Technologist

Entrepreneur

Hacker

Hello.

I spend my life traveling the world, sharing my experiences and showing people the possibilities of tech. I believe a few things:

  • Thereโ€™s a beautiful and organized system hidden underneath what seems messy.
  • The talent of a great bunch of humans can transform an organization like nothing else.
  • Hope takes work. Itโ€™s not a feeling, but a behavior that you need to repeat in order to achieve what you want. I practice hope daily in myself and with others.
  • The world is magical. The future is exciting!

I am available to speak at your conference and would love to participate. Feel free to book me or reach out for more information.

I am incredibly easy to contact. Just reach out. My email is harper@modest.com. I would love to get to know you and help with anything I can.

Otherwise, follow me on twitter (@harper), read my writing or contact me.

Book Harper

My life

I have always thought the best way to visualize someone's life is through a timeline. Here is my timeline:
  • ๐Ÿš€

    Today!

  • โญ

    Kickstarted my blog again. This time with notes, links, and long form โ†’

  • ๐Ÿƒ

    Started running for cardio health

  • ๐Ÿค–

    Became an AI agent

  • ๐Ÿ’พ

    Built some very bespoke models for 2389

  • ๐Ÿ“ธ

    Started carrying a tiny point and shoot digital camera to capture more moments

  • ๐Ÿชฉ

    "Started" 2389, Research Inc โ†’

  • ๐Ÿ’ธ

    Invested in some local GPUs

  • ๐Ÿฆพ

    Started using AI to aid my coding

  • ๐Ÿ‹๏ธโ€โ™‚๏ธ

    Started working with a personal trainer, again: Krys

  • ๐Ÿง‘โ€๐Ÿ’ป

    Started hacking on some AI stuff

  • โญ

    Received my uncle’s 70s macintosh stack. Vintage HIFI rules.

  • โญ

    Started fourth vision quest / walkabout

  • ๐Ÿ˜ฅ

    Galactic officially shuts down ๐Ÿ˜ฅ โ†’

  • ๐Ÿ˜”

    Made the hard decision to shut Galactic down

  • โญ

    Galactic launched the beta of skyteller.xyz โ†’

  • โญ

    Stopped going to Chicago Bulls games regularly

  • โญ

    Got really into HYPERPOP

  • โญ

    Galactic started focusing on crypto off-ramps

  • โญ

    Accidentally launched Floppydisk.xyz โ†’

  • โญ

    Started going to Chicago Bulls games regularly

  • โญ

    Launched Galactic Camera โ†’

  • ๐Ÿง‘โ€๐ŸŽค

    AMAZING THING HAPPENED

  • โญ

    Published my “decentralized” website: https://harper.eth.link โ†’

  • โญ

    Joined my first DAO โ†’

  • โญ

    Got a pair of Klipsch La Scala speakers on a whim

  • โญ

    Convinced my brother, Dylan, he should start his own crypto company and follow his dreams! โ†’

  • โญ

    Fake.sale got banned from opensea โ†’

  • ๐Ÿ•

    Hacked together art.pizza โ†’

  • โญ

    DDove deep into web3.

  • โญ

    Launched fake.sale, my first NFT project โ†’

  • โญ

    Bought my first NFT โ†’

  • โญ

    Joined the RAND Pardee School Board of governors

  • ๐Ÿšด

    My brother convinced me to get a peloton and start riding. Fun!

  • โญ

    Wrote up all my time doing covid work over the first 3/4 of 2020 โ†’

  • ๐Ÿš€

    "Started" General Galactic Corporation โ†’

  • โญ

    Found out I was a Jamstack Pioneer based on our work at Obama for America โ†’

  • โญ

    Launched zooooom.us - a screensaver for our anxious times โ†’

  • โญ

    Started doing COVID-19 work full-time

  • โญ

    Started watching covid โ†’

  • โญ

    Reclaimed modest.com and started using harper@modest.com for my email again โ†’

  • โญ

    Joined the RAND Pardee School’s Tech & Narrative Lab advisory group โ†’

  • โญ

    Opened the company.lol office to figure out what the next thing will be โ†’

  • โญ

    Became a Senior Fellow at the Annenberg Innovation Lab at USC โ†’

  • โญ

    Named as a 2019 delegate for the US-Japan Leadership Program โ†’

  • โญ

    Became a MIT Medialab Director’s fellow โ†’

  • โญ

    Started third vision quest / walkabout

  • โญ

    Left PayPal to pursue my dreams

  • ๐ŸŽ‚

    Turned 40

  • ๐Ÿง˜โ€โ™‚๏ธ

    Started doing yoga

  • โญ

    Slightly regretted spending all my bitcoin on things

  • โญ

    Used up all my bitcoin buying Leica cameras on overstock

  • โญ

    Joined IllinoisTech Computer Science advisory board

  • ๐Ÿด๓ ก๓ ฆ๓ ท๓ ก๓ ฒ๓ ฟ

    Joined Royal United Service Institute advisory board

  • โญ

    Installed a permanent rock monument in my parents front yard that is inscribed, “Boyhood home of Harper & Dylan Reed. The first astronauts to explore Uranus” โ†’

