Forbes Talks: How Everette Taylor's Unconventional Rise Shaped His Leadership—And Kickstarter's Comeback
In a candid video conversation with Forbes, Taylor spoke about that journey—from the margins to the main stage—and how his unconventional rise continues to shape his leadership and Kickstarter's comeback.
Raised by a single mother on the South Side of Richmond, Virginia, he dropped out of college—twice. He slept in his car, cold-called his way into rooms where no one expected to see him, and launched his first startup at 19.
That early boldness set the tone for a career defined by risk-taking, reinvention, and relentless drive. Without pedigree or privilege, Taylor forged his own leadership style—one that blends creative vision, market instinct, and a deep understanding of culture.
His big break came when tech veteran Mike Steib took a chance on him at Artsy, naming Taylor CMO at 29. 'Mike taught me what it meant to be a CEO,' Taylor says. 'Everything is your responsibility. No excuses.'
By the time he took the helm, Kickstarter's shine was starting to dim. Though still the leader in its space, 'revenue was declining, competitors were gaining ground, and the company's cultural relevance had started to fade. We weren't operating at the level we needed to be,' Taylor recalls.
To reignite Kickstarter's influence as a vital player in a rapidly evolving digital ecosystem, Taylor made a bold bet on the creator economy. 'I didn't just want to be a leader in crowdfunding,' he says. 'I wanted Kickstarter to be a leader in the creator economy.'
Since Taylor joined as CEO, creator education has become a central focus at Kickstarter, and over the past year alone, Kickstarter has rolled out dozens of new product features designed to support creators not just at launch, but to help them sustain, scale, and thrive throughout the full lifecycle of their projects.
It's a vision that's already showing results, as the company returned to consistent year-over-year revenue growth. 'Project success rates on the platform have climbed from around 50% to 65%,' he says. 'That matters more to me than revenue or any other metric because our mission is to help bring creative projects to life—and that starts with giving creators the tools, support, and education they need to succeed.'
But the transformation hasn't stopped at product innovation. Taylor also reimagined the company's internal culture to reflect the diversity of the global creative community it serves. 'Inclusivity was mission-critical,' he says. 'It started internally—with our team. My CMO is a Black woman. My head of content is a man of color. Our head of social is a woman of color. We built a team that looks like the world we serve.'
With that diverse leadership team in place, together they revamped outreach and education, expanded funding initiatives, and positioned Kickstarter not just as a launchpad, but as infrastructure for creators of all kinds. 'From first-time indie artists to billion-dollar brands like L'Oréal, Kickstarter is now a platform built to meet creators where they are.'
'For me, this work is personal,' Taylor says. 'I know what it's like to fight for an opportunity. I know what it means to have someone believe in you. That's what we're building at Kickstarter—a place where creators don't just launch projects, they build movements.'
Two years since Taylor first stepped into the top role at Kickstarter, now 35, he remains an anomaly in the tech C-suite. But he's determined not to be the last. 'There are so many incredible Black men and women who deserve these seats,' he says. 'I carry the responsibility of paving the way for them.'
