Intrepid

Intrepid is a financial technology company that brings innovation, inspiration, and opportunity to every entrepreneur and business in the creator economy.

Our core product "Superstar" is a creator marketing management software designed to automate the way data-driven marketing teams operate. It offers an integrated platform to manage the entire lifecycle of creator marketing campaigns. 

The objective is to streamline processes from the creator discovery phase to payments, all while leveraging data-driven insights and fostering enhanced collaboration among stakeholders.

I recruit customers, partners and lead our global community.

Co-Founder | Community | Growth 

Activate America

Producer of Amplified Avondale https://www.instagram.com/amplifiedavondale/ 

Activate America leads urban transformation and regenerative placemaking projects, creating vibrant cultural hubs for economic revitalization and fosters community connection and cultural diversity.

As the Founder and CEO of Activate America, I orchestrated a transformative journey that significantly impacted the local community. We've achieved remarkable milestones:

Community Development: Our festival transitioned from a homogenous gathering into a diverse and inclusive event, with over 1,000 monthly attendees representing a rich tapestry of backgrounds, fostering an inclusive sense of community and cultural diversity.

Revenue Growth: Doubled and tripled revenue for local merchants, contributing to the economic vitality of the community.

Urban Revitalization: Pioneered the creation of a net-new entertainment district, catalyzing urban revitalization and cultural enrichment.

Founder and CEO

Delivering over a hundred keynote speeches, panels, and moderated discussions on Fintech, Modern Banking, Web3, Blockchain, AI, and the Future of Work.

Translating deep tech trends into human-centric insights, driven by my entrepreneurial, executive recruiting, and advisory background.

Public Speaker

Silver Creek Partners

Full time through 2016, select long term clients through 2023. Global reach.
Key Contributions:

Recruited and onboarded over 2500 professionals, driving substantial revenue growth and innovation for diverse organizations. Hundreds of customers from idea stage to F50.
Functional areas: Engineering, Sales, Marketing, Corporate Development
Roles: CSuite to individual contributor.
Google, SAP, SingTel, AIA, Flipt, Anheiser Busch, Salesforce,

Key Accomplishments:
Scaled startup engineering teams from initial hires to robust units of up to 40 engineers.

Led talent acquisition for a HealhTech startup from idea to a teams 140+ employees.

Led talent acquisition efforts for a Fortune 100 electronics manufacturer, resulting in 35 senior manager and executive hires within 12 months.

Scaled a Fortune 50 insurance company's newly formed division from a single employee to 35 senior hires in just 18 months, including relocating 25 senior executives to Singapore.

Oversaw organizational design and talent acquisition for a corporate development and Innovation business unit, culminating in 14 executive-level hires.

Drove early success for startups, consistently recruiting first customers in zero to one environments.

Founder | Executive Recruiter

Intrepid Ventures

Intrepid Ventures was a Blockchain and Web3 startup studio and innovation lab for founders and chief innovation officers.

Customer-facing leader with a proven track record of success in growing and engaging communities, launching successful events, and building relationships in the blockchain and Web3 space.

Grew a global invite-only community from 0 to 30,000+ members in 18 months. Community led insights and guidance helped to shape the thinking of community members and position them for success in the rapidly evolving blockchain and Web3 space.

Developed and launched more than 20 sponsored events across Southeast Asia through ecosystem partners including Visa, Prudential, AIA, IFC World Bank, IBM, and others, attracting over 10,000 attendees. 

Facilitated community-driven innovation and collaboration, resulting in the launch of multiple successful blockchain/crypto products across insurance, fintech, security, and gaming.

Intrepid Ventures | Co-Founder | Blockchain & Web3 Venture Studio

Creator Economy | Influencer Marketing | Community | Sales and Partnerships | Recruiting

I help Influencer Marketing teams unify, automate, and scale their operations so they can focus on growth vs. administrative tasks.


I've recruited and helped build amazing teams (onboarded 2500+ professionals).
I've designed and built global communities from zero to 30K+.
Designed, launched and produced 18 Music and Art Festivals, 5 large scale conferences and 100+ events
Co-founded 4 startups in  Blockchain, Healthech, Fintech and AI/Automation.

Zach Piester

Limbic Brand Evolution

Limbic is a Brand Strategy & Neuromarketing Consultancy.  As Chief Strategist & Founder, I help brands increase desire, engagement and loyalty by turning emotional insights into a competitive advantage. 

