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Tian is a controversial figure in Canada, due to his unpredictable temperament and his frequent use of profanity towards customers, other business owners, and journalists on platforms such as [[Twitter]], [[Reddit]], and [[Telegram (software)|Telegram]].<ref name=":10" /><ref name=":12" /> As of December 2019, the community-run r/Fonus subreddit, where Tian is a frequent user and "actively does an [[/r/IAmA|AMA]] 24/7", was the 4th-fastest growing subreddit in the world on [[Reddit]], the No. 5 most visited website in the US.<ref name=":10" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/reddit.com|title=reddit.com Competitive Analysis, Marketing Mix and Traffic - Alexa|website=www.alexa.com|access-date=2020-01-24}}</ref> He has often been compared to US President [[Donald Trump]], and has been nicknamed by some Internet users as the 'Tian man'.<ref name=":10" /> Tian has also openly admitted to having frequently used [[alcohol]] and [[cannabis]] in the past, and for having once suffered from clinical [[Depression (mood)|depression]] and [[anxiety]].<ref name=":10" />
Tian is a controversial figure in Canada, due to his unpredictable temperament and his frequent use of profanity towards customers, other business owners, and journalists on platforms such as [[Twitter]], [[Reddit]], and [[Telegram (software)|Telegram]].<ref name=":10" /><ref name=":12" /> As of December 2019, the community-run r/Fonus subreddit, where Tian is a frequent user and "actively does an [[/r/IAmA|AMA]] 24/7", was the 4th-fastest growing subreddit in the world on [[Reddit]], the No. 5 most visited website in the US.<ref name=":10" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/reddit.com|title=reddit.com Competitive Analysis, Marketing Mix and Traffic - Alexa|website=www.alexa.com|access-date=2020-01-24}}</ref> He has often been compared to US President [[Donald Trump]], and has been nicknamed by some Internet users as the 'Tian man'.<ref name=":10" /> Tian has also openly admitted to having frequently used [[alcohol]] and [[cannabis]] in the past, and for having once suffered from clinical [[Depression (mood)|depression]] and [[anxiety]].<ref name=":10" />

As of 2019, Tian's net worth was estimated to be around $5 million, up from $1 million in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://trendcelebsnow.com/simon-tian-net-worth/|title=Simon Tian - Net Worth 2020, Age, Bio, Height, Wiki, Facts!|last=ctnadmin|website=Trending Celebs Now|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-21}}</ref> As of January 2020, the latest estimates of Tian's net worth vary from at least $58 million to more than $100 million.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://celebstrendingnow.com/simon-tian-net-worth/|title=Simon Tian - Net Worth, Salary, Age, Height, Bio, Wiki!|last=Admin|first=Blog|website=Celebs Trending Now|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-21}}</ref><ref name=":10" /> This makes Tian one of the richest individuals in Canada and places him in the top 0.03% percentile of net worth amongst Canadians.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thekickassentrepreneur.com/net-worth-percentile-calculator-canada/|title=Net Worth Percentile Calculator for Canada Including 23 Wealth and Income Statistics|date=2019-10-29|website=The Kickass Entrepreneur|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-21}}</ref>


== Early life ==
== Early life ==

Revision as of 18:48, 18 February 2020

Simon Tian
Tian as a guest speaker at the Wearable Technology Show in London, 2014
Born
Simon Tian

(1994-02-24) February 24, 1994 (age 30)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
NationalityCanadian
Alma materMarianopolis College (attended)
Occupation(s)CEO of Fonus, Neptune, and Globle
Awards2015 Thiel Fellowship Top 30 Under 30 (Les Affaires)

Simon Tian (born February 24, 1994) is a Canadian businessman, inventor, entrepreneur, and investor.[1][2] He is the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Neptune[3][4][5], co-founder and CEO of Fonus[6], and co-founder of Globle. Born and raised in Montreal, Canada, Tian dropped out of pre-university college at the age of 17 to start Neptune,[3][7] and, as of late 2017, has raised around $7 million from private investors as well as a total of more than $2 million from crowdfunding sources alone.[8][9] Tian is a 2015 Thiel Fellow,[10][11] having been awarded $100,000 by PayPal co-founder and venture capitalist Peter Thiel through the Thiel Foundation,[12][13] and was named one of the top 30 Quebecers under 30 by Les Affaires in 2014.[14] Tian launched his second venture, Globle,[15] in June 2018, and his third venture, Fonus[6][16] in November 2019.

