Kickstarter announced that marketing exec and entrepreneur Everette Taylor has been named CEO of the crowdfunding platform company.
Taylor most recently served as chief marketing officer for Artsy, an online marketplace for buying and selling fine art. He takes over as CEO of Kickstarter from COO Sean Leow, who served as interim CEO since former chief exec Aziz Hasan announced earlier this year that he was stepping down after three years at the helm.
“I am humbled to take on the role of CEO of Kickstarter at a very transformative time for the company,” Taylor said in a statement. “Kickstarter has made such a positive impact on the world, and I’m honored to continue the mission of bringing creative projects to life and support amazing creators across the globe.”
During Taylor’s tenure at Artsy, Forbes named him one of the world’s most influential CMOs. Prior to joining Artsy in 2019, he headed ET Enterprises, a creative marketing agency he founded in 2013 whose portfolio of companies includes PopSocial, MilliSense, ArtX and GrowthHackers. He also served as CMO for car-booking platform Skurt and head of marketing at online-survey startup Qualaroo. In addition, Taylor has also overseen growth for mobile apps for a division of Microsoft China as interim head of marketing, and as CMO for e-commerce company StickerMule.
Leow commented on Taylor’s hiring, “Everette brings so many exciting qualities to the table that will help take Kickstarter to the next level, from his deep passion for our mission and his natural-born leadership to his proven track record of delivering first-class product and brand experiences.”
“Kickstarter pioneered a people-powered model for supporting creative work and I believe we have barely scratched the surface of what’s possible with this approach,” said Union Square Ventures co-founder Fred Wilson, Kickstarter board member and chair of the CEO search committee. “I believe Everette’s energy and creativity will help the Company massively expand the market in the coming years.”
Kickstarter is incorporated as a public benefit corporation. In line with that mission, according to the company, Taylor is “deeply passionate about his philanthropic work and giving back to the community.” He serves on the Chisenhale Council for Chisenhale Gallery, a nonprofit organization that helps artists commission and produce contemporary art, supporting international and U.K.-based artists to make their most ambitious work to date by pursuing new directions in their practices.
Taylor also sits on the advisory board for Art at a Time Like This, which works with artists and curators to create art that responds to current social and political events, and presents it in public spaces. In 2013, he launched the clothing line Unity Over Self with NFL athlete Brandon Ross to raise money for children with autism. In 2019, Taylor received an honorary doctorate degree from Shaw University recognizing his “meritorious contributions to human society and welfare for humanity.”
Kickstarter says its mission is “to help bring creative projects to life.” Since launching in April 2009, more than $6.85 billion has been pledged to 227,201 successfully funded projects on Kickstarter from some 21 million individual backers, according to the company.
