5 Things To Know About XCEL Impact Awardee Everette Taylor

The path to the C-suite for Kickstarter’s Everette Taylor has been anything but conventional.

The Kickstarter CEO and 2026 BLACK ENTERPRISE XCEL Summit Impact Awardee has built a career spanning entrepreneurship, technology, marketing, and the arts. Taylor is among the Black men being honored at this year’s XCEL Summit happening Oct. 21-23 at The Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando, Florida, for their achievements and impact across business, culture, and their communities.

Long before taking the helm of Kickstarter in September 2022, the Richmond, Virginia, native experienced homelessness, left college, and launched his own businesses. His journey ultimately took him from living out of his car as a teenager to leading the global crowdfunding platform.

Here are five things you may not know about Taylor and the experiences that shaped his rise.

1. He experienced homelessness as a teenager.

Taylor grew up in Richmond’s Southside and experienced homelessness during the latter part of high school, when he lived out of his car. The Broad Rock Public Library became a refuge, providing him with temporary shelter and access to a computer.

Taylor has said the experience influenced his commitment to creating opportunities for others and helped him develop empathy for people facing poverty and limited access to resources.

2. A BLACK ENTERPRISE cover featuring Jay-Z helped shape his vision of success.

Before becoming a BE XCEL Summit Impact Awardee himself, Taylor found inspiration in the pages of the publication.

Taylor told the Observer that, as a young Black man growing up in inner-city Richmond, he struggled to identify with prominent technology entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg. Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter offered a different example.

Taylor recalled seeing Jay-Z on the cover of BE and being inspired by seeing someone who succeeded as both a creative and a businessman. Carter’s ability to build a business empire while maintaining his identity as an artist offered Taylor a model of success he could more closely identify with.

His selection as a 2026 XCEL Summit Impact Awardee brings that connection full circle, years after BE helped expose him to a vision of entrepreneurship that resonated with him.

3. He started his first company at 19.

Taylor entered entrepreneurship early. While attending Virginia Tech, he started EZ Events, an event planning and management business.

Taylor left college after launching the company and sold it about two years later before moving to California.

He continued building businesses and, in 2013, established ET Enterprises, a portfolio that included PopSocial, MilliSense, and ArtX. He also co-founded GrowthHackers, an online community for growth marketers.

4. His resume includes Microsoft, Artsy, and several startups.

Taylor built an extensive career in marketing and technology before becoming Kickstarter’s CEO.

He held marketing leadership positions at Skurt and Qualaroo, helping lead both companies to acquisitions. He also served as chief marketing officer of e-commerce company Sticker Mule and oversaw growth strategy for new social products at Microsoft.

Immediately before joining Kickstarter, Taylor served as chief marketing officer of Artsy, an online marketplace for buying and selling fine art. His work there earned him recognition from Forbes as one of the world’s most influential chief marketing officers.

Kickstarter announced Taylor as its new CEO in September 2022.

5. He built his career without earning a traditional college degree — but has received honorary doctorates.

Taylor left college to pursue entrepreneurship, but his professional accomplishments have since earned recognition from higher-education institutions.

Shaw University awarded Taylor an honorary doctorate in 2019 in recognition of his contributions to society and humanitarian efforts.

In May 2025, Taylor returned to his hometown to deliver Virginia Commonwealth University’s commencement address. During the ceremony, VCU awarded him an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, the university’s highest form of recognition.

Taylor also announced plans for a scholarship bearing his name to support VCU students from what he described as “uncommon and unorthodox backgrounds.”

From experiencing homelessness in Richmond to leading Kickstarter, Taylor has built a career centered on entrepreneurship, creativity, and expanding access to opportunity. His recognition as a 2026 BLACK ENTERPRISE XCEL Summit Impact Awardee adds another milestone to a career shaped, in part, by seeing Black entrepreneurship represented years earlier.

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