Brian Wong

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. In 2019, Wong was replaced as Kiip CEO by Jason Lapp.[1]

For the American NASCAR driver, see Brian Wong (racing driver).
Brian Wong
Born (1991-04-14) April 14, 1991
OccupationFounder and former CEO of Kiip

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.[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. Wong 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] Kiip 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]

In 2019, Kiip replaced Wong as CEO with Jason Lapp.[21] His removal came after an indefinite leave of absence with Kiip CRO Bill Alena serving as interim CEO in his stead. [22]

Recognition

In 2010, Wong became one of the youngest company leaders to ever receive funding from a venture capital firm.[9][23] He was also self-made by the time he was 20 years old.[24] He has spoken at several popular conferences, including TEDx and SXSW.[25][26] 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][27][28][29] Wong was on the cover of the September 2014 issue of Entrepreneur as one of the young millionaires changing the world.[30] Wong was named in the Forbes 30 Under 30/Social/Mobile list in 2011.[31]

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."[32] It was published in September 2016.[33]

Lawsuit

In 2019, Wong was indicted on felony charges for sexual assault. Although the trial is still ongoing, Wong allegedly sexually assaulted a date after the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, in March 2016. According to the same source, his lawyer Sam Bassett, issued a statement where Wong maintained the two met before and the relation was consensual. Wong still denies all the allegation and the verdict is pending appeal.[34]

gollark: That's it. I am OOM-killing you.
gollark: ÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆAA
gollark: Stop allocating memory. Stop it!
gollark: 0/10, does not use malloc as a variable name EVER and contains semicolons in "correct" place.
gollark: <@319753218592866315> make minoteaur.

References
  1. Schiff, Allison (18 March 2019). "Kiip Brings On New Chief In Wake Of Sexual Assault Charges Against Former CEO Brian Wong". AdExchanger. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  2. Entrepreneur Spotlight: Brian Wong | |
  3. Rose, Kevin. Foundation 05 // Brian Wong. Foundation. April 2011.
  4. Building the World’s First Mobile Rewards Network: Brian Wong, 20-Year-Old Founder of Kiip. Sramana Mitra. April 5, 2012.
  5. Newman, Kira. 20-Year-old Entrepreneur Brian Wong: “Try to change shit up” Archived 2012-06-30 at the Wayback Machine. TechCocktail. March 13, 2012.
  6. Van Grove, Jennifer. Followformation: Quickly Follow Dozens of Categorized Twitter Users. Mashable. July 14, 2009.
  7. Shaw, Gillian. Entrepreneur at 18: Followformation.com founder Brian Wong Archived July 15, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. The Vancouver Sun. April 12, 2010.
  8. http://www.sauder.ubc.ca/Alumni/~/media/4B7659214A594A42AC9A7F65CE37B5B8.ashx
  9. McMahan, Ty. Betting Venture Capital On An Unproven 19-Year-Old. Wall Street Journal. August 6, 2010.
  10. Newman, Kira. Brian Wong to Young Entrepreneurs: “Assume no one gives a shit about you” Archived 2012-06-30 at the Wayback Machine. Tech Cocktail. April 18, 2012.
  11. Tsotsi, Alexia. Kiip’s Brian Wong On Taking Risks As Young Entrepreneur. TechCrunch. April 12, 2011.
  12. Kim, Ryan. Kiip Pushes Real Rewards, Not Ads on Mobile Gamers. GigaOM. April 11, 2011.
  13. Tsotsis, Alexia. "19 Year Old Kiip Founder Closes 300K Angel Round For Mobile In-Game Ad Startup". Tech Crunch. October 27, 2010.
  14. "Game On: Lunch with Brian Wong, co-founder of online rewards platform Kiip". BCBusiness. February 27, 2017. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
  15. Dickey Megan Rose. Kiip, a Mobile Rewards Startup, Raises $12 Million in Series C. TechCrunch. July 19, 2016.
  16. Grant, Rebecca. Kiip raises $11M to reward users for everyday life. VentureBeat. July 17, 2012.
  17. Holiday, Ryan. Online Advertisings Greatest Missed Opportunity? Kiip.Me Founder Brian Wong Answers. Forbes. April 25, 2012.
  18. Tsotsis, Alexia. Kiip: A Win-Win for App Developers and Advertisers. Entrepreneur. March 9, 2012.
  19. Kim, Ryan. Rewards provider Kiip grabs $11M to go after consumers. GigaOM. July 17, 2012.
  20. "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.
  21. Swant, Marty; 2019 (2019-03-20). "Kiip Replaces CEO Brian Wong After Sexual Assault Indictment". www.adweek.com. Retrieved 2020-02-11.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  22. Schiff, Allison (18 March 2019). "Kiip Brings On New Chief In Wake Of Sexual Assault Charges Against Former CEO Brian Wong". AdExchanger. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  23. Arrington, Michael. True Ventures Invests In 19 Year Old Entrepreneur Brian Wong. Tech Crunch'. August 3, 2010.
  24. "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.
  25. "TEDxYouth@Castilleja - BRIAN WONG". Dec 10, 2010. YouTube.
  26. "Brian Wong - Kiip CEO & Founder at SXSW 2012". March 12, 2012. YouTube.
  27. Vega, Tanzina (December 23, 2011). "Using Prizes to Reach Video Game Players on Their Phones". New York Times.
  28. "Brian Wong, founder of Kiip.me". Inc. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  29. Takahashi, Dean. Kiip expands beyond games to rewarding fitness “moments”. Venture Beat. March 22, 2012.
  30. Ankeny, Jason (August 20, 2014). "Young Millionaires: How These Entrepreneurs Under 30 Are Changing the World" (September 2014).
  31. "30 Under 30: Social/Mobile". Forbes. December 19, 2011. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  32. "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.
  33. "A 25-year-old CEO shares 9 career secrets every young person should know". CNBC. September 23, 2016. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  34. McBride, Sarah (15 March 2019). "Brian Wong, Startup Founder and Leadership Author, Indicted on Sexual Assault Charge". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.