Mike Harrington

Career

Before co-founding Valve in 1996 with fellow ex-Microsoft employee Gabe Newell, Mike Harrington had worked as a programmer at Dynamix and helped design Windows NT. He cashed out his Microsoft stock to cover his half of the startup costs, while his then-wife Monica Harrington handled early marketing strategy. Harrington worked as a programmer on Valve’s debut title, Half-Life (1998), and funded its development with Newell. The game was a critical and commercial success.

Reflecting on that success, Harrington said: 'At Microsoft you always wonder, "Is it me being successful or is it Microsoft?" But with Half-Life I knew Gabe and I had built that product and company from scratch.' On January 15, 2000, Harrington sold his stake in Valve to Newell and left to spend time with his wife. According to Newell, Harrington did not want to risk another project after the success of Half-Life.

In 2006, Harrington co-founded the photo editing service Picnik with his friend and former colleague Darrin Massena. Picnik was acquired by Google in March 2010. Harrington left Google in March 2011. In January 2012, he co-founded another company with Massena, Catnip Labs.

Harrington was CTO at the Committee for Children from 2016 to 2018, and CTO of Amplion from November 2018 until March 2020.

Did You Know?

• His wife at the time, Monica Harrington, was Valve's marketing strategist in its early years.
• He co-founded Picnik in 2005, which was acquired by Google in March 2010.