A graduate from Pine Crest’s Class of 1988, Paul Keung did not expect to find himself living and working in Hong Kong.
Growing up in Fort Lauderdale, Paul spent a majority of his time as a teenager working in his family’s restaurants. While that took up most of his time outside of school, Paul has fond memories of his time playing football.
“I was not very good, but it was my escape,” said Paul. “I had a variety of friends who I spent time with when I wasn’t working. I was safe, and I had a school community that supported me despite my unusual upbringing.”
Paul says he had many wonderful teachers at Pine Crest, but Mrs. Marcia Hunt ’12H, had the greatest impact on his career path.
“My parents made it very clear that I was to attend either an Ivy League school and pursue a career as a doctor or lawyer, or attend a state school and return home to run the family restaurants,” said Paul. “Mrs. Hunt encouraged me to apply to Cornell and highlighted the Hotel School program. I applied to Cornell’s Arts and Sciences program and attended pre-med classes my freshman year. What Mrs. Hunt told me stuck with me and I transferred to Cornell’s Hotel program the following year. I had no interest in working in hotels or restaurants, however, the program was a lot more interesting than economics, and they had a wine and cooking class — free food and drink!”
Starting his career as a valuation consultant for hotels, Paul traveled to properties across the country.
“I loved the travel,” said Paul, “although as a fresh graduate, I was often assigned to due diligence hotels in places that more senior colleagues would prefer not to go. During that time, one of my early clients was an investment bank, and that connection introduced me to a 16-year career on Wall Street.”
Following the crash of the dot-com boom in 2000, Paul transitioned to cover the internet travel sector.
“I jumped at the opportunity,” he said. “I met Priceline and Expedia that year when these companies were trading for just a few dollars. In 2002, I started to look at ecommerce and covered Amazon and Ebay. Shortly after that, I started traveling to China to visit Chinese internet companies.”
“I have met many incredibly talented entrepreneurs in my career,” he continued. “I love learning new things, and I find new technologies fascinating. The icing on the cake is when you have a real conversation with someone who has a vision to change our lives for the better with innovation.”
Today, Paul is a founding partner of INCE Capital, a venture capital firm focused on Technology and Consumer Internet. He got his start in Asia by overseeing Investment Research at Oppenheimer Investments Asia in Hong Kong.
“There was an opportunity in my firm to visit China in late 2002,” he said. “The events of 9/11 were still relatively fresh in everyone’s mind, and few people in my department were curious about traveling overseas. On my first trip to China, I met with the founders of Tencent and Baidu, and a year later with the management of Alibaba. I was addicted after that trip. I kept wanting to go back. By 2007, those trips were very successful for the firm so they created the position to build a new Asia-focused research franchise. My work was mostly focused on China but soon opportunities in India, Singapore, and Korea started to emerge.”
While work brought Paul to China and Hong Kong, career opportunities and family kept him there.
“When my parents decided to retire in Hong Kong, it made a lot of sense to choose a career and lifestyle to be near them,” he said.
In Paul’s experience, everyday life in Hong Kong is often different from the perception.
“I think most people are surprised to hear that Hong Kong is relatively peaceful with a massive population of expatriates from all over the world that choose to spend most of their adult lives in and around Hong Kong,” said Paul.
“One thing about traveling the world, and having experience living in Florida, New York, the West Coast, and finally in Asia, you realize how important it is to go out and see the world for yourself and simply have conversations with people you meet.”
For those who may be planning to visit Hong Kong, Paul has a couple of recommendations.
“First, make sure you visit the Peak to see the uniqueness of an island and peninsula so dense with people and skyscrapers, yet surrounded by beautiful greenery, landscape, and waterfront,” he said. “At the Peak, look in all directions, you will see massive mansions, apartment buildings with people living in tiny quarters, sailboats and yachts in all directions, as well as huge shipping containers simply passing through. There are no other cities like it.”
“When you are not sightseeing, you must eat, eat and eat!” he continued. “Some of the greatest chefs in the world come here to create new cuisines, but be sure to explore all the food the city has to offer from China and the Asia Pacific region. From three-star Michelin restaurants to street food, few cities in the world compare to Hong Kong’s diversity of authentic and nouveau cuisine.”