  • ๐Ÿ 

    Started living at the house in Ukrainian Village

  • ๐Ÿซ

    Joined Cornell College Board of Trustees

  • ๐Ÿ“ธ

    Bought a Lieca Monochrom from a good friend. A perfect camera

  • ๐Ÿ“ธ

    Started carrying a camera everyday

  • ๐Ÿ“ธ

    Purchased a Lieca Q. Started carrying a camera everyday

  • ๐Ÿ“ธ

    Decided to make photography a real hobby

  • ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ’ป

    Started as Senior Director @ PayPal, inc

  • โญ

    Sold Modest, Inc to PayPal

  • โญ

    Was awarded 4 patents for work done on Modest, Inc

  • โญ

    First time visiting South America (Santiago, Chile). Fifth continent outside of U.S. I visited.

  • ๐Ÿ†

    Cornell College Young Alumni Achievement Award โ†’

  • ๐Ÿ‹๏ธโ€

    Started working out

  • ๐Ÿ‹๏ธโ€โ™‚๏ธ

    Started working with a personal trainer: Dan

  • ๐Ÿฉ

    Adopted our wonderful puppy, Lulu

  • ๐Ÿ 

    Started living at the condo in West Town

  • โญ

    Became an honorary patron of the University Philosophical Society at Trinity College โ†’

  • โญ

    First time visiting Africa (Johannesburg, South Africa). Fourth continent outside of U.S. I visited.

  • โญ

    Wrapped my parents car in zebra stripes while they were on vacation โ†’

  • โญ

    First time visiting Australia (Sydney, Australia). Third continent outside of U.S. I visited.

  • ๐Ÿ†

    CTO of the Year @ Moxie Award

  • โญ

    Installed ant miners in the Modest office

  • โญ

    Launched FriendFracker with Rafeal Lozano-Hemmer at Seven on Seven. โ†’

  • ๐Ÿ†

    Breakout of the Year @ Webby’s

  • โญ

    Did a TED University talk at TED which predicted that the 2016 election would be hacked and manipulated โ†’

  • โญ

    Started doing a lot of speaking internationally

  • ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ’ผ

    Started a company called Modest, Inc with @dylanr

  • โญ

    Started second vision quest / walkabout

  • โญ

    Helped Barack Obama win his reelection campaign

  • ๐Ÿ†

    40 under 40 @ Crains

  • โญ

    Stopped going out as much

  • ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ’ป

    Started as the Chief Technology Officer at Obama for America

  • โญ

    Bought a kindle for 45 bitcoin

  • โญ

    Discovered Minecraft

  • ๐Ÿ†

    Data Innovation Award @ MCIC

  • ๐Ÿ 

    Started living at the apartment in Wicker Park

  • ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ’ป

    Became the Customer in Residence for Rackspace Hosting

  • โญ

    Started first vision quest / walkabout

  • โญ

    Left Threadless to pursue my dreams

  • โญ

    Built CityPayments.org with Daniel X Oneil

  • โญ

    Built Unofficial Transit API for Chicago Transit Authority

  • โญ

    Received a photo credit in Metallica’s Death Magnetic album. It should have gone to Derek Brooks. โ†’

  • ๐Ÿ 

    Started living at the apartment in North Center

  • โญ

    App Engine launched - learned python and launched Excla.im, Awesome Updater, and Chicago Alerts

  • ๐ŸŽ‚

    Turned 30

  • ๐Ÿ’

    Got married to Hiromi

  • ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ’ป

    Became CTO of Threadless

  • ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ’ป

    Started at Threadless as an engineer

  • ๐Ÿธ

    Vox Paid for radio ads with my name in them: Step behind the velvet rope with Harper Reed.

  • ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ’ป

    Started Working as a Summer Intern with Seth Godin @ Squidoo

  • โญ

    Started a podcast about the club scene in chicago with my Vox Vodka sponsorship

  • ๐Ÿธ

    Became a professional vodka drinker - Got a sponsorship by Vox Vodka

  • โญ

    Got laid off. It was awesome!

  • ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ’ป

    Started Working as a web programmer @ Cramer-Krasselt

  • โญ

    First time visiting Asia (Delhi, India). Second continent outside of U.S. I visited.

  • ๐ŸŽช

    Juggled on stage at the Metro for Chris Holmes’ Electroclash

  • ๐ŸŽช

    Did a juggling show for Billy Corgan’s showcase at the Hideout

  • โญ

    Stopped promoting parties in Chicago. I was terrible at it

  • โญ

    Started promoting parties in Chicago.