Tian is a controversial figure in Canada, due to his unpredictable temperament and his frequent use of profanity towards customers, other business owners, and journalists on platforms such as Twitter, Reddit, and Telegram.[17][18] As of December 2019, the community-run r/Fonus subreddit, where Tian is a frequent user and "actively does an AMA 24/7", was the 4th-fastest growing subreddit in the world on Reddit, the No. 5 most visited website in the US.[17][19] He has often been compared to US President Donald Trump, and has been nicknamed by some Internet users as the 'Tian man'.[17] Tian has also openly admitted to having frequently used alcohol and cannabis in the past, and for having once suffered from clinical depression and anxiety.[17]

As of 2019, Tian's net worth was estimated to be around $5 million, up from $1 million in 2018.[20] As of January 2020, the latest estimates of Tian's net worth vary from at least $58 million to more than $100 million.[21][17] This makes Tian one of the richest individuals in Canada and places him in the top 0.03% percentile of net worth amongst Canadians.[22]

Early life

Tian was born to Chinese Canadian parents in Montreal, Quebec, in 1994.[8] He was raised in Brossard, Quebec,[3] a suburb of Montreal, and attended secondary school at Jean de la Mennais College, a French-speaking school in La Prairie, Quebec.[23][24][25] Tian is fluent in English, French, and Mandarin.[23][24] Tian is also a pianist and guitarist, having won first place in piano performance at the Canadian Music Competition (national final) twice, at ages 9 and 13.[26]

Career

Tian started Neptune in January 2013, while he was 17 and still studying at Marianopolis College, a pre-university college (CEGEP) in Westmount, Quebec.[3] Before building a prototype or incorporating a company, Tian posted some conceptual drawings of a smartwatch, the Neptune Pine, on a website he built using Weebly, issued a press release through PRWeb announcing the product along with delivery dates, and proceeded to receive more than 20,000 orders for the device in a few weeks.[3]

Tian then dropped out of school and traveled to China to meet with contract manufacturers to have the device developed.[3] In November 2013, he launched a crowdfunding campaign for the Pine on Kickstarter.[3][27] Within 27 hours, the campaign surpassed its funding goal of $100,000,[25] and ultimately went on to raise more than $800,000 in 30 days.[8]

The device started shipping by August 2014,[28] and eventually became widely available through Best Buy and Amazon, generating around $5 million in total retail sales.[29][30] It was prominently featured in the 2017 film The Fate of the Furious, the CBS TV series Extant produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Halle Berry, as well as the music video for the song Smartphones by Trey Songz. The Pine has gotten mixed reviews from the press, generally praising its extensive set of features, while criticizing its large size.[31][32]

In March 2015, Tian announced the Neptune Suite through an Indiegogo campaign, raising close to $1.2 million in a month.[9] Christopher Mims of the Wall Street Journal described the Suite as "a literal interpretation of the fact that a smartwatch, smartphone and tablet are all just different size windows on the same set of apps and services."[33] Daniel Cooper of Engadget commented on the ambitious nature of the product vision, writing, "Technology is all about big ideas, and this one from Simon Tian will probably need its own aircraft hangar."[34] Cliff Kuang of Wired called the Suite "a taste of what computing should be in 2025",[35] and the Verge wrote, "the idea of putting all the brains and power of mobile computing into something attached to your body instead of in a pocket or bag is wildly attractive."[36]

In November 2015, Tian was invited by the Mayor of Montreal Denis Coderre to attend the 2015 Montreal Trade Mission to China as one of the city's representatives.[37][38][39]

In 2017, Steve Mann, the inventor of the world's first general-purpose wearable computer as well as high-dynamic-range imaging (HDR), joined Neptune as a Chief Scientist. Mann is commonly referred to as the "father of wearable computing" by the mainstream press.[40] As of late 2017, in addition to the total of more than $2 million raised through public crowdfunding sources, Neptune has also reportedly raised around $7 million from private investors.[41]

In June 2018, Tian announced his second company, Globle.[6] Globle aims to be a blockchain platform that democratizes the creation, funding, and management of new projects and enterprises.[15] Globle's management team and board of advisors consists of renowned individuals in the blockchain space such as Eric Weinstein, Joshua Gans, Liam Horne,[15] and the Ethereum Foundation.[15]

In November of 2019, Tian announced his third company, Fonus.[6][42] Fonus is a global mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), offering SIM cards priced at US$15 and an unlimited data, talk and text plan at US$30 per month. The company claims that no additional roaming fees would be charged in around 226 countries and territories,[43] and that long-distance calls to all landlines and mobiles worldwide would be included in the plan at no additional fees.[43] As of December 1, 2019, there is substantial skepticism from Canadian media outlets[44][16] and from social media communities[17] about the legitimacy of Fonus.