I love to work with CMO’s, Brand and Business Leaders who have set out to make people’s lives better and want to create stronger connections between their brand and the people who they want to reach.  Together, we...


FOCUS → We clarify the motivating purpose that makes their brand unique & desirable. 

CONNECT → We strengthen connections by understanding people’s emotional needs & desires, and how they want to feel. 

EVOLVE → We create evolved communications, experiences and offerings that address what people care about most.

Learn more about the Limbic Sparks® Brand Strategy – a Neuromarketing Approach – at  LimbicBrandEvolution.com

Here's what client say: 
→ “The work is pretty incredible. You took thoughts and ideas from all of us and turned it into a brand and a brand evolution plan that all of us - from the Board to the Staff - understand, love, and are excited about.”

→ “Kevin helped us uncover gaps on how consumers view our brand and their emotions surrounding it. This led to a much crisper set of communications to not only retain and engage our current consumers, but to also draw new ones in. He’s a rare brand marketer who is both strategy & ROI focused.”

→ “Kevin delivers on complex projects. His Limbic approach insightfully deciphered our clients’ emotional needs & inspired our team.  He evolved our offering, benefits, messaging and brand experience to more effectively strengthen our client relationships. Not to mention, he’s really fun to work with!”

→ “Kevin brings a breath of fresh air to any engagement. He was collaborative and helped build consensus internally leveraging his Limbic Sparks methodology.  Kevin's years of experience making the complex, clear and the functional, emotional will benefit any organization.”

Chief Brand Strategist - Sparking Brand Desire

Made Music Studio

Accomplishments:
• Created MMS’s SonicPulse® Research – 2018’s “most innovative” award-winning neuroscience-based capability, plus I published new sonic insights in Wired Magazine

• Created strategies and proved value for brands to strengthen emotional appeal across live, digital and product experiences

• Stewarded the most complex biz dev and client work including Nissan Electric Vehicles, iRobot, Deloitte Greenhouse, AT&T, MetLife and others

• Led offering expansion and emerging tech innovation

• Created a Health & Wellness practice and launched the VentureSonic innovation studio & business unit 

• Frequent speaker and author often about the subconscious impact of emotion on desire and business performance 

Chief Innovation Officer (2018-2019)
EVP, Chief of Innovation (2017-2018)
SVP, Chief Strategist (2014-2017)

Chief Strategist & Chief Innovation Officer

Interbrand

Accomplishments:
• Stewarded brand strategy, portfolio architecture, mergers and acquisitions, visual and verbal brand identity creation/management, customer experience design, agency alignment and employee engagement

• Led AT&T through 7 years of brand transformations, worked onsite at AT&T for 4 months, cultivated a great team and grew AT&T to become IB’s largest client

• Led brand strategy, naming and portfolio architecture for Univision, Hertz, Nintendo & Covidien/Medtronic

• Presented and published many POVs after creating the foundational playbook of IB’s Customer Experience practice, and as IB’s Global Telecom Sector Leader

Senior Director, Brand Strategy

Publicis

Accomplishments:
• Led TBS Network “Very Funny” Cannes Lion, Clio, D&AD & Effie award-winning rebranding campaign at the request of the chief creative officer (David Droga)
  
• Led complex relationships and creating global strategies/campaigns for UBS Financial Services, Siemens, Zurich Insurance & Malibu Rum

VP, Group Account Director

Hampel Stefanides

Advertising Account Management

Aer Lingus Airlines, CDNOW

VP, Account Director

McCann Erickson

Advertising Account Management

Marriott, GE Capital, AT&T, Lufthansa, L'Oreal

Account Executive

I love making things better - being curious, connecting the dots & setting the foundation of a future that has yet to unfold. As a brand strategist, I often talk with Brand Leaders who also want things to be better. They feel their brand deserves to be better understood and more desired. They want to: "Strengthen connections," "Simplify complexity." "Increase engagement," "Earn loyalty" & "Drive business growth." Here's the thing...

"We buy on emotion but justify with logic." This inextricable link between emotion and desire is fundamental in human behavior, but it's not an insight that most business or brand leaders apply to their work, and it's a big, missed opportunity for all kinds of companies.

Over-reliance on traditional brand strategy is a big challenge business and brand leaders face. 

Too much "what's my why?" Not enough "who's my who?” Despite good intentions, so much brand activity lacks deep customer understanding and relevance.