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USA Today
43 minutes ago
- USA Today
Trump's golf trip to Scotland reopens old wounds for some of his neighbors
BALMEDIE, Scotland − Long before talk of hush-money payments, election subversion or mishandling classified documents, before his executive orders were the subject of U.S. Supreme Court challenges, before he was the 45th and then the 47th president: on a wild and windswept stretch of beach in northeast Scotland, Donald Trump the businessman was accused of being a bad neighbor. "This place will never, ever belong to Trump," Michael Forbes, 73, a retired quarry worker and salmon fisherman, said this week as he took a break from fixing a roof on his farm near Aberdeen. The land he owns is surrounded, though disguised in places by trees and hedges, by a golf resort owned by Trump's family business in Scotland, Trump International Scotland. For nearly 20 years, Forbes and several other families who live in Balmedie have resisted what they describe as bullying efforts by Trump to buy their land. (He has denied the allegations.) They and others also say he's failed to deliver on his promises to bring thousands of jobs to the area. Those old wounds are being reopened as Trump returns to Scotland for a four-day visit beginning July 25. It's the country where his mother was born. He appears to have great affection for it. Trump is visiting his golf resorts at Turnberry, on the west coast about 50 miles from Glasgow, and at Balmedie, where Forbes' 23 acres of jumbled, tractor-strewn land, which he shares with roaming chickens and three Highland cows, abut Trump's glossy and manicured golf resort. On July 28, Trump will briefly meet in Balmedie with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to "refine" a recent U.S.-U.K. trade deal, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. Golf, a little diplomacy: Trump heads to Scotland In Scotland, where estimates from the National Library of Scotland suggest that as many as 34 out of the 45 American presidents have Scottish ancestry, opinions hew toward the he's-ill-suited-for-the-job, according to surveys. "Trump? He just doesn't know how to treat people," said Forbes, who refuses to sell. What Trump's teed up in Scotland Part of the Balmedie community's grievances relate to Trump's failure to deliver on his promises. According to planning documents, public accounts and his own statements, Trump promised, beginning in 2006, to inject $1.5 billion into his golf project six miles north of Aberdeen. He has spent about $120 million. Approval for the development, he vowed, came with more than 1,000 permanent jobs and 5,000 construction gigs attached. Instead, there were 84, meaning fewer than the 100 jobs that already existed when the land he bought was a shooting range. Instead of a 450-room luxury hotel and hundreds of homes that Trump pledged to build for the broader community, there is a 19-room boutique hotel and a small clubhouse with a restaurant and shop that sells Trump-branded whisky, leather hip flasks and golf paraphernalia. Financial filings show that his course on the Menie Estate in Balmedie lost $1.9 million in 2023 − its 11th consecutive financial loss since he acquired the 1,400-acre grounds in 2006. Residents who live and work near the course say that most days, even in the height of summer, the fairway appears to be less than half full. Representatives for Trump International say the plan all along has been to gradually phase in the development at Balmedie and that it is not realistic or fair to expect everything to be built overnight. There's also support for Trump from some residents who live nearby, and in the wider Aberdeen business community. One Balmedie resident who lives in the shadow of Trump's course said that before Trump the area was nothing but featureless sand dunes and that his development, carved between those dunes, made the entire landscape look more attractive. Fergus Mutch, a policy advisor for the Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said Trump's golf resort has become a "key bit of the tourism offer" that attracts "significant spenders" to a region gripped by economic turmoil, steep job cuts and a prolonged downturn in its North Sea oil and gas industry. Trump in Scotland: Liked or loathed? Still, recent surveys show that 70% of Scots hold an unfavorable opinion of Trump. Despite his familial ties and deepening investments in Scotland, Trump is more unpopular among Scots than with the British public overall, according to an Ipsos survey from March. It shows 57% of people in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland don't view Trump positively. King Charles invites Trump: American president snags another UK state visit While in Balmedie this time, Trump will open a new 18-hole golf course on his property dedicated to his mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, who was a native of Lewis, in Scotland's Western Isles. He is likely to be met with a wave of protests around the resort, as well as the one in Turnberry. The Stop Trump Coalition, a group of campaigners who oppose most of Trump's domestic and foreign policies and the way he conducts his private and business affairs, is organizing a protest in Aberdeen and outside the U.S. consulate in Edinburgh. During Trump's initial visit to Scotland as president, in his first term, thousands of protesters sought to disrupt his visit, lining key routes and booing him. One protester even flew a powered paraglider into the restricted airspace over his Turnberry resort that bore a banner that read, "Trump: well below par #resist." 