Kickstarter
Brooklyn-based public benefit corporation that runs a crowdfunding platform where creators raise money for creative projects from backers. It launched in 2009.
Industry: Crowdfunding platform | Location: Brooklyn, United States | Founded: 2009 | Total Funding: USD 100M
About Kickstarter
Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform where creators raise money for creative projects from backers. It is based in Brooklyn, New York, and is registered as a Delaware public benefit corporation. Its stated purpose is to help bring creative projects to life. The company was founded by Perry Chen, Yancey Strickler and Charles Adler and launched on 28 April 2009. According to published accounts, the idea came from Chen, who in 2001 and 2002, while living in New Orleans, wanted to fund a concert he could not afford to bring to town. He later met Strickler, a music journalist, in Brooklyn, and designer Adler joined to complete the founding team. Kickstarter operates on an all-or-nothing model: a project is funded only if it reaches its stated goal within its deadline. Creators keep ownership of their work, and backers receive rewards rather than equity. The platform has been used for projects in categories such as film, music, games, publishing, art and design. In 2015 Kickstarter converted to a public benefit corporation. Technical.ly reported that Chen and Strickler wanted to avoid the pressure of shareholder-first corporate law, and that investor Albert Wenger of Union Square Ventures first suggested the structure. Nonprofit Quarterly noted that the new charter adds social and environmental goals to the for-profit mission, and that the founders had not considered becoming a nonprofit because they saw the for-profit form as better for attracting talent. Leadership has changed several times. Strickler stepped down as chief executive in 2017, and Aziz Hasan later led the company until he stepped down in early 2022. Everette Taylor was named chief executive in September 2022, according to TechCrunch. Taylor previously served as chief marketing officer at the fine art marketplace Artsy and had earlier been chief executive of the social media company PopSocial. Fast Company reported that he took over a company that had been through layoffs, greater competition and a backlash to a plan to move toward blockchain technology. In June 2024, Fortune reported that Kickstarter restructured its senior leadership, parting ways with seven executives and senior leaders and promoting two people within its top team. Kickstarter publishes statistics on its own website. A version of its stats page showed roughly 7.96 billion US dollars pledged across about 624,700 launched projects, with more than 257,000 successfully funded and over 23 million backers. Third-party trackers put the cumulative total higher, at about 8.5 billion dollars by early 2025. The company is privately held and has not published a valuation.
Leadership
- Perry Chen, Co-founder and Chairperson
- Everette Taylor, Chief Executive Officer
- Courtney Brown Warren, Chief Marketing Officer
- Mahesh Guruswamy, Chief Product and Technology Officer
- Tarveen Forrester, Vice President of People