Meet Kurt Apen

I am a 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 leading great teams. I work with early and mid-stage start-ups in an advisory role to help with brand and growth strategies as well as marketing organization design and talent development.

Throughout my marketing career, I have developed teams and executed marketing strategies to drive revenue targets by achieving growth in key customer metrics. I have operated in both high growth start-ups like Otter.ai and Coursera.org and Fortune 100 consumer companies like eBay, Facebook and Disney. 

I am a full-stack marketer with hands on experience in every aspect of marketing and PR. My strengths include brand, product, 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. 

Areas where I can help: 

• Company vision and mission development and refinement
• Brand strategy
• Brand storytelling and public relations
• Customer segmentation
• Customer acquisition strategy
• Marketing channel development across web, mobile and social platforms
• CRM and customer retention
• Loyalty program development
• Marketing and PR organization design and talent development
• Marketing technology and agency selection
• Marketing analytics, measurement, and effectiveness

​Business Model Experience: 

• B2B PLG SaaS
• Marketplaces
• Direct-to-consumer
• E-commerce
• Freemium products
• Subscription products

​Education:
​I studied marketing as an undergraduate at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and as a graduate student at Harvard Business School. I hold a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Wharton and an MBA from Harvard.