Brian Wong
FOUNDER, KIIP
Software and Technology
I was born in Vancouver, Canada. I moved down to San Francisco in 2010 after skipping 4 grades and graduating college at 18. I started my career at Digg.com working under Kevin Rose. I then started Kiip and became one of the youngest people to ever raise venture capital.
Kiip was a mobile advertising platform that pioneered the concept of rewards in advertising and the idea of targeting moments in time, rather than just strict real estate for ads. Kiip worked with major brands and raised $40mm in venture capital. In 2019, Kiip was acquired by NinthDecimal/InMarket. Now, I spend my time coaching and investing in startup founders.
AM
To preface, this was back when I was active as CEO. My mornings would start with a latte and croissant as a typical breakfast. I avoided exercise, meditation, and wellness of any kind. My days generally consisted of back-to-back calls and meetings until 6 PM.
PM
After a day of meetings, my evenings would start with drinks with clients. Next, I would typically have a work dinner which I would get home from around 11 PM. After that, I would send out emails until around 2 AM and then get back up at 7 AM to do it all over again. I was operating across 6 major offices; San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and Santiago, so many of my days also included flights.
- Use what you have. People love wishing for skills and backgrounds they weren’t born into. If you weren’t born American or an English speaker, use that to your advantage. You’re multicultural, which means you could potentially work with more global companies.
- Let’s say you’re young and less experienced. That means that you may not have the baggage of old habits or successes to weigh you down. You are productively ignorant: not aware of anything that might cause you to second guess yourself or slow you down.
Generate serendipity. There are many things you can do to create serendipity, which are lucky events that work out in your favour. One of these things is frequency—if you want to apply for a job, get funding, or do anything; just ask. This is how you’re going to get those serendipitous events. If you don’t ask, no one will know what you want.
Don’t buy into the hustle. Sometimes working too hard is a bad sign. It may mean that you don’t know how to delegate or build a team that is complementary to your skills. It may also mean that you’re taking on the responsibilities of those around you. Sometimes, looking for things to do is a bad way to go about it. Always remember, DDD: delegate, defer, delete.
MY WORK
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