Kristen Craft

Kristen Craft is a director of Early-Stage Startups at Silicon Valley Bank. Based in Boston, Kristen works with New England–based startups, advising them on their banking needs, aiding them in fostering community and helping them grow and succeed. As a seasoned marketer, team builder and operator, Kristen particularly enjoys supporting founders as they think through the opportunities that excite them and the issues that challenge them. She likes to “move fast and build new things” via marketing campaigns, integrations, premier services and relationship building.

Having spent 15 years in startup marketing and three years in general management, Kristen brings to SVB over a decade of experience in the technology arena. Specifically, she’s worked in digital marketing, product management, product marketing, business development and channel sales. Particularly formative for Kristen were the four years she spent at Wistia, where she launched strategic partnerships with such companies as HubSpot, Salesforce, Zendesk and Marketo. She’s been a top-rated keynote speaker at HubSpot’s INBOUND conference and was also named one of the Top 20 Women in Tech by Accomplice VC’s Rev program. Most recently, she managed the B2B SaaS content marketing agency Animalz, doubling their revenue in her first year.

Kristen was born and raised in Boston and is passionate about making Boston THE place for founders to launch great ideas. She has a master’s degree in education at Harvard University and was a Forté Fellow during her MBA program at MIT Sloan School of Management. She’s a member of the Nashoba Brooks School Board of Visitors and also mentors founders through Hustle Fund.

Kristen lives in Somerville, MA, with her husband and two kids. Fun fact: She started a moving and storage company at the end of college and ran it for two years before moving into her first product manager role.