How Kickstarter Is Helping Creators Dream Bigger

A sit-down with Kickstarter's Chief Marketing Officer, Courtney Brown Warren

Author

Carlo Palomino
October 10, 2025

Welcome back to The Friday Fortune! It’s officially October which means inboxes are filling with budget planning docs, your favorite brands are suddenly obsessed with skeletons, and yes, the scent of pumpkin spice still haunts every room you enter. Whether you’re mapping out Q4 KPIs or just trying to survive until Halloween without committing to a costume, this is your moment of productive procrastination.

Each week, we bring you sharp insights from world-class CMOs, boundary-pushing brand builders, and creative strategists who know how to turn even a spooky season into a standout campaign. From bold moves to bite-sized wins, we’re here to help you make the most of Q4, without losing your sense of humor.

Here’s what’s on deck this week:

  • A sit-down with Kickstarter CMO, Courtney Brown Warren

  • Dr. Squatch making masculinity fun again

  • OpenFortune x InTouch Credit Union

📈 Marketer of the Week

If there’s anyone reimagining what it means to connect creativity with community, it’s Courtney Brown Warren, Chief Marketing Officer at Kickstarter. With roots in design, fashion, media, and tech, Courtney’s story proves that curiosity and courage are the best currencies in modern marketing.

Courtney’s career began as a graphic designer in the fashion and beauty world, but her fascination with storytelling quickly pulled her into marketing’s orbit. That drive led her through roles at Time Inc., Madison Square Garden, Audible, and Twitter, each teaching her how emotion, fandom, and culture shape brands that last.

When she joined Kickstarter in 2023, the challenge was clear: make people care about crowdfunding again. Partnering with CEO Everett Taylor, Courtney helped lead the brand’s first-ever out-of-home campaign, drive a 482% surge in social growth, and spark a 1,300% jump in YouTube subscribers. Her secret was empowering her team to chase great ideas without micromanagement and focusing on stories that put creators and their journeys at the center.

And her strategy always combines creativity with patience. At events like Culture Con and CES, Courtney invests in long-term brand awareness while staying close to the community that built Kickstarter’s legacy. “We’re trying to find synergistic ways to continue with the creator life cycle and give people a way to launch and go out into the world beyond the funding that they get on Kickstarter.” It’s this evolution from crowdfunding platform to full-scale launchpad that’s completely changing Kickstarter’s role in the creator economy.

​​Inside the company, Courtney describes a culture of curiosity and creativity that mirrors the platform’s DNA. From engineers who moonlight as musicians to marketers who sketch at offsites, she sees the platform’s innovative spirit reflected in its people. That same ethos shapes how she leads, aligning strategy with purpose, trusting her team’s instincts, and constantly bringing diverse ideas together.

Courtney’s Takeaway

Whether you’re a marketer or not, Courtney’s advice for everyone is this: “Network like crazy. Reach out to people as much as you can so you can soak up all of their expertise. And use social media to your advantage. If you have good and thoughtful ideas, get it out there.”

To hear more about how Courtney Brown Warren is transforming Kickstarter into a launchpad for creativity and connection, listen to the full episode of CMO Weekly.

Crack open a handful of the week’s best marketing links—because good fortune favors the curious.

That’s a wrap for this week’s Friday fortune.

If you enjoyed the read, pass it along to your favorite marketer who could use a little extra inspo in their inbox.

Until next time, may your marketing be memorable and your cookies always be fortunate!

— The OpenFortune team