“We find the investments, we take board seats, and then we focus on rolling up our sleeves and helping the founders out with additional investment—whatever’s required to bring them to scale. ”
— Gordon Eichhorst
Imagine your portfolio as a catalyst for change, where each investment contributes to solving the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges. That’s the promise of impact investing.
Today, we’re discussing everything you need to know about impact venture capital investing with a guest whose career trajectory embodies this ethos like no other—Gordon Eichhorst, a trailblazer in impact venture capital.
Gordon’s journey into investing begins unconventionally. While he studied both engineering and economics at UCLA, he started his professional life by designing and launching spacecraft as an aerospace engineer and member of the NASA Advisory Council.
With the dip in aerospace developments in the ’90s, Gordon found a renewed interest in economics, particularly in analytic finance, leading him to pursue an MBA from the University of Chicago. It was on this path that he positioned himself in leading roles as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs and later on, at Morgan Stanley, where he led the European technology banking team during the first internet bubble.
After his time at HSBC as Global Head of the Industrial and Technology sectors, he settled down in London and set up an investment banking advisory boutique, which ultimately seeded the ideas for making a bigger impact on the world.
As the founder of Impact Central, and a General Partner at Opto Impact Ventures, Gordon has been at the forefront of supporting purpose-driven entrepreneurs and startups on their path to growth. Impact Central has nurtured over 50 startups through ten cohorts, proving that solving social and environmental problems can go hand-in-hand with generating profit.
This ecosystem, which also includes the Chorus Network, a group of angel investors, is a testament to Gordon’s belief in the transformative power of impact investing.
Today’s episode explores Gordon’s multifaceted career, from his early days as an engineer to his crucial role in shaping the arena of impact venture capital. I also dig into his views on impact investment strategies, criteria for startups to qualify for impact investment, and how his work with Impact Central and Opto Impact Ventures is creating new opportunities for startups with a social or environmental cause.
If you’ve been meaning to invest in or start a business with a greater purpose, listen in and learn all about how Gordon’s VC fund and accelerator programs bring profit and sustainability together.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. You can watch the interview on YouTube here.
What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…
SELECTED LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:
- Connect with Gordon Eichhorst: LinkedIn
- Impact Central
- Opto Impact Ventures
- Chorus Network
SHOW NOTES:
[00:00] Episode introduction
[04:34] Gordon Eichhorst’s trajectory from engineer to investment banker
[15:11] Founding Opto Impact, Impact Central, and Chorus Network
[29:53] Impact Central & Gordon’s approach to impact investing
[44:39] Chorus Network, Opto Impact, and startup investing
[56:44] Opportunities in consumer goods, public service providers, & Tech for Good
[01:03:01] Gordon’s criteria for making an impact investment in an early-stage startup
[01:18:58] A real-life example of a successful impact investment: New Ground
[01:33:02] Measuring and managing impact and looking out for impact-washing
[01:39:23] Impact venture capital investing vs. other forms of impact investment
[01:45:58] The types of investors at Opto Impact
[01:52:36] Gordon’s thoughts on AI and final questions
MORE GORDON EICHHORST QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW:
“The consuming public wants to see a change in environmental and social things, but they have no great opportunities to do that. ”
— Gordon Eichhorst
“If you start with a better structure, where everything is aligned, it’s easier to continue that way than trying to dismantle something when it’s huge. ”
— Gordon Eichhorst
