From Homelessness to Kickstarter CEO: The Extraordinary Path of Everette Taylor

Growing up in Richmond, Va., Everette Taylor was surrounded by gang violence, prostitution and drug dealing, and little exposure to traditional markers of success. For him, wealth was a vague concept, something he understood primarily as a way out. But he found it difficult to see himself reflected in the great success images of his generation.

“I was a black kid living in the city, and I didn't feel like I had anything in common with Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg,” Taylor told the Observer in an interview in April.

But the urgency to change his circumstances began to emerge. He started working at the age of 14, after his mother, a caretaker, found drugs in his room and forced him to get a job. While in high school, he experienced homelessness, an experience that would profoundly shape his worldview and entrepreneurial drive.

“It really showed me what it's like to have nothing, but it also added a lot of compassion to my life to be with others who have nothing,” he said. “That's why I love creating opportunities. Most people who are homeless or living on handouts don't have that opportunity.

Finally, he found inspiration in Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, whose dual identity as an artist and businessman is very compatible.

“I remember seeing him on the cover of Black Businessand I saw someone who was a smart and smart businessman,” Taylor said.

Taylor's approach will follow that hybrid model. He dropped out of college during his sophomore year to launch his first company, EZ Event, a ticketing platform that grew out of a team promotion business he founded with two college friends. After selling the company a few years later, he went back to school for a while—then left again, this time to Silicon Valley.

By his mid-20s, Taylor had built a reputation as an executive who could quickly grow a fledgling business. At age 25, he became head of marketing at Sticker Mule, followed by chief marketing officer at Qualaroo. He went on to found several startups, including PopSocial, which he sold at age 28, marking his most successful exit.

In 2019, he launched ArtX, a platform designed to support emerging artists, and moved to New York. That same year, he joined online art marketplace Artsy as chief marketing officer, his first role at an established company.

“I've had these small cars and startups, but Artsy was the first really established company that gave me the opportunity to be part of the C-suite at only 29 years old,” he said. “That was a huge turning point, because it gave me the confidence to build at scale and a truly global business.”

At Artsy, Taylor helped increase revenue by 150 percent in one year. In April 2022, he was named one of Forbes' top 50 business CMOs. A subsequent profile in the Financial Times raised his profile again—and attracted the attention of Kickstarter.

When Taylor was approached to lead the 2022 fundraising campaign, business was struggling. Revenue has been falling by about 20 percent a year, and Kickstarter has been losing ground to competitor Indiegogo.

Taylor's strategy is focused on refocusing Kickstarter on its core strength: community-driven acquisitions. Unlike traditional crowdfunding platforms, Kickstarter does not rely on equity funding. Instead, it allows creators to raise money directly from backers. The platform makes money from a 5 percent commission on collected funds and payment processing fees.

Taylor relies on what he describes as “niche projects with niche supporters” by prioritizing quality, programming and creative storytelling over cost growth. The overlap between creators and supporters (many users participate as both) has been a huge advantage in rebuilding network effects. He also doubled down on Kickstarter's identity as a creative ecosystem rather than a commercial marketplace, investing in tools and programs that help creators build an audience, not just raise money.

Since Taylor took over, Kickstarter has once again dominated its category, taking nearly 98 percent of Indiegogo's market share, according to Taylor. By 2025, the company reported a 50 percent year-over-year revenue growth.

For Taylor, this work is also deeply personal. Having built his own companies without venture capital, he is acutely aware of the structural barriers facing underrepresented founders.

“I have never tried [raise venture capital]. I knew what it was like for me as a Black founder,” he said. “So I focused on building companies that I could profit from as quickly as possible. I didn't follow big ideas because I thought I would be supported.”

“I started my first company almost 20 years ago. Black founders will account for only 0.4 percent of America's corporate capital in 2024, down from 1.3 percent in 2021.

Taylor sees Kickstarter as another form of funding that can't be stifled by traditional gatekeepers. “We want to make sure that you know that founders have a chance to succeed on our platform, regardless of their background,” he said.

That commitment extends internally as well. Today, all six members of Kickstarter's executive team are people of color, and half are women.