Brian Wong
Brian Wong | |||
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Born | April 14, 1991 | ||
Occupation | Founder and CEO of Kiip | ||
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Brian Wong (born April 14, 1991) is a Canadian Internet entrepreneur. In 2010, Wong co-founded Kiip, a mobile app rewards platform that lets brands and companies give real-world rewards for in-game achievements.
Early life and education
Wong was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia to parents of Hong Kong descent. His father was an accountant and his mother was a nurse.[1][2] He received his high school diploma at the age of 14 after twice skipping two grades at the University Transition Program at UBC.[3] Wong received a bachelor's degree from the University of British Columbia at the age of 18.[4] While at university, Wong launched his first company, FollowFormation, which Mashable called "the easiest way to follow the top Twitterers by subject matter or topic."[5][6][7] One of his most recent ventures, Kiip, made him one of the youngest internet entrepreneurs to raise venture capital.[8]
In 2010, Wong worked for the business development of Digg, leading the development and release of the Digg Android Mobile App. Soon after a joining and after a disastrous redesign, Digg had a round of corporate layoffs. Brian was let go after five months, an experience that eventually led to him opening his own business.[9]
Kiip
Wong, at 19, received the initial inspiration for Kiip on an airplane as he observed his fellow passengers interacting with their iPads.[10][11] He noticed that many passengers were playing games, and felt that the games' advertisements took up screen space without adding any real value.[11] Because he perceived that games are a "holy grail of achievement," Wong wanted to leverage key moments of achievement—such as level ups and high scores—with a targeted, relevant rewards program that enabled brands to reach consumers when they were most engaged.[3][4][12]
In July 2010, Wong teamed with his fellow former Digg employees Courtney Guertin and their mutual friend Amadeus Demarzi to found Kiip.[13] Kipp sends achievement-based rewards like coupons to 100 million consumers monthly,[14] and has raised more than $32 million of venture capital from companies like Relay Ventures, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, True Ventures, Verizon Ventures, Crosslink Capital, and others.[15] Kiip has offices in San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Tokyo and London.[16] The company has established strategic partnerships with more than 40 major brands, including 1-800-Flowers, Amazon.com, American Apparel, Best Buy, Carl's Jr., Disney, Dr. Pepper, GNC, KY Jelly, Pepsi, Playboy, Popchips, Sephora, Victoria's Secret, Vitamin Water and others.[17][18][19] Kiip is on track to do more than $20 million in revenue in 2017.[20]
Recognition
In 2010, Wong became one of the youngest company leaders to ever receive funding from a venture capital firm.[9][21] He was also a self-made millionaire by the time he was 20 years old.[22] He has spoken at several popular conferences, including TEDx and SXSW.[23][24] In addition, Wong and Kiip have been profiled in such global publications as Forbes, Entrepreneur, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Inc. Magazine.[9][17][25][26][27] Wong was on the cover of the September 2014 issue ofEntrepreneur as one of the young millionaires changing the world.[28] Wong was named in the Forbes 30 Under 30/Social/Mobile list in 2011.[29]
Publications
Wong is author of "The Cheat Code: Going Off Script to Get More, Go Faster, and Shortcut Your Way to Success," which is "aimed at helping young people just starting their careers."[30] It was published in September 2016.[31]
References
- ↑ Brian Wong | Sauder School of Business at UBC, Vancouver, Canada
- ↑ Entrepreneur Spotlight: Brian Wong | |
- 1 2 Rose, Kevin. Foundation 05 // Brian Wong. Foundation. April 2011.
- 1 2 Building the World’s First Mobile Rewards Network: Brian Wong, 20-Year-Old Founder of Kiip. Sramana Mitra. April 5, 2012.
- ↑ Newman, Kira. 20-Year-old Entrepreneur Brian Wong: “Try to change shit up”. TechCocktail. March 13, 2012.
- ↑ Van Grove, Jennifer. Followformation: Quickly Follow Dozens of Categorized Twitter Users. Mashable. July 14, 2009.
- ↑ Shaw, Gillian. Entrepreneur at 18: Followformation.com founder Brian Wong Archived July 15, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.. The Vancouver Sun. April 12, 2010.
- ↑ http://www.sauder.ubc.ca/Alumni/~/media/4B7659214A594A42AC9A7F65CE37B5B8.ashx
- 1 2 3 McMahan, Ty. Betting Venture Capital On An Unproven 19-Year-Old. Wall Street Journal. August 6, 2010.
- ↑ Newman, Kira. Brian Wong to Young Entrepreneurs: “Assume no one gives a shit about you”. Tech Cocktail. April 18, 2012.
- 1 2 Tsotsi, Alexia. Kiip’s Brian Wong On Taking Risks As Young Entrepreneur. TechCrunch. April 12, 2011.
- ↑ Kim, Ryan. Kiip Pushes Real Rewards, Not Ads on Mobile Gamers. GigaOM. April 11, 2011.
- ↑ Tsotsis, Alexia. 19 Year Old Kiip Founder Closes 300K Angel Round For Mobile In-Game Ad Startup. Tech Crunch'. October 27, 2010.
- ↑ "Game On: Lunch with Brian Wong, co-founder of online rewards platform Kiip". BCBusiness. February 27, 2017. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
- ↑ Dickey Megan Rose. Kiip, a Mobile Rewards Startup, Raises $12 Million in Series C. TechCrunch. July 19, 2016.
- ↑ Grant, Rebecca. Kiip raises $11M to reward users for everyday life. VentureBeat. July 17, 2012.
- 1 2 Holiday, Ryan. Online Advertisings Greatest Missed Opportunity? Kiip.Me Founder Brian Wong Answers. Forbes. April 25, 2012.
- ↑ Tsotsis, Alexia. Kiip: A Win-Win for App Developers and Advertisers. Entrepreneur. March 9, 2012.
- ↑ Kim, Ryan. Rewards provider Kiip grabs $11M to go after consumers. GigaOM. July 17, 2012.
- ↑ "How to find your superpower, according to a 26-year-old CEO and self-made millionaire". CNBC.com. May 16, 2017. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
- ↑ Arrington, Michael. True Ventures Invests In 19 Year Old Entrepreneur Brian Wong. Tech Crunch'. August 3, 2010.
- ↑ "26-year-old self-made millionaire: This is the one thing that people don't understand about what it takes to be successful". CNBC Make It. July 10, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
- ↑ "TEDxYouth@Castilleja - BRIAN WONG". Dec 10, 2010. YouTube.
- ↑ "Brian Wong - Kiip CEO & Founder at SXSW 2012". March 12, 2012. YouTube.
- ↑ Vega, Tanzina (December 23, 2011). "Using Prizes to Reach Video Game Players on Their Phones". New York Times.
- ↑ "Brian Wong, founder of Kiip.me". Inc. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
- ↑ Takahashi, Dean. Kiip expands beyond games to rewarding fitness “moments”. Venture Beat. March 22, 2012.
- ↑ Ankeny, Jason (August 20, 2014). "Young Millionaires: How These Entrepreneurs Under 30 Are Changing the World" (September 2014).
- ↑ "30 Under 30: Social/Mobile". Forbes. December 19, 2011. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
- ↑ "26-year-old CEO shares his No. 1 trick for getting noticed by the world's top companies". CNBC. June 19, 2017. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
- ↑ "A 25-year-old CEO shares 9 career secrets every young person should know". CNBC. September 23, 2016. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brian Wong. |
- Kiip press page with profile of Wong
- "Why Kiip thinks wearables could supercharge virtual achievements advertising", Hot Topics, 2014
- "Turning time into currency at age 23", Entrepreneur, 2014