Brian Wong (born April 14, 1991) is a Canadian

Internet entrepreneur An Internet entrepreneur is an owner, founder or manager of an Internet-based business. This list includes Internet company founders and people brought on to companies for their general business or accounting acumen, as is the case with some CEOs ...

. In 2010, Wong co-founded

Kiip Kiip was a mobile advertising network.Edwards, JimThis 21-year-old May Have Cracked the Future of Mobile Advertising ''BusinessInsider''. May 21, 2012. Holiday, RyanOnline Advertisings Greatest Missed Opportunity? Kiip.Me Founder Brian Wong Answ ...

(pronounced "keep"), a company offering a

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a smartphone, phone, tablet computer, tablet, or smartwatch, watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop appli ...

rewards platform through which computer game players would receive real-world rewards from brands and companies for in-game achievements.

Early life and education

Wong was born and raised in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, to parents of

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

descent. His father was an accountant and his mother was a nurse. He received his high school diploma at the age of 14, after twice skipping two grades at the University Transition Program at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

(UBC). Wong received a bachelor's degree from UBC at the age of 18.Building the World's First Mobile Rewards Network: Brian Wong, 20-Year-Old Founder of Kiip
''Sramana Mitra''. April 5, 2012. While at university, Wong launched his first company, FollowFormation, which

Mashable Mashable is a Online newspaper, news website, digital media platform and entertainment company founded by Pete Cashmore in 2005. History Mashable was founded by Pete Cashmore while living in Aberdeen, Scotland, in July 2004. Early iterations o ...

called "the easiest way to follow the top

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

ers by subject matter or topic." One of his most recent ventures,

, made him one of the youngest internet entrepreneurs to raise venture capital. In 2010, Wong worked in business development for the news aggregator

Digg Digg (stylized in lowercase as digg) is an American news aggregator with a curated front page, aiming to select articles specifically for the Internet audience such as science, trending political issues, and viral phenomenon, viral Internet iss ...

, leading the development and release of the Digg

Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...

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.

Kiip

Wong received the initial inspiration for Kiip on an airplane at age 19 as he observed his fellow passengers interacting with their

iPad The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...

s.Tsotsi, Alexia
Kiip’s Brian Wong On Taking Risks As Young Entrepreneur
''

TechCrunch TechCrunch is an American global online newspaper focusing on topics regarding high tech, high-tech and Startup company, startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. I ...

''. April 12, 2011. He noticed that many passengers were playing games, and felt that the games' advertisements took up screen space without adding any real value. 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. In July 2010, Wong teamed with his fellow former Digg employees Courtney Guertin and their mutual friend Amadeus Demarzi to found Kiip.Tsotsis, Alexia.
19 Year Old Kiip Founder Closes 300K Angel Round For Mobile In-Game Ad Startup
. ''

''. October 27, 2010. As of 2017, Kiip was sending achievement-based rewards such as coupons to 100 million consumers per month, and had raised more than $32 million of venture capital from various sources, including Relay Ventures,

Hummer Winblad Venture Partners Hummer Winblad Venture Partners (HWVP) is an American software and web focused venture capital firm based in San Francisco, California. Its founders include John Hummer and Ann Winblad. The firm was an early investor in Napster, the first popul ...

, True Ventures, Verizon Ventures, and

Crosslink Capital Crosslink Capital (founded 1989) is a venture capital firm with an asset management business that continues into the public equity market for fast-growing companies. Crosslink Capital has over $3.0 billion in assets under management that it inve ...

. Kiip has offices in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The company established strategic partnerships with more than 40 major brands, including

1-800-Flowers 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc. is a floral and foods gift retailer and distribution company in the United States. The company's focus, except for Mother's Day and Valentine's Day, is on gift baskets. They also use the name ''1-800-Baskets.com''. Their ...

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...

American Apparel American Apparel Inc. is a North American clothing retailer. The brand began with operating retail stores between the late 1980s and late 2010s. Its operations are based in Los Angeles, California. Founded by Canadian businessman Dov Charney in ...

Best Buy Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was r ...

Carl's Jr. Carl's Jr. Restaurants LLC is an American fast-food restaurant chain store, chain owned by CKE Restaurants, CKE Restaurant Holdings, Inc., who also owns Hardee's, with franchisees in North and South America, Asia, Oceania, Europe, and Africa. ...

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

Dr. Pepper Dr Pepper is a carbonated soft drink. Dr Pepper was created in the 1880s by the American pharmacist Charles Alderton in Waco, Texas, and was first nationally marketed in the United States in 1904. It is manufactured by Keurig Dr Pepper in th ...

, GNC, KY Jelly,

Pepsi Pepsi is a Carbonated water, carbonated soft drink with a cola flavor, manufactured by PepsiCo which serves as its flagship product. In 2023, Pepsi was the second most valuable soft drink brand worldwide behind Coca-Cola; the two share a long ...

Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...

Popchips Popchips, stylized 'popchips' is an American brand of popped potato and corn products marketed as similar to potato chips. They are manufactured by processing potato starch at high pressure and temperature, in a process similar to that used for ...

Sephora Sephora is a French multinational retailer of personal care and beauty products, offering nearly 340 brands alongside its own private label, the Sephora Collection. Its product range includes cosmetics, skincare, fragrance, nail color, beauty t ...

Victoria's Secret Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing and beauty products, beauty retailer. Founded in 1977 by a Stanford graduate student and his wife, Roy Raymond, Roy and Gaye Raymond, the company's five lingerie stores were sold to Les Wexner i ...

, and

Vitamin Water Energy Brands, also doing business as Glacéau, is a privately owned subsidiary of the Coca-Cola Company based in Whitestone, Queens, New York, that manufactures and distributes various lines of drinks marketed as enhanced water. Founded in May 1 ...

. 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. Kiip was on track to do more than $20 million in revenue in 2017. In March 2019, after Wong was accused of sexual assault, Kiip replaced Wong as CEO. His removal came after an indefinite leave of absence, with Kiip CRO Bill Alena serving as interim CEO in his stead. In August 2024, Brian Wong had his felony charge dismissed and pled guilty to the indecent assault charge under a deferred prosecution agreement, avoiding a jury trial. As Bloomberg cites Wong's lawyer, Sam Bassett, under the terms of his plea agreement, Wong will be on probation for two years, after which all charges will be fully dismissed.

Recognitions

In 2010, Wong became one of the youngest company leaders to ever receive funding from a

venture capital firm Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in terms of number ...

.McMahan, Ty
Betting Venture Capital On An Unproven 19-Year-Old
''Wall Street Journal''. August 6, 2010.Arrington, Michael
True Ventures Invests In 19 Year Old Entrepreneur Brian Wong
''

''. August 3, 2010. He was called a self-made millionaire by the time he was 20 years old. By 2012 he had spoken at several popular conferences, including

TEDx TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "Ideas Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...

and

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

. Wong and Kiip were profiled in such global publications such as ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'', ''

Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', and ''Inc.'' Magazine,Takahashi, Dean
Kiip expands beyond games to rewarding fitness “moments”
''Venture Beat''. March 22, 2012. and he was on the cover of the September 2014 issue of ''

'' as one of the young millionaires changing the world. Wong was named in the ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 Social/Mobile list in 2011.

Publications

Wong is the author of ''The 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". It was published in September 2016.

References

External links

Kiip press page with profile of Wong
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wong, Brian 1991 births Living people Businesspeople from Vancouver Canadian company founders Canadian computer businesspeople Canadian technology chief executives Canadian expatriates in the United States Canadian people of Hong Kong descent UBC Sauder School of Business alumni