I think quitting my job was definitely something that is - was very scary for me.
Being trapped at home for consecutive days and not going outside makes you reflect a lot
internally. What should I be doing for the rest of my life?
I've been a banker. I've been a private equity investor.
I think I was making close to about half a million dollars.
But what is the real thing that I want to be doing?
Investing into underrepresentation by starting my firm called Tings Capital, a venture capital fund investing
into early stage companies.
The goal is to basically turn diversity and inclusion - the terminology - to be an obsolete concept going
forward.
Before I quit my job, I worked at a company called SurveyMonkey, which is a survey technology company
based in the Silicon Valley, and I've learned a lot about business operations strategy.
This is the book that I used to carry with me every single day when I was learning English.
So I used to memorize like ten words a day.
So when I - whenever I go outside, I would jot down like words that I'm - that I don't know, and I would
just memorize ten words a day, and I used that in my practical conversations every single day.
I always wanted to make my parents proud.
I wanted to help them.
Right? Because they sacrificed their whole life to come across to a different country.
Situation - like wow.
Now you know the situation.
My dad used to own a jewelry shop and I think around the financial crisis time period, obviously selling
jewelry as a novelty, it's not the most profitable business, right?
Eventually, he resort to loan sharks.
I think the loan sharks were getting to him to the point that we were in
danger. We had to move.
We settled at Flushing, and over time we realized that Flushing - oh it's a Chinese community.
My family-of-four like collectively shared one bedroom with a bunk bed.
I understand that my parents are only going to get older.
I think they have elementary school degrees.
I am their way out, right?
I'm young. I have the energy, so I put that on my shoulder to to work for them.
I went to a public school, you know, not the most prestigious school, right?
I applied to so many jobs that no one really cared.
Like, who whose Maurice?
Like who cares about this guy, right?
So I did something kind of, you know, unorthodox, if you may.
I used to go on like Facebook page or like other school's websites, and I will find the locations of the
recruiting events and I would just show up right?
And sometimes you might have like those barriers, like you cannot get into the gates.
But I will buy like the students a slice of pizza or I'll buy them coffee just to like, try to build
relationship with them. They're willing to help me out, just like, get me in, right?
And once I get to these events, it's game on, right?
I will go up to the person.
I'll be like, "Hi, my name is Maurice Ng.
I do not go to this school.
But I really love to learn about what you're doing at your firm." I was very fortunate to be - to recruited
into working at a bulge bracket investment bank, which how I was able to begin my career on Wall Street.
First year you make about like $125,000, if you like do really well.
Over time, I realized that there is a - there's a specific way to invest.
If you think long term wise, this is a relatively good discount for you to buy in.
I wasn't like blowing my paycheck on going to clubs or doing crazy things like that, like a typical
21, 22-year-old would be doing right?
I was always saving up.
Try to use that money to invest into things that appreciate.
By the time I quit private equity, I think I was making close to about half a million dollars all in
with the bonus and the base salary and the carried interest that I was also getting as well.
The ones that call the shots - most of them are Caucasian or white male.
Investors typically have that cognitive bias to invest into things that they feel comfortable with because of
their heritage, because of what they know.
The other side of the ecosystem that's imbalanced is with respect to the founders - underrepresented right?
People of color like myself, first gen immigrants like myself, women, LGBT members.
We are the underdog in the ecosystem.
Gaining access to capital or knowing where to - who to talk to.
And that's why I come into that ecosystem to be like, hey let me connect the dots for you.
I've been extremely fortunate so far to to raise a relatively good sized fund - $1.7 million dollars so
far, with both my personal capital, but collectively with a lot of family and friends.
And these are local businesses from Flushing, like the supermarket owners, the local
deli owners, if you may.
Like humble mom and pop shops, right?
So currently, we are obviously fundraising right now and been very fortunate to be partnered with some very
reputable investors that is willing to vouch for me.
I think quitting my job was just me cutting off one of my streams of income.
To build true wealth, you have to diversify your time.
You have to diversify your streams of income.
And I think it's a duty that society has given you to redeploy back into the community to support one
another rather than just like me blowing it on a car or buying a super nice house or a condo.
Like in your 20s, you slave away and you work hard.
You learn everything that you need to know.
In your 30s, you've got to dedicate your life to pursue the mission that your mentors and the people that
have been investing in you - it's time for me to practically utilize this going forward.