Founder
Tiffany Zhong – The Name Behind Zebra IQ
Jemima Hunter
September 10, 2021
This twenty-three-year-old entrepreneur cofounded Zebra IQ in 2017 with the hopes to improve the relationship and understanding of brands and Gen Z customers by creating a community. Having worked with companies including Levi Strauss and Snapchat, Zhong is building an entrepreneurial empire.
Whilst attending high school, Zhong began posting questions on Twitter to venture capitalists with a goal to start her own online business. ‘I knew I wanted to start my own company down the line, so I wanted to learn more about how they assess companies.’
As a teen, Zhong worked at Product Hunt, a community-based website that helps marketers and designers launch products.
‘My parents are also entrepreneurs, have been building companies low key just a whole life. I was inspired by that. Since a young age I’ve always wanted to invent things.’
Zhong utilised social media to network and found how easy it was to connect to a large audience of founders and investors. ‘I would just follow up like every few days with new questions. I was just curious, and I had nothing to lose.’
The entrepreneur then went on to join a VC firm based on early-stage consumer technology. Zhong was often commended for thinking about how the consumer apps and products were related to the following generation: that’s what led to Zebra IQ being born.
‘I think the biggest thing with gen Z versus millennials is that gen Z grew up mobile first and millennials grew up internet first for the most part. That’s a big paradigm shift when you think about how gen Z treats tech products and apps and ads and marketing where they have such a high BS meter when they’re scrolling through social media that your content better catch the eye in 0.01 seconds if you’re trying to appeal to them.’
As a fully remote team, Zhong can meet the needs of customers in different time zones and focuses on helping brands and millennials through feedback. Recently Zhong launched a mobile app where Gen Z’s are earning rewards for completing surveys and questions whilst brands can receive honest opinions to help grow their business.
With plans to become the voice of the Gen Z and millennial communities, Zhong has a future in making knowledge on youth trends more accessible. ‘Another goal is becoming the de facto youth research, youth trends firm.’
A quote that Zhong lives by is ‘You miss all the shots you don’t take.’
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