David Barnett is the founder, creator and former CEO of PopSocket, the iPhone gadget that improves grip, headphone storage, while also acting as a kickstand.

Barnett grew up in Colorado and studied philosophy at Emory University and physics at University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder). Barnett then received a Ph.D. in philosophy at New York University (NYU), and continued on to teach philosophy at NYU, University of Vermont, Davidson College and, finally, University of Colorado Boulder.

With the insurance money received after his house burned down, Barnett created multiple prototypes of the widget, which he began calling PopSockets. He raised $500,000 from local investors and started a small Kickstarter campaign in 2012, and used the funds to build a business in Boulder that would focus on selling the product.

In the next two years, PopSockets had a final design and between 2014 and 2017, the company would grow revenue by 17,423 percent, reaching $169 million in 2017.

In 2016, Barnett stepped down as CEO of PopSockets and appointed former IBM executive, Tom Croke, as its CEO.

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