Going Inside the Kickstarter Office At Kickstarter's Brooklyn headquarters -- a former pencil factory with tons of natural sunlight --125 employees take turns hosting seminars, screenings and book club.
By Kristin Hunt
This story appears in the June 2017 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
It makes perfect sense that a crowdfunding platform's company culture would be collaborative. At Kickstarter's Brooklyn headquarters -- a former pencil factory with tons of natural sunlight -- 125 employees take turns hosting seminars, screenings and book clubs. Cubicles are shunned in favor of couches, and the CEO sits out in the open like everyone else. When quiet time is needed, staff can retreat to the solarium or the library, shown here.
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David Ninh
Senior Communications Specialist
"We do something called lunch roulette: Once a month, they assign us people in the company to have lunch with. That way you don't get stuck focusing on your area. You can meet people and see what they do day-to-day."
Justin Kazmark
Vice President of Communications
"We have an Always Be Learning series, where somebody at the office will teach something new. I did one on competitive Scrabble -- I used to do tournaments -- and one on chess with the founder of Kickstarter, who's really big into chess."
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Georgina Rovirosa
Strategist
"I first applied to this job because I live nearby and Kickstarter threw a welcome-to-the-neighborhood party. I came with my friends and fell in love with the space, and I was like, I wonder if they're hiring. When I got home, I went online and applied. I find the work here inspiring. We're making the world better. More creative."
Stephanie Li
Senior Email Marketing Manager
"A lot of people here do things on the side, artistically and creatively. We have people in bands, people who contribute to the publishing world. We have a Slack channel where we share events that might be going on that somebody on our team is participating in, if somebody's playing a show. We always support each other that way."
Sarah Lim
Product Writer
"There's a whole roof garden. Sometimes I've gone up and picked blueberries off the vine. And there's this great thing called Always Be Meeting New People, which I love. You can grab a gift card to go get coffee with someone you don't know that well."
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Stefan Dufgran
Product Design Lead
"The fact that we have a 75-seat theater is amazing. We watch Kickstarter-funded movies when we want to. There is a movie program called Kino Evil with cheesy '80s movies, things like that. People watch the Oscars. It's almost always open."
Lisa Luo
Software Engineer
"I've been to most major tech offices in New York, and Kickstarter is still my favorite. It's more spacious. It's so big but still feels familiar, homey and intimate. When it snows or rains, it's so beautiful. I feel like I'm in Hogwarts."
