Oct 23, 2015 · 31m · 20vc
20 VC FF 018: Brian Wong, Founder @ Kiip on Raising $30m in VC Funding by 24
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this episode of The 20 Minute VC, host Harry Stebbings interviews Brian Wong, founder and CEO of Kiip, about his rapid rise as one of the youngest founders to secure venture funding. Wong discusses early career lessons from Digg, building strategic investor relationships, managing growth capital, and steering company strategy.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Harry holds 24.8% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Harry as informed peer 2.4 Guest teaching 3.0 Guest disagreement 1.9 Harry pushing back 1.0
speaking balance: gold is Harry, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 14:35 Rejection of fundraising comparison
Brian firmly warns listeners not to use his early 19-year-old fundraising experience as a benchmark because market dynamics changed drastically.
Hardest push from Harry ▶ 6:47 Clarifying investor list detailsHarry interrupts to check specific investor affiliations, probing Brian on whether Chris Redlitz and Relay Ventures were lead investors.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 21:10 Masterclass on board managementBrian educates the host on how executive board meetings actually function, explaining that debates must be handled privately beforehand rather than sprung in the meeting.
Harry holds his own ▶ 5:28 Demonstrating VC portfolio knowledgeHarry immediately demonstrates his venture capital knowledge by naming Fred Wilson's signature investments in Foursquare and Tumblr without hesitation.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Harry as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Harry pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product Hunt Contest and Episode Opening | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Harry introduces Brian enthusiastically with praise and asks a standard open-ended background question about his origin story. Brian gives a smooth recap of skipping grades, moving to the US, working at Digg, and founding Kiip. | |
| Early VC Relationships and Industry Perspective | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Harry displays domain knowledge by citing Fred Wilson's investments in Foursquare and Tumblr, and identifying specific VC partners like Alex Baker at Relay. Brian clarifies that real VC respect comes from working closely together rather than media noise. | |
| What Makes a VC Founder-Friendly? | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | Brian gives a blunt definition of founder-friendliness, emphasizing that it means not taking too much equity early on, and shares operational insights from his time watching founder dynamics at Digg. | |
| Raising Growth Capital and Strategic Corporate VCs | 4 | 6 | 3 | 2 | Harry brings a targeted question from investor Chris Redlitz about raising growth capital. Brian reframes the question, telling listeners not to use his 2010 seed round as a benchmark and explaining why growth capital requires strategic corporate VCs when revenue growth is steady double-digit. | |
| Managing a Board of Directors | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | Harry asks standard operational questions about managing a board of directors. Brian provides structured advice on board management, emphasizing that challenges should happen in private rather than during public board meetings. | |
| Navigating Competition and Product Innovation | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Harry leads a lighthearted quickfire round covering books, advice, and apps. Brian engages collaboratively with playful commentary on Jason Calacanis's newsletters and Tinder usage in Silicon Valley. | |
| Future Outlook for Kiip | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Harry asks for Kiip's future trajectory and closes the episode. Brian outlines upcoming opportunities around ad blocking and loyalty platforms before Harry delivers concluding sponsor announcements. |
Statements from this episode (15)
Brian Wong Graduated College at 18 and Launched Digg's Android App
“He skipped four grades in school and graduated university at just 18, at which point he moved to the States on his own, and within months Was working alongside tech legends Kevin Rose and Jay Adelson at Dig, where he launched their Android mobile app.”
Kiip Has 60 Employees and Nearly $30 Million in Venture Funding
“And we're, you know, now 60 employees across the country, and we've raised now almost thirty million in B.C.”
Founders Cannot Truly Judge a VC Until Working With Them Directly
“It's been so noisy in the past five years since I've started doing this. It's been five years now that it's almost so hard to know if a VC is truly someone you want to look up to or respect until you actually know them.”
True Ventures Originated the Founder-Friendly VC Movement in Silicon Valley
“The philosophy was actually, thanks to True given to me because of their philosophy, which was seeking founder-friendly venture capitalists, and that was really kind of their contribution to the ecosystem, was how do we find, how do we be the most founder-frie…”
Despite the Branding, Very Few VCs Are Truly Founder-Friendly
“And then, yeah, and then, and even now there's not that many founder-friendly VCs.”
Founder-Friendly VCs Avoid Taking Too Much Equity in Early Rounds
“Well, practically speaking, it's not gobbling up so much of the company in the first chunk that you have zero incentives to stick around as a founder.”
Struggling Companies Need Founders to Step In and Restore Original Vision
“There was also sort of this need for a founder to come in and reinstate their sort of the reasons why the company was started in the first place and kind of bring things to this original vision.”
Raising Mega Growth Rounds Requires Triple-Digit Year-Over-Year Revenue Growth
“It's really hard to raise growth capital, ah, especially off of revenues, ah, primarily because unless, and especially in this environment, and the reason is because as much as it sounds there's tons of growth money being thrown out there, like a hundred milli…”
Kiip Raised Most of Its Later-Stage Capital From Strategic Corporate VCs
“Pretty much most of the new capital we've raised from new funds in our latter rounds have been pretty much only strategic, ah, corporate VCs.”
Founders Should Prioritize Revenue-Generating Investors Over Cool or Prestigious Ones
“I care less about investors that are generally cool, Right? And I care more about investors that can help us generate more revenue.”
Board Meetings Should Review Pre-Discussed Items, Not Introduce New Decisions
“The board meeting is really kind of a review of everything that's already been talked about. It's not supposed to be a place where you talk about brand new things That require a lot of heavy decision making. It's just a place for people to convene once those d…”
Kiip Integrated Its Platform Into Connected Cars and Breathalyzers
“We caught on to it quite early, and we ended up integrating Keep into connected device companies, like connected cars, and most recently connected breathalyzer, which is hysterical of an example, but we kind of learned about this area and started dabbling in i…”
A CEO's Primary Job Is Sparking Strategic Ideas, Not Direct Execution
“Making sure that you have some bandwidth as a CEO to keep your head above the water to sort of see what's going on and really understand what you could try doing and knowing that it is part of your job to go out there and think of very strategic ideas that peo…”