Brian Wong

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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