'Terrific guy': The Trump-Epstein party boy friendship lasted a decade, ended badly Trump's course in Turnberry has triggered less uproar than his Balmedie one because locals say that he's invested millions of dollars to restore the glamour of its 101-year-old hotel and three golf courses after he bought the site in 2014. Trump versus the families Three families still live directly on or adjacent to Trump's Balmedie golf resort. They say that long before the world had any clue about what type of president a billionaire New York real estate mogul and reality-TV star would become, they had a pretty good idea. Forbes is one of them. He said that shortly after Trump first tried to persuade him and his late wife to sell him their farm, workers he hired deliberately sabotaged an underground water pipe that left the Forbes – and his mother, then in her 90s, lived in her own nearby house – without clean drinking water for five years. Trump International declined to provide a fresh comment on those allegations, but a spokesperson previously told USA TODAY it "vigorously refutes" them. It said that when workers unintentionally disrupted a pipe that ran into an "antiquated" makeshift "well" jointly owned by the Forbeses on Trump's land, it was repaired immediately. Trump has previously called Forbes a "disgrace" who "lives like a pig." 'I don't have a big enough flagpole' David Milne, 61, another of Trump's seething Balmedie neighbors, lives in a converted coast guard station with views overlooking Trump's course and of the dunes and the North Sea beyond. In 2009, Trump offered him and his wife about $260,000 for his house and its one-fifth acre of land, Milne said. Trump was caught on camera saying he wanted to remove it because it was "ugly." Trump, he said, "threw in some jewelry," a golf club membership (Milne doesn't play), use of a spa (not yet built) and the right to buy, at cost, a house in a related development (not yet constructed). Milne valued the offer at about half the market rate. When Milne refused that offer, he said that landscapers working for Trump partially blocked the views from his house by planting a row of trees and sent Milne a $3,500 bill for a fence they'd built around his garden. Milne refused to pay. Over the years, Milne has pushed back. He flew a Mexican flag at his house for most of 2016, after Trump vowed to build a wall on the southern American border and make Mexico pay for it. Milne, a health and safety consultant in the energy industry, has hosted scores of journalists and TV crews at his home, where he has patiently explained the pros and cons − mostly cons, in his view, notwithstanding his own personal stake in the matter − of Trump's development for the local area. Milne said that because of his public feud with Trump, he's a little worried a freelance MAGA supporter could target him or his home. He has asked police to provide protection for him and his wife at his home while Trump is in the area. He also said he won't be flying any flags this time, apart from the Saltire, Scotland's national flag. "I don't have a big enough flagpole. I would need one from Mexico, Canada, Palestine. I would need Greenland, Denmark − you name it," he said, running through some of the places toward which Trump has adopted what critics view as aggressive and adversarial policies. Dunes of great natural importance Martin Ford was the local Aberdeen government official who originally oversaw Trump's planning application to build the Balmedie resort in 2006. He was part of a planning committee that rejected it over environmental concerns because the course would be built between sand dunes that were designated what the UK calls a Site of Special Scientific Interest due to the way they shift over time. The Scottish government swiftly overturned that ruling on the grounds that Trump's investment in the area would bring a much-needed economic boost. Neil Hobday, who was the project director for Trump's course in Balmedie, last year told the BBC he was "hoodwinked" by Trump over his claim that he would spend more than a billion dollars on it. Hobday said he felt "ashamed that I fell for it and Scotland fell for it. We all fell for it." The dunes lost their special status in 2020, according to Nature Scot, the agency that oversees such designations. It concluded that their special features had been "partially destroyed" by Trump's resort. Trump International disputes that finding, saying the issue became "highly politicized." For years, Trump also fought to block the installation of a wind farm off his resort's coast. He lost that fight. The first one was built in 2018. There are now 11 turbines. Ford has since retired but stands by his belief that allowing approval for the Trump resort was a mistake. "I feel cheated out of a very important natural habitat, which we said we would protect and we haven't," he said. "Trump came here and made a lot of promises that haven't materialized. In return, he was allowed to effectively destroy a nature site of great conservation value. It's not the proper behavior of a decent person." Forbes, the former quarry worker and fisherman, said he viewed Trump in similar terms. He said that Trump "will never ever get his hands on his farm." He said that wasn't just idle talk. He said he's put his land in a trust that specified that when he dies, it can't be sold for at least 125 years.