On December 24, 2019, Fonus officially started shipping SIM cards to some of its customers, thirty-four days after its initial announcement on November 20, 2019.[45]

Controversies

Tian's ventures have been the subject of controversy.[17] Tian raised US$1.15 million dollars on Indiegogo for the Neptune Suite in 2015, initially estimating a ship date of April 2016.[46] However, as of December 2019, Tian had yet to ship the product to backers [47][48], leading many to call this project a "scam" and a fraudulent operation. Tian claims that the project ultimately needed around US$20 million dollars in order to be realized, and that the US$1.15 million was not enough.[17]

The legitimacy of Tian's latest project, Fonus, has also been called into question. After a Canadian entrepreneur and software developer, Darryl Wright, had doubts about his purchase of the US$15 Fonus SIM card, he and Tian began to argue on a Reddit private message (PM) conversation. When the customer asked for a refund, Tian declined, stating "Nah, you're not getting it. [...]", and directly wrote profane statements towards the customer. [49] Tian claims that Wright had committed extortion, as Tian claims that Wright was leveraging a confidential non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with AT&T that Tian had sent to Wright previously in order to obtain his refund.[17]

Furthermore, his claim that Fonus will leverage Telus Communications' network in Canada has been rejected by Telus, who say they have "no relationship" with Fonus and have asked Tian to remove references to Telus from its website.[50] According to public claims by Tian though, Telus reportedly called Tian back that very day and apologized for an internal misunderstanding between Telus' public relations (PR) department and their business development group.[17] Tian also stated that he had maintained a close business partnership with Telus since 2014; however, he released a press release on December 16, 2019, stipulating that he was immediately terminating all business relationships between his companies and Telus.[17][51][52]

On January 1, 2020, Tian was allegedly 'pushed down a mountain' by a stranger in Hong Kong, while he was walking down from Victoria Peak, and fell around 20-30 feet onto a rock.[17] He was immediately transported to the Canossa Hospital, a private hospital on Hong Kong Island, and was treated with antibiotic and painkilling injections.[17] Tian claims that the incident happened at around 12:04am and that he checked out of the hospital at around 1:30am.[17]

On January 4, 2020, Tian and other executives at Fonus were cyberattacked and impersonated in the official Fonus Telegram group. Simon Tian has indicated that he believes these attacks to be a malicious attempt to convince customers that he was running a fraudulent operation, and that the attacks were orchestrated by employees from Rogers, Telus, and Bell.[17]

On January 11, 2020, at about 7:42PM local time, Tian was arrested by the Singapore Police Force at a local 7-Eleven store near Downtown Singapore, for 'possession of arms without license'. Tian claims he was carrying a large Swiss knife, solely for self-defense purposes.[17] He was detained for more than 40 hours and was subsequently released with a stern warning from the police. Upon release on January 13, 2020, Tian immediately boarded a flight out of Singapore the next morning.[17]

On January 21, 2020, Tian tweeted media outlets National Post, MobileSyrup, and iPhoneinCanada, and stated, "If you guys keep painting us [Fonus] in bad light, especially after we've shown proof of our service working, I will bring all of you to court. All three (3) of you. One (1) more negative article and that's it. I'm calling it." This happened after journalists James McLeod (National Post) and Patrick O'Rourke (MobileSyrup) started arguing with Tian on Twitter over the legitimacy of Fonus.[18]

Tian has often been compared to US President Donald Trump,[17] with his frequent use of profanity towards customers, other business owners, and journalists on social platforms such as Twitter, Reddit, and Telegram.[18]