To close this gap, I created the Limbic Sparks® Brand Strategy:
→ Rooted in behavioral science
→ Fueled by emotional intelligence
→ Designed to spark brand desire

Now, strategies I craft for my clients help them create Limbic Sparks by activating brand ideas that have customer at "hello" and keep them coming back for more. We do this by uncovering the emotional insights that drive behavior, then we evolve brand messaging and customer experiences.

Limbic Sparks Brand Strategy is a practical way for business and brand leaders to discover emotional drivers that will make their brand more relevant and desirable.

Why Follow Me?
You'll find, I live my brand values. I'm all about strengthening emotional connections. You'll never be sold to or spammed. You'll only be inspired by insights and ideas so you can apply the Limbic Sparks approach to your own work. It'll help your brand be more understood, appreciated, and desired.  

Clients say heartwarming things like: “Kevin helped us better understand why our clients buy from us and 100% reshaped how we speak about our company. The result is a comprehensive brand strategy and messaging hierarchy that is now our blueprint moving forward."

I also invite you to check out:
Limbic Brand Evolution - https://www.LimbicBrandEvolution.com/

The Let's Talk Limbic Sparks Podcast - https://www.LimbicSparks.com/

Limbic Sparks - Strategies to Spark Brand Desire - https://LimbicSparks.Substack.com/

Thanks for being here, and let's talk any time.

Kevin Perlmutter

So, this just happened. Me, fumbling around to get a screenshot of Howie Chan holding my book as we were recording an episode of his INFLUENCE ANYONE podcast. Little did I know…

Riverside – the recording platform – was capturing the image, and I’m looking at my keyboard, not the camera. Oops!

Oh well, I missed my close up, but we had a fantastic & fun conversation that will be published soon. 

We talked about…

• The power of understanding emotional insights for brand strategy

• How the "Limbic Sparks" approach can transform customer connections

• Another one of my favorite topics – the intersection of my passions for furniture building and brand strategy (measure twice, cut once)

As soon as this conversation goes live, I’ll be sure to share!!

Thanks, Howie!!

Behavioral Science-Rooted Brand Strategist → Author: BRAND DESIRE Spark Customer Interest Using Emotional Insights → Consultant, Work Session Facilitator & Speaker → Founder: Limbic Brand Evolution → Vermont Enthusiast

Best question of the week – What does Furniture Building have to do with Brand Strategy and Brand Experience? You should have seen my smile!! I’ve thought about this a lot… here’s what I said:

I’ve been building furniture for a long time. Decades ago, I committed to a new tool and a new skill on every job. Over the years, I’ve acquired a lot of tools – there’s a right tool for every job – and a lot of skills. I apply this approach to my brand strategy work – never settling for the status quo led me to behavioral science-rooted approaches.

I believe in the Golden Rule – Measure Twice, Cut Once. In carpentry, it saves you from a lot of mistakes. In branding, it means strategy before tactics.

I design for the environment and its users. In woodworking, every project I build is custom-designed and made for a specific environment. How it will look and function is informed with lots of input from the ultimate users (me and my family). Together we agree on style, wood type, color, etc. Just like in my work with brand leaders – they provide input, I talk with customers, I recommend options, we discuss, they ultimately approve a direction, I build.

Pictured here are some bedside tables I built during my winter break. Designed to spec, with a lot of attention to detail and high-quality craftsmanship.

What’s a hobby of yours that intersects perfectly with your career?

Why Do People Choose Your Brand?
Hint: It’s NOT your brand’s why.  I’ll bet you don’t know the real reasons - but here's how you can find out...

As you start the year looking for ways to grow your business, here’s what I suggest:

• Talk with your customers. 

• Discover their emotional motivations, with and without your brand.

• Find out what attracts them to your brand, and why they keep coming back.

Once you discover what your customers actually care about:

• Transform your brand messaging and marketing using those emotional benefits felt by current customers to attach new customers who would enjoy those same benefits.

• You can even use that insight to make your brand experience even more emotionally appealing to everyone who it's for, rooted in what already makes it unique and emotionally appealing.

This is some of what Karl Pontau and I talked about on his Human Connection Podcast, with a lot more detail on how you can apply ideas like this to your work.

What do you think of this as a 2026 priority?
Instead of focusing on your Why, seek to better understand your Who.

taplio

The Battle

Zach Piester

Kevin Perlmutter

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreKevin Perlmutter's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Zach Piester

Kevin Perlmutter

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Kevin Perlmutter's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreKevin Perlmutter's LinkedIn Performance