  • โญ

    Started my first “startup” - 3g Screensaver. Selling ringtones and wallpapers for phones

  • ๐Ÿธ

    Started going out clubbing every night. Well M,T,W,F,S lol.

  • โญ

    Sprint launches Samsung A500 and I launch a500hacking.com

  • ๐Ÿ†

    Net Vision Honorary Mention @ PRIX ARS ELECTRONICA

  • โญ

    Launched Audreyhacking.com to help hack the 3COM Audrey. โ†’

  • โญ

    Hosted my first colocated server in a data center at OAR.net

  • โญ

    Purchased my first server (A firesale VALinux 2U server)

  • ๐Ÿ 

    Started living at the apartment in Logan Square

  • โญ

    Moved to Chicago, IL

  • ๐ŸŽ“

    Graduated from Cornell College with a degree in Computer Science and Philosophy

  • ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ’ป

    Started first job as a Security and Software Engineer @ World Book Publishing

  • ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ’ป

    Started an internship @ MSI in Cedar Rapids, IA

  • ๐ŸŽช

    Opened for Sir Mix-A-Lot as a juggler

  • ๐ŸŽ‚

    Turned 20

  • ๐ŸŽช

    Juggled for the first time with @dylanreed

  • ๐ŸŽช

    Learned to Juggle

  • ๐Ÿซ

    Started going to Cornell College in Mt, Vernon, IA

  • โญ

    Moved to Mt. Vernon, IA for college

  • ๐Ÿ’ป

    Purchased my first laptop

  • โญ

    Purchased my first domain name: nata2.org. Still used as my email address.

  • โญ

    First time visiting Europe (Dublin, Ireland). First continent outside of U.S. I visited.

  • ๐Ÿ‘ฎ

    The ATF visited and suggested I stop using BBSs, and stop blowing things up. I did the latter.

  • โญ

    Ran my first Apache server

  • ๐Ÿซ

    Started going to Greeley Central High School

  • ๐Ÿ 

    Started living at the house on 43rd ave in Greeley, CO

  • ๐ŸŽธ

    Started a terrible punk band called Faucet with Atkins Meyer, Karl Mahlburg, and some friends.

  • ๐Ÿ‚๏ธ

    Started snowboarding

  • โญ

    Started subscribing to MONDO 2000 โ†’

  • ๐Ÿซ

    Started going to Heath Junior High

  • โญ

    Bought a Boing Boing and MONDO 2000 magazine at Powell’s in Portland. Changed everything.

  • ๐Ÿง

    Installed linux for the first time: Yggdrasil. Linux changed everything. โ†’

  • โญ

    Saw Public Enemy open for U2.

  • โญ

    Ran up my first huge phone bill dialing into BBSes around the country. &TOTSE forever

  • โญ

    Saw Metallica for the first time.

  • ๐Ÿซ

    Started going to Maplewood Middle School

  • ๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ

    Built a computer for the first time. Ram was so expensive so I could only afford 1mb.

  • โญ

    Went to first concert, David Bowie.

  • ๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ

    Got really into OS/2

  • ๐ŸŽ‚

    Turned 13

  • โญ

    Was enamored by Roxanne Shante.

  • โญ

    Bought Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A.

  • โญ

    Stopped taking myself seriously

  • ๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ

    Received an older IBM PS/2 model 25 for my birthday. My brother and I played a lot of kings quest.

  • โญ

    Got Love and Rockets’ Earth, Sun, Moon for my birthday.

  • โญ

    Programmed BASIC based on code from the 321 Contact magazine

  • ๐ŸŽ’

    Started going to Cameron Elementary School

  • โญ

    Accidently got Killers by Iron Maiden. Changed everything.

  • ๐ŸŽ’

    Started going to Shawsheen Elementary School

  • ๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ

    Family got a Apple IIc. My brother and I set it up.

  • โญ

    Learned to code LOGO on an Apple II

  • ๐Ÿ 

    Started living at the house on 11th st in Greeley, CO

  • ๐Ÿ”ฅ

    House caught on fire and burnt a bunch. LEGOs survived

  • ๐Ÿ 

    Started living at the house on 27th ave in Greeley, CO

  • โญ

    Television broke. Never got fixed

  • ๐Ÿ 

    Started living at the house near the hospital in Greeley, CO

  • ๐Ÿ‘ถ

    Brother @dylanreed was born. The Reed Brothers are finally united.

  • ๐Ÿ 

    Started living at the farm house on rd 15 in Greeley, CO

  • ๐Ÿ‘ถ

    Secret Brother Jon was born. The Reed Brothers are almost united.

  • โญ

    Moved to Greeley, CO

  • ๐Ÿ 

    Started living at the house on 11th st in Greeley, CO

  • โญ

    Moved to Windsor, CO

  • ๐Ÿ 

    Started living at the house in Windsor, CO

  • ๐Ÿ‘ถ

    Harper was born in Greeley, CO

  • ๐ŸŒŒ

    Beginning of the Universe!