Kickstarter CEO Perry Chen resigned

Today on the site's blog Kickstarter CEO Perry Chen issued an open letter, noting that he will be stepping down from his role as chief executive of the company.

Launching the site in 2009, he served as one of three co-founders for the service, with Yancey Strickler and Charles Adler. From the beginning Chen was there with Kickstarter, serving as CEO for its first five years. He stepped down for the first time in 2014, giving the role to co-founder Yancey Strickler, and joined back in 2017 after Strickler decided to leave the company. According to Buzzfeed News, when Kickstarter had planned to hire outside candidates, Chen quietly stepped in and resumed the role once again.

Chen resigned the same day when Kickstarter's staff announced its plans to unionize with the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 153. Kickstarter staff told that they were forming a union to promote "inclusion and solidarity, transparency and accountability," and gain "a seat at the table."

Temporarily Chen has picked a successor CEO: Aziz Hasan, who currently heads Kickstarter's design & product teams. Chen wrote that the board will be "working with Aziz over the next weeks and months to make this role permanent." Hasan joined the company last year, he previously worked with Refinery29.