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Theodore Hayes Barnett

Theodore Hayes Barnett (Ted) is an inventor, entrepreneur, filmmaker, and digital artist based in New York City. Born 1962 in Sacramento, California, he has moved through successive waves of technology — pen computing, the early web, social media, IoT, VR, and AI — founding companies at each inflection point and consistently gravitating toward the intersection of technology and human experience.

Early Life

Barnett was born 1962 in Sacramento, California (4631 Hillview Way). His 60th birthday was celebrated in NYC in 2022. His family moved several times during his childhood:

  • Sacramento, CA (born 1962)
  • Cohasset, MA (1963–1967) — brother Jon born here
  • Augusta, GA (1967–1968) — brother Chris born here
  • Sacramento, CA (1968–1970)
  • Cincinnati, OH (1970–1977) — father was a Director at Procter & Gamble
  • Toronto, Ontario (1977–1980) — attended University of Toronto Schools (UTS)

His father Cornelius Barnett was a Director at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati. His mother Judith Barnett is a portrait artist. Ted's first encounter with a personal computer was a Commodore PET in a mall. He had an Atari 800 (his dad got it for him) and made games in assembler as a kid.

He attended a series of schools across these moves: - Alt (~1965), Sacred Heart (~1966), St. Gabriel (~1968), Glendale (~1970), Country Day (~1973), St. Xavier (~1975), DS (~1976), UTS (~1977)

Education

  • Cornell University (1980–1982) — started as mechanical engineer, switched to computer engineering, transferred mid-sophomore year
  • University of Michigan (1982–1984) — Computer Engineering. Transferred from Cornell "in pursuit of a girlfriend"
  • Harvard Business School (1987–89) — MBA
  • NYU Martin Scorsese Virtual Production Center (2024–2025) — MPS in Virtual Production

Career

Corporate / Employee Phase

  • IBM Product Center (summer ~1982–83) — hired as tech support for copier salesmen, ended up selling computers himself. Cemented the tech+business combination
  • McKinsey & Company (Aug 1984–May 1986, New York) — Business analyst. One of the first non-Ivy League, non-econ hires — "an experiment" to see if computer engineers could do business analysis. Everyone else was "Ivy League econ and philosophy majors"
  • Barnett Consulting (June 1986–August 1987, New York) — Independent consulting between McKinsey and business school
  • Apple Computer (Aug 1989–Aug 1992) — Product manager on the Mac team, Sculley era. Worked on Mac IIfx ($9,000 SRP, 40MHz, could run QuickTime), Mac LC, LCII, and Mac Classic (low-cost Mac initiative). Summer intern in 1988 in K-12 education sales, building HyperCard stacks
  • EO (Aug 1992–Jan 1994, Mountain View) — Head of product management for hardware. Pen computers / early "smartphones"
  • PF.Magic (Jan 1994–June 1996, San Francisco) — Took a downward move from Director of PM at EO to assistant producer. Made Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis games. Created Petz (Dogs and Cats), virtual life product that predated Tamagotchi and NeoPets

Founder Phase

  • ActiveSite (1996–1998) — Consulting firm co-founded with James Joaquin, Tony Espinosa, and Joe Beninato. Tagline: "Your website needs a product manager." Intentionally designed as a startup incubator
  • When.com (1998–1999) — Co-founded (CEO) with James Joaquin, Tony Espinosa, Joe Beninato. Online calendar, Web 1.0. Acquired by AOL for ~$150M in stock (grew to ~$225M)
  • AOL (1999–2000) — Post-acquisition. 17 million calendar users within ~6 months
  • Ofoto (2003–2005) — Web 2.0 photo platform (Kodak). Called "out of retirement" by James Joaquin
  • Rearden LLC / OnLive (2006–2007) — VP Product Marketing & Business Development. Marketing and business development for Mova Contour facial motion capture system. Co-developed business plan for OnLive
  • SuperSecret.com (2007–2011) — "Growing up, as a game." Social media, built in Flash
  • Byliner.com (2011–2013) — COO (not founder). Founded by John Tayman. Long-form digital publishing, kindle singles. Acquired by Vook
  • Art.com (2013–2014) — VP Product and User Experience. Online art retailer
  • Boswell (2016–2021) — AI-powered personal documentaries via voice interviews
  • SmartDeco.ai (2016–2023) — "A talking, singing pumpkin" — IoT projection-based product
  • TimeWalk (2014–present) — VR/AR time travel. Primary current project. Concept existed as early as 2015 Unity prototype
  • Cobblestone Labs (2025–present) — Projection Mapping, AI, and Interaction

Creative Work

  • "Borrowing" (2010) — Student film
  • Special FX films — Fun with Premiere Pro and his kids
  • "Mom & Dad" — Documentary (writer, producer)
  • Gabriel (2025–present) — AI assistant / digital companion

Personal Life

Notable Anecdote

Bill Gates personally called Ted at his HBS dorm room to recruit him for Windows. Ted declined: "No way I would work on Windows."

Partners

  • Alison (1978–1982)
  • Amy (1992–2013) — Also in tech: Bell Labs (1983), Stanford (1986), Apple (1987), General Magic (1993), Violet (1996)
  • Melanie (2013–present)

Children

Brothers

  • Jon (born 1964, Cohasset, MA) — married Danae, wedding Sept 2022 (Roche Harbor). Jon's 60th birthday celebration April 2024 (Cincinnati)
  • Chris (born 1967, Augusta, GA) — married ~1998
  • Mark (born 1970)

Where He's Lived

Dates Location
1962–1963 Sacramento, CA
1963–1967 Cohasset, MA
1967–1968 Augusta, GA
1968–1970 Sacramento, CA
1970–1977 Glendale, OH (Cincinnati)
1977–1980 Toronto, ON
1984–1986 New York, NY
1989–1992 San Francisco, CA
1992–2001 San Francisco, CA
2001–2013 Mill Valley, CA
2013–2015 Mill Valley, CA
2015–2018 San Francisco, CA (Cole Valley)
2018–2020 San Francisco, CA
2020–2021 Hanover, NH
2021–2025 New York, NY

Possible Miami relocation late 2026.

Milestones & Touchstones

  • Burning Man attendee (starting ~1998)
  • 60th birthday celebration in NYC (2022)
  • HBS reunions: 15-year (2003), 20-year (2008), 25-year (2013), 30-year (2019)
  • Reason Foundation trustee

Music

Ted maintains a ranked list of 200+ favorite songs. See Music Taste for full analysis. Top picks include Nick Drake ("Pink Moon"), Big Star ("September Gurls"), The Limiñanas, The Magnetic Fields, R.E.M., Radiohead, and The Feelies — skewing heavily toward indie rock, post-punk, and literate alternative.

Themes

  • First-mover instinct — Repeatedly builds in categories before they're mainstream
  • Technology × human experience — Calendars, storytelling, interior design, virtual production, AI companions
  • Serial builder — Each venture informs the next
  • Inventor identity — Describes himself as an inventor and digital artist, not just entrepreneur
  • "Too early" pattern — EO, When.com, Byliner, OnLive — correct vision, ahead of market timing

See Also