Buzz Feed
2 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
Taylor Swift And Travis Kelce Are Instagram Official
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are finally Instagram official, people! On Friday, the Kansas City Chiefs' tight end posted photos of him and Taylor together for the very first time on his social media. On July 25, on Instagram, he wrote, "Had some adventures this offseason, kept it 💯." In the photos, Taylor and Travis are full-on matching for an adorable date night. If you look super close, you can notice that Travis has Taylor as his cellphone lock screen. Eek! In the other photos, Tayvis are cozied up in winter gear as they hang out on an ice rink. The "Shake It Off" singer and Travis have apparently been spending lots of time together this year, and based on the pictures, Travis' family — his parents Donna and Ed, and his brother Jason have been part of the adventure as well. In other photos, they're pictured with their friends. And I'm living for these new pictures. We finally got an upgrade from all those random paparazzi and football game photos. The pair first sparked dating rumors in September 2023 after Taylor was spotted at several Chiefs' games. They seemingly confirmed their relationship the next month when they stepped out holding hands at a Saturday Night Live afterparty. And since they've always been randomly spotted together somewhere, but the official photos were scarce. And now, we have Instagram photos! The photos are going viral, and the people are losing their minds. With this news, it's time for me to play the 27-hour, 404 song "Taylor Swift Complete Collection" Spotify playlist on shuffle while I clean my house.
Forbes
3 hours ago
- Forbes
NYT ‘Connections' Hints And Answers For Sunday, July 27th
Hints, clues and answers for today's Connections are here. Looking for Saturday's NYT Connections hints, clues and answers instead? You can find them here: Stuck on today's NYT Connections puzzle? Don't worry — we've got you covered. Whether you need just a gentle nudge or the full set of answers, this guide will walk you through the hints, clues, and solutions for the Sunday, July 27th edition of The New York Times's Connections. Read on for help grouping those tricky words and completing today's challenge without spoilers — unless you want them! New York Times Connections Guide Sunday July 27th It's the last Sunday of July and still blazing hot out here in the American southwest. Maybe August will bring those monsoons we need so desperately. If you're looking to escape the heat, be sure to check out my weekend streaming guide. Lots of new shows and movies to keep you busy while you cool off indoors. I also reviewed the new Fantastic Four movie, which I thought was pretty bland unfortunately. In any case, we have a Connections to solve. Let's group some words! Connections is the second-most popular NYT Games puzzle game outside of the main crossword itself, and an extremely fun, free offering that will get your brain moving every day. Play it right here. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder The goal is to take a group of 16 words and find links between four pairs of four of them. They could be specific categories of terms, or they could be little world puzzles where words may come before or after them you need to figure out. And they get more complicated from there. There is only one set of right answers for this, and you only get a certain number of tries so you can't just spam around until you find something. There are difficulty tiers coded by color, which will usually go from yellow, blue/green to purple as difficulty increases, so know that going in and when you start linking them together. You pick the four words you think are linked and either you will get a solve and a lit up row that shows you how you were connected. If you're close, it will tell you that you're one away. Again, four mistakes you lose, but if you want to know the answers without failing, either come here, or delete your web cookies and try again. If you want to play more puzzles, you can get an NYT Games subscription to access the full archives of all past puzzles. These are the hints that are laid out on the puzzle board itself, but after that, we will get into spoiler territory with some hints and eventually the answers. First, here are today's Connections words: Today's Connections Alright, the full spoilers follow here as we get into what the groups are today: The full-on answers are below for each group, finally inserting the four words in each category. Spoilers follow if you do not want to get this far. The Connections answers are: Today's Connections I used up to 'tries' today on my first batch of yellow words because I thought ELEMENTARY should go with the other 'EASY' words. As in 'Elementary, my dear Watson.' It's kind of an unfair word since it does, absolutely, 100% mean the same thing as NO SWEAT, CHILD'S PLAY and PIECE OF CAKE in that context. Unfortunately, I hadn't really noticed that it fit even better with GRADE, GRAMMAR and PRIMARY, all words that also go before SCHOOL. The final ones took a bit of thinking, simply because HALLOWEEN is also largely an outdoor event. It wasn't until I started thinking about tricks and pranks and so forth that I realized how the purple words could fit together. I was thinking of costumes first, but that didn't quite work (Magicians have costumes, con-men sometimes wear them…but beyond the obvious with HALLOWEEN…what?) In any case, this wasn't the most challenging Connections ever, but it got my little grey cells working. Find more guides to Wordle, Strands and the Mini Crossword on my blog where you can also follow me for TV and movie and video game coverage. Read my weekend streaming guide right here.
