Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Hoang.
Brian, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was the first person in my family to be born and raised in the United States (Texas, specifically). My family previously emigrated from Vietnam and didn’t always have the best financial circumstances, so they had to work hard to make ends meet. As a result, I grew up with the mentality that sheer tenacity and competition were the keys to success. Everything that I’ve ever wanted, I had to fight for with my all because I knew that there was no fallback. This ultimately set the foundation for my later successes in academics, internships, and finally, entrepreneurship.
I first got involved with entrepreneurship in 2016. I was 18 and had just finished my first year at UT Dallas. At the time, I became interested in emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Reality (VR) because I believed that this tech could impact our world at scale. And since there weren’t many local resources available to learn about these fields, I started the AI Society and VR Society at UT Dallas. The former grew to about 500 members in its first year.
Immosis started when my now co-founder, Marwan, and I spun it out from the VR Society. We were driven to pursue Immosis because we believed that immersive technology would revolutionize the way that humans engage with content and their environment. We originally wanted to start with small games and projects, so Immosis began as a simple VR game studio with a title called Amelia’s Curse.
In 2017, we pivoted to an agency model and added Augmented Reality (AR) to expand our impact and revenue streams. Growing was very slow at first, but we held on and tried every avenue that we could. Today (2018), we’ve worked with clients and projects in gaming, brand engagement, healthcare, and training. We’re actively growing at a more reassuring pace than before, which is a great position to be in. Our intent now is to continue expanding our client base in order to become a sustainable business.
It’s important to mention our gracious mentors and advisors who’ve helped us along the way. Amazing individuals such as UT Dallas faculty and our advisory board members have been selfless in helping guide us along our journey. I’ll never forget their contributions and hope to eventually pay it forward to upcoming entrepreneurs.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It’s more like an intense rollercoaster with euphoric highs and depressing lows.
Running a startup has always been an uphill battle from the start because I didn’t have any formal training for that. Startups usually involve wearing a number of hats, so the path ahead was pretty intimidating. But despite that, I trusted that I would be able to jump in, figure it out, and come back out alive just like I’ve done all my life.
Our struggles were numerous. Business model, sales, management, and many other random things. The more we learned and pushed the business forward, the more we realized that we didn’t know. Talk about drinking from a firehose. Fortunately, we had our mentors, advisors, and resources such as the Blackstone LaunchPad and Venture Development Center at UT Dallas to help us out along the way. They were the difference between us tumbling down and standing a real chance.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Immosis story. Tell us more about the business.
Immosis is an agency that creates custom, immersive software experiences across multiple industries using virtual and augmented reality. While we’ve also accepted requests to do regular mobile app and website work, VR and AR are our core specialties and thus how we brand ourselves.
I’m very proud of our capability to make an impact with most use cases and industries. From the beginning, our team was built to be very creative and technical, which has allowed us to maximize our flexibility for our clients and build relatively sophisticated applications.
On top of that, we strive to offer the best client experiences possible. We welcome our clients to message me or another point of contact at any time or day with questions. There are plenty of extra steps that we take to ensure that our clients feel safe and productive with us, so they can sleep at night. Is it more work on our end? Of course. But I wouldn’t trade our clients’ best interests for the world.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I consider myself to be insanely lucky. I came into UT Dallas when its entrepreneurial resources began to blossom. I had the opportunity to start the AI and VR Societies there. I recruited amazing team members in all of my organizations, including the best co-founder in Immosis that I could ask for. I had help from many distinguished entrepreneurs and executives in Texas. I met strangers who eventually became clients and advisors.
Without these timings and relationships, I’m not sure where I would be today. I remind myself everyday how fortunate I am to be in this position. This is true luck and I do everything that I can to make sure that I deserve it.
Contact Info:
- Address: 17217 Waterview Parkway, Suite 1.202
Dallas, Texas 75252 - Website: https://immosis.com/
- Phone: 469-226-1653
- Email: brian@immosis.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brianqhoang/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brianqhoang
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianqhoang/
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