Venture Capitalist Shares His Top Five Guiding Principles for Investing

• Former investment banker Maurice Ng immigrated to the U.S. with his family in 2008.
• After settling into a career in finance, Ng was able to grow his net worth to over $1 million.
• He founded Tings Capital, a venture capital firm dedicated to investing in underrepresented entreprenuers.

A former banker quit his six-figure job to start a VC firm that funds underrepresented founders and minority entrepreneurs. He shares his top 5 guiding principles for success when evaluating a new investment opportunity.

Maurice Ng and his family immigrated to the U.S. from Hong Kong in 2008 with only $3,000. Ng struggled to find his footing in the U.S. since he did not speak English and had to essentially start a whole new life in a new country. 

When Ng and his family left Hong Kong, his father owned a jewelry store that declined during the 2008 financial crisis. To keep the business afloat, his father had to resort to borrowing money from less favorable sources and this eventually put the family in danger. 

“The loan sharks were threatening us for repayment and because the business was struggling, my father couldn’t always make the payments. It got to the point where we had to move,” Ng tells Insider. 

The family relocated to Queens, New York, and his parents ended up working minimum wage jobs. “We were all sharing a bedroom in my Uncle’s house,” Ng recalls of the situation. Starting over in the U.S. was tough for his family and Ng saw the toll it was taking on his parents. 

“My father was crushed. In Hong Kong he was a business owner and now he had to start over in a country where he was financially struggling and had nothing of his own,” Ng says.

Ng was determined to help his parents, despite their modest economic standing. After completing primary school, he initially went to college to study pre-med and become a doctor. However, after attending a few college events and taking finance courses, he decided to change his focus to finance, with the goal of working on Wall Street. 

After graduating, Ng started his first job as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan, then later worked at Farol Asset Management as a private equity and growth equity professional, he says. 

“Working in this industry helped me learn how to invest well and that is when I started investing for myself and developing a strategy that resulted in growing my portfolio,” Ng explains. 

“The market is slowing down now and everyone is expecting a recession, but I always looked for certain signs when investing in stocks and companies,” Ng states. 

Ng developed a strategy based on his experience in the industry, he explained to Insider. He would invest in companies that were healthy and profitable based on these guiding principles and signs of strength:

• Companies that are steadily growing revenue and profits: Ng says that investing in any venture starts with understanding a business’s operation and net income. It’s crucial to align with businesses that have a record of growth.
• Invest in a growing industry: The other side of the coin is looking to put your money and resources into companies and upstarts that are in stable industries. The upside may be higher for businesses in more volatile industries, but so is the risk. 
• Companies with strong management: Stable, responsible management is just one variable that will impact whether or not a company is profitable. Study the track records of business leaders and company boards to get a better impression of who’s steering the ship. 
• Look at the company’s stock’s valuation to see if you are buying at a discount or a premium: Understanding stock valuations will require more research and take time to master the skill, but it’s one of the most significant factors in determining where to put your money.
• Decide if you want to hold or sell and have a plan for when you want to sell: Just as there’s a time and a place to invest, there should also be an exit strategy in place for when the time comes to cash-out. In best case scenarios, this is when the payoff comes after successfully determining an investment opportunity. 

Ng is now a self-made millionaire who has worked in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street. He left his high paying corporate career in December of 2020 to pursue investing in underserved communities and paving the way for those that may not have a leg up to be successful.

“It was scary at first. There is no cushion, no benefits,” says Ng. “I realized that now as an entrepreneur it was all on me and I was taking care of my Mom and Dad. I had to be really sure about the decisions that I was making.” 

Ng left a seven figure job as a strategic finance partner at SurveyMonkey to start Tings Capital, a venture capital firm that will invest in minority entrepreneurs, first generation immigrants, those that identify as LGBTQ and women. 

“These are the business owners that find it hard to raise capital and are often overlooked,” Ng says. “The goal with Tings Capital is to turn diversity and inclusion into an obsolete concept in the future.”

Ng knows that he has a long way to go, diversity in venture capital remains elusive and minorities are still having a hard time gaining access to VC funding. 

However, the importance of investing in minority entrepreneurs is obvious to Ng. He seeks to bridge the gap between the typical venture capital firm and those seeking funding. 

“Unfortunately, venture capital firms tend to invest with those that look like they do and that familiarity is a disadvantage to minorities, it’s important that we all get a chance to live our dreams and be successful,” Ng says.