the work at Modest / Paypal ### Skills **Startup Executive** Accomplished Startup exec with over two decades of experience **Networking** Very broad and diverse network **Fundraising** Raised millions of dollars for various companies **Leadership** Managed teams from 1 to 100s of people (hard) **Product Leadership** Built products from zero to millions of users **Technology Leadership** Very technical ;) ### Languages **English** (Native) ### Interests **Hacking** Hardware • Software **Programming** Python • Go • Javascript **Photography** Film • Digital • Travel **Music** Hip-Hop • Classical • Hyperpop • Metal **Reading** Science Fiction • Fantasy • Non-Fiction **Travel**