Ty Gospodinov is the founder of the Circle. He is a young, socially awkward innovator, who becomes irritated remembering all his passwords for different accounts and then creates TruYou, which combines users’ online accounts and interactions under one identity. The intentions behind Ty’s invention are innocuous, he’s simply trying to make the internet more user-friendly, but when the technology gains influence, he joins with Eamon Bailey and Tom Stenton to turn the company into a full-blown corporate venture, and the Circle gains indomitable power. 

Ty masquerades as Kalden around the halls of the Circle because he’s become worried about the Circle’s direction and wants to find a way to intercept its plans to reach Completion. He meets and falls in love with Mae, who is transfixed by his mystery and apparent power. Ty tries to get Mae to act on his behalf, and take down the Circle, but she betrays him to Bailey and Stenton, and his life becomes uncertain. It’s not clear by the end of the novel whether he survives. Bailey and Stenton only say they’ve reduced his role in the company, but Mae says she never sees him anymore, which implies he might be dead. Throughout the novel, Ty morphs from an innovator to a reformer.