Meet Kurt Apen
I am a 2x CMO with over thirty years of experience and a successful record of launching and growing community-driven technology brands by developing innovative growth strategies and building and leading great teams. Hired as the first CMO at both Coursera and Otter.ai, I helped scale the companies from low single digit $M in revenue to over $100M in revenue in 3 to 4 years. I work with early and mid-stage start-ups in an advisory role to help with growth and brand strategies and tactics as well as marketing organization design and talent development.
Throughout my marketing career, I have helped build brand new categories while developing the category brand leader, first in online automotive marketplaces with eBay Motors, later in online education with Coursera.org and more recently in AI meeting assistants with Otter.ai. I have operated in both early stage, high growth start-ups like Otter.ai and Coursera.org and Fortune 100 consumer companies like eBay, Facebook and Disney. This breadth of marketing experience gives me the ability to smartly scale brands and companies while avoiding costly mistakes.
I am a full-stack marketer with hands on experience in every aspect of marketing and PR. My strengths include brand story telling, product marketing, and growth marketing, with expertise across the full marketing lifecycle (e.g., product development, launch, acquisition, growth, and retention). I am a quantitative marketer by training, but I am equally experienced in brand storytelling and creative development.
Throughout my marketing career, I have helped build brand new categories while developing the category brand leader, first in online automotive marketplaces with eBay Motors, later in online education with Coursera.org and more recently in AI meeting assistants with Otter.ai. I have operated in both early stage, high growth start-ups like Otter.ai and Coursera.org and Fortune 100 consumer companies like eBay, Facebook and Disney. This breadth of marketing experience gives me the ability to smartly scale brands and companies while avoiding costly mistakes.
I am a full-stack marketer with hands on experience in every aspect of marketing and PR. My strengths include brand story telling, product marketing, and growth marketing, with expertise across the full marketing lifecycle (e.g., product development, launch, acquisition, growth, and retention). I am a quantitative marketer by training, but I am equally experienced in brand storytelling and creative development.