# Jory Bell

> Jory Bell is a general partner at Playground Global and the co-founder who led OQO as CEO when its pocket-sized Windows XP Model 01 launched in 2004. Raised in Rochester, New York, he earned three MIT undergraduate degrees, worked on autonomous deep-sea robotics and spent six years designing laptops at Apple before starting OQO in 2000. He joined Playground in 2015 and has worked on investments spanning advanced manufacturing and aerospace.

- **Role:** General Partner at Playground Global
- **Organizations:** Playground Global, OQO, Apple, Miselu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
- **Education:** Undergraduate degree in architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Undergraduate degree in literature, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Undergraduate degree in earth, atmosphere and planetary studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- **Known for:** Co-founded OQO and led it as CEO at the launch of the Model 01 pocket Windows XP PC in October 2004., OQO Model 01 received PC Magazine’s 21st Annual Award for Technical Excellence and a 2005 Mobility Award., OQO’s miniaturized PC received Guinness World Records recognition, as documented by Playground and historical coverage.

## Career timeline

- **After MIT graduation** — Designed, built and deployed autonomous deep-sea robotics in the joint MIT/Woods Hole climate research program.
- **Before 2000** — Spent six years designing laptops at Apple.
- **2000** — Left Apple and co-founded OQO.
- **2004** — Served as OQO CEO when retail shipments of the Model 01 began on October 14.
- **2005** — OQO introduced Model 01+ on September 27.
- **2007** — Bill Gates introduced OQO Model 02 at CES.
- **2009** — OQO closed amid financial difficulties.
- **2012–2015** — Director and CTO at Miselu.
- **2015** — Joined Playground Global as vice president.
- **2018** — Became general partner at Playground Global, according to Crunchbase.
- **2023** — Interviewed Relativity Space COO Zach Dunn for Atoms & Bits.
- **2025** — Delivered a keynote and joined a fireside chat with Tetsu Nakajima at the Innovation Leaders Summit in Tokyo.

## Achievements

- Co-founded OQO and led it as CEO at the launch of the Model 01 pocket Windows XP PC in October 2004.
- OQO Model 01 received PC Magazine’s 21st Annual Award for Technical Excellence and a 2005 Mobility Award.
- OQO’s miniaturized PC received Guinness World Records recognition, as documented by Playground and historical coverage.
- Earned three undergraduate degrees at MIT.
- Helped source early Playground investments including Nervana Systems, which Intel acquired.
- Named co-inventor on US patent 7,054,965, issued May 30, 2006, for a component used as a portable computing device and pointing device.

## Latest updates

- **2025-12** — Playground shared Bell’s keynote appearance and fireside chat with 15th Rock’s Tetsu Nakajima at the Innovation Leaders Summit in Tokyo.

## Links

- Website: https://playgroundglobal.co/people/jory-bell
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jorybell/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jory-bell
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-25