“Brian Wong is the CEO of Kiip (pronounced “keep”), a category-creating mobile rewards network that is redefining mobile advertising through an innovative platform that leverages “moments of achievement” in games and apps to simultaneously benefit users, developers and advertisers. Backed by Hummer Winblad, Relay Ventures, True Ventures, Verizon Ventures, and others, the company has raised $15.4 million in funding to date. Kiip has been listed by Forbes as one of the 4 Hot Online Ad Companies to Put on Your Watch List, and been named to the Dow Jones FasTech50 List.
Called the youngest person to ever receive venture capital funding by TechCrunch and the Wall Street Journal, Brian received his Bachelors of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia at age 18, after skipping four K-12 grades. He has been recognized with many awards for his accomplishments and leadership, including: Forbes’ 30 under 30; the Top 20 Under 20 awards for all of Canada; Business Insider’s Top 25 Under 25 in Silicon Valley and 18 Most Important People in Mobile Advertising; Mashable’s Top 5 Entrepreneurs to Watch; and the AdAge Creativity Top 50.
Before starting Kiip, Brian led key publisher and tech partnerships at the social news website Digg.com, where he accelerated the company’s mobile presence by launching the Digg Android mobile app.
Q: You have quite the extensive list of achievements. Not only have you raised $15.4M for your startup Kiip, but you’re also one of the youngest entrepreneurs to receive venture capital. What traits make you different then most people your age?
I think to understand what led to everything I’d have to look back on my upbringing. My childhood was full of sports (I know, surprising – but trust me I used to be super buff), speech arts & drama, FPS gaming (PC), and incessant amounts of graphic design. I also studied marketing & consumer behavior in university. It’s no accident that these things combined led to some level of contribution to my ability to succeed with Kiip. My design obsession led me to becoming frustrated with the state of mobile advertising in the frame of user experience. My gaming background helped me identify the components of gaming that were truly “moments” and potentially a trigger for a reward. My consumer behavior curiosity led to bringing in some innate psychological principles that are built into the Kiip model that has helped it preserve intrinsic motivation amongst users whilst rewarding at a frequency that is the most ideal for brand engagement overall. In hindsight everything is clear, but I’m hoping this explains some of it.
But to pinpoint a couple things that I use as principles that may be different from others my age:
- Generate Serendipity: this is more of a discussion of how your view your locus of control: is it internal or external? I truly believe that you have the ability to generate your own luck and serendipitous outcomes. A lot of this has to do with the environment you’re in. I chose to move to San Francisco because the people in the city and the socioeconomic traits of the region were the most conducive to my strengths: tech and design. I wouldn’t need to explain what I did three times to get my point across. People spoke the same language. Similar to how Einstein once said: you can’t judge a fish by how well it climbs a tree; you have to find the right environment to help you swim freely….”
