---
title: "Harper Reed"
description: "Harper Reed is a technology leader and serial entrepreneur—founder of 2389 Research, former Obama 2012 CTO, Threadless crowdsourcing pioneer, and Modest co-founder (acquired by PayPal)—focused on …"
canonical_url: "https://2389.ai/team/harper-reed/"
last_updated: "2026-01-28T10:26:38-06:00"
doc_version: "1.0"
role: "CEO / Founder"
---

# Harper Reed

> Harper Reed is a technology leader and serial entrepreneur—founder of 2389 Research, former Obama 2012 CTO, Threadless crowdsourcing pioneer, and Modest co-founder (acquired by PayPal)—focused on emerging technologies and building impactful, scalable solutions. A lifelong hacker empowering teams.


I run **2389 Research Inc.**, a small crew that pokes at the edges of software,
data, and human-centered design so organizations can place smarter bets on the
future. Before this, I was CTO for President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign,
where I brought startup-style engineering to national politics. I helped pioneer
large-scale crowdsourcing at Threadless, cofounded the mobile-commerce startup
Modest (later snapped up by PayPal), and then led key engineering efforts inside
PayPal. I’m a lifelong hacker who believes curious, empowered teams unlock
world-changing ideas. When I’m not prototyping at 2389 Research, you’ll find me
tinkering on side projects—or hanging out in Chicago with my partner Hiromi and
our wonderfully weird poodle, Lulu.


## Sitemap

Parent: [Team](https://2389.ai/team/index.md)

Related pages in this section:

- [Dylan Richard](https://2389.ai/team/dylan-richard/index.md)
- [Clint Ecker](https://2389.ai/team/clint-ecker/index.md)
- [Ivan Indrautama](https://2389.ai/team/ivan-indrautama/index.md)
- [Michael Sugimura](https://2389.ai/team/michael-sugimura/index.md)
- [Sophie Davis](https://2389.ai/team/sophie-davis/index.md)


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