See also

References

  1. ^ Bogart, Nicole. "Canadian entrepreneur wants to replace your smartphone with smartwatch 'hub'". Global News.
  2. ^ "Neptune's Duo will put your whole world on your wrist". VentureBeat.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "How a Canadian whiz kid plans to upend the smartphone market". The Globe and Mail.
  4. ^ "Once you have this smartwatch, you may throw out your smartphone". CBC.
  5. ^ "This 19-year-old Montreal teen has raised over $200,000 on Kickstarter for his Neptune Pine smartwatch". Financial Post.
  6. ^ a b c d "Fonus claims to be the world's first global carrier". MobileSyrup. 2019-11-21. Retrieved 2019-12-01.
  7. ^ Fehrenbacher, Katie (2014-03-16). "The team behind the Android watch phone, the Pine, plans a line of wearables". Gigaom.
  8. ^ a b c "Neptune Pine SmartWatch Crowdfunds Over $800,000 on Kickstarter". Crowdfund Insider. 2013-12-22.
  9. ^ a b "Neptune Pine's story a testament to 'just do it' mentality". Montreal in Technology.
  10. ^ "Billionaire Peter Thiel is giving these 20 kids $100,000 to drop out of college and start companies". Business Insider.
  11. ^ "Montreal whiz kid to be paid $100,000 to quit school". CTV Montreal.
  12. ^ "$100K to drop out of school: 4 Canadian students win fellowship". CBC.
  13. ^ "Four young Canadians ditch school for $100K fellowships | Toronto Star". Toronto Star.
  14. ^ "Top 30 des jeunes de 30 ans et moins en TI". Les Affaires.
  15. ^ a b c d Globle. "Globle Is A New Platform For Creating, Funding and Launching New Projects". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2019-12-01.
  16. ^ a b "Fonus Claims It's the First Global Carrier, Offers $30 Plan with Unlimited Everything [u]". iPhone in Canada Blog. 2019-11-22. Retrieved 2019-12-01.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "Fonus - subreddit". Reddit.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ^ a b c "Simon Tian (@_SimonTian) | Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved 2020-01-22.
  19. ^ "reddit.com Competitive Analysis, Marketing Mix and Traffic - Alexa". www.alexa.com. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  20. ^ ctnadmin. "Simon Tian - Net Worth 2020, Age, Bio, Height, Wiki, Facts!". Trending Celebs Now. Retrieved 2020-01-21.
  21. ^ Admin, Blog. "Simon Tian - Net Worth, Salary, Age, Height, Bio, Wiki!". Celebs Trending Now. Retrieved 2020-01-21.
  22. ^ "Net Worth Percentile Calculator for Canada Including 23 Wealth and Income Statistics". The Kickass Entrepreneur. 2019-10-29. Retrieved 2020-01-21.
  23. ^ a b "Simon Tian | LinkedIn". LinkedIn.
  24. ^ a b "Education: Simon Tian - Founder & CEO at Neptune Computer Inc. from Montreal, Quebec, Canada Area". ProfiWiki.
  25. ^ a b "EWeek Keynote Speaker: Fireside Chat with Simon Tian, Founder of Neptune". Eventful.
  26. ^ "Canadian Music Competition 2008 / Results / Detailed Results / Piano - Canadian Music Competition". www.cmcnational.com. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  27. ^ "Teen Dropout Gets $200,000 In Crowdfunding For This Invention". The Huffington Post.
  28. ^ Tim-o-tato (2014-08-06). "Neptune Pine Smartwatches Being Shipped Out to Kickstarter Backers". Droid Life.
  29. ^ "Neptune Pine 16GB Smartwatch with GPS - Large - Black". Best Buy Canada. Archived from the original on 2016-04-20.
  30. ^ NEPTUNE Pine 16GB Smartwatch - Retail Packaging - Black - Amazon.
  31. ^ "Yes, we really had to wear this in public to review it for you". Digital Trends.
  32. ^ Aguilar, Mario. "The Joy and Misery of Life With a Grotesquely Large "Smartwatch"". Gizmodo.
  33. ^ Mims, Christopher (2015-04-05). "Why the Time Isn't Ripe for Smartwatches". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660.
  34. ^ "Neptune outs dumb screens, accessories for its weirdo wrist computer". Engadget.
  35. ^ "Neptune Suite: A Taste of What Computing Should Be in 2025". WIRED.
  36. ^ Lowensohn, Josh (2015-03-16). "One company is trying to sell a smartwatch that powers phones, tablets, TVs, and more". The Verge.
  37. ^ "Liste des Participants à la Mission Chine" (PDF). Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal. City of Montreal. October 2015.
  38. ^ "Positive results for Mayor Coderre's trade mission to China :Strengthening institutional, political and economic ties between Montréal and Chinese cities". City of Montreal. City of Montreal. November 6, 2015.
  39. ^ "The Mayor of Montréal to preside a trade mission to China". Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal.
  40. ^ Schofield, Jack (2001-08-02). "From man to borg - Is this the future?". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 2014-05-10.
  41. ^ "Neptune - AngelList Profile".
  42. ^ "The World's First Global Carrier | Fonus". The World's First Global Carrier | Fonus. Retrieved 2019-12-01.
  43. ^ a b "Introducing Fonus - The World's First Global Carrier". PRWeb.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  44. ^ "Fonus claims to be the world's first global carrier". MobileSyrup. 2019-11-21. Retrieved 2019-12-01.
  45. ^ "r/Fonus - BREAKING NEWS: Just shipped around 350 SIM cards out of Hong Kong. We started with the very first order on November 20 and worked from there. First come, first serve. We also shipped the test SIMs to the best of our ability". reddit. Retrieved 2020-02-05.
  46. ^ "Neptune Suite - One Hub, Infinite Possibilities". Indiegogo.
  47. ^ "Neptune Suite - One Hub, Infinite Posibilities". Indiegogo.
  48. ^ Rubin, Ross (2019-02-07). "Crowdfunding projects that left backers jilted at the altar". ZDNet.
  49. ^ Wright, Darryl. "My Exchange with the "CEO" of the Really Real Fonus Inc". Medium.
  50. ^ Ng, Gary. "Telus Says It Has "No Known Relationship with Fonus". iPhone in Canada.
  51. ^ "Fonus CEO cancels 5-year business relationship with Telus". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2019-12-31.
  52. ^ "Fonus CEO cancels 5-year business relationship with Telus". www.abc-7.com. Retrieved 2019-12-31.
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