Brian Wong | |
|---|---|
 Brian Wongc. 2012 | |
| Born | (1991-04-14)April 14, 1991 (age 34) |
| Occupations | Founder and former CEO ofKiip |
Brian Wong (born April 14, 1991) is a CanadianInternet entrepreneur. In 2010, Wong co-foundedKiip (pronounced "keep"), a company offering amobile app rewards platform through which computer game players would receive real-world rewards from brands and companies for in-game achievements.
Wong was born and raised inVancouver,British Columbia, to parents ofHong Kong descent. His father was an accountant and his mother was a nurse.[1] He received his high school diploma at the age of 14, after twice skipping two grades at theUniversity Transition Program at theUniversity of British Columbia (UBC).[2] Wong received a bachelor's degree from UBC at the age of 18.[3] While at university, Wong launched his first company, FollowFormation, whichMashable called "the easiest way to follow the topTwitterers by subject matter or topic."[4][5][6] One of his most recent ventures,Kiip, made him one of the youngest internet entrepreneurs to raise venture capital.[7]
In 2010, Wong worked in business development for the news aggregatorDigg, leading the development and release of the DiggAndroid Mobile App. Soon after a joining and after a disastrous redesign, Digg had a round of corporate layoffs. Wong was let go after five months, an experience that eventually led to him opening his own business.[8]
Wong received the initial inspiration for Kiip on an airplane at age 19 as he observed his fellow passengers interacting with theiriPads.[9][10] He noticed that many passengers were playing games, and felt that the games' advertisements took up screen space without adding any real value.[10] 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.[2][3][11]
In July 2010, Wong teamed with his fellow former Digg employees Courtney Guertin and their mutual friend Amadeus Demarzi to found Kiip.[12] As of 2017, Kiip was sending achievement-based rewards such as coupons to 100 million consumers per month,[13] and had raised more than $32 million of venture capital from various sources, including Relay Ventures,Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, True Ventures, Verizon Ventures, andCrosslink Capital.[14] Kiip has offices inSan Francisco,New York City,Los Angeles,Chicago,Tokyo andLondon.[15] The company established strategic partnerships with more than 40 major brands, including1-800-Flowers,Amazon.com,American Apparel,Best Buy,Carl's Jr.,Disney,Dr. Pepper,GNC,KY Jelly,Pepsi,Playboy,Popchips,Sephora,Victoria's Secret, andVitamin Water.[16][17][18] Kiip was on track to do more than $20 million in revenue in 2017.[19][needs update]
In 2010, Wong became one of the youngest company leaders to ever receive funding from aventure capital firm.[8][20] He was called a self-made millionaire by the time he was 20 years old.[21] By 2012 he had spoken at several popular conferences, includingTEDx andSouth by Southwest.[22][23] Wong and Kiip were profiled in such global publications such asForbes,Entrepreneur,The Wall Street Journal,The New York Times, andInc. Magazine,[8][16][24][25][26] and he was on the cover of the September 2014 issue ofEntrepreneur as one of the young millionaires changing the world.[27] Wong was named in theForbes 30 Under 30 Social/Mobile list in 2011.[28]
Wong is the author ofThe Cheat Code: Going Off Script to Get More, Go Faster, and Shortcut Your Way to Success, a book that is "aimed at helping young people just starting their careers".[29] It was published in September 2016.[30]
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