On this episode of the On The Rise Podcast's Faith Driven Leaders series, host Nick Stromwall talks with Wes Lyons of Eagle Venture Fund, who leads the firm's counter-trafficking vertical. A missionary kid turned Naval Academy rower and naval aviator, Wes shares the 2018 mission in the Philippines that convinced him evil is structural and worth fighting. He explains what impact investing actually is, why he separates the "root" of investing from its "fruit," and how portfolio companies get paid to deliver the change they want to see — including one funded by money seized from traffickers. (Note: discusses human trafficking.)
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Intentional community doesn't happen by accident. Wes's decade-long mastermind of five financial advisors started because one man went hunting for people who shared his heart. They meet monthly, adventure annually, and press each other on whether their calendars and bank accounts match their stated values.
An unconventional path into finance. Raised homeschooled in a missionary family, Wes was recruited to row at the Naval Academy — largely to escape what he feared would be "a slow death in suburbia." He and his wife flew P-3s for nearly a decade.
Impact investing, defined simply. Investing for a financial return and a measurable change in the world. For Wes's vertical, success is measured in both investor gain and children rescued or traffickers arrested.
Venture capital started as a search for non-correlated returns. After 2008, when "the entire screen turned red at the same time," Wes hunted for assets that wouldn't move with the Fed — which led him to early-stage founders solving enormous problems profitably.
Separate the root from the fruit. If asked why he married his wife, answering "to get four blue-eyed boys" would be an awkward pause — that's the fruit, not the root. Financial performance is investing's most obvious fruit, not its purpose.
The Philippines made evil concrete. Supporting Filipino forces against ISIS, Wes was tasked to find children being used in combat. He didn't find them that day. The experience replaced a vague theology with a conviction that structural evil exists and is worth fighting.
Entrepreneurs keep expanding what's possible. One portfolio company builds case packages for law enforcement and shares in assets seized from trafficking networks — traffickers funding their own demise. Another helps homeless people off the street, paid by hospitals that spend roughly $8,000 a month per homeless person nearby.
Bolt-on vs. direct impact. Rather than bolting philanthropy onto a business, Eagle backs companies paid to create the change, so revenue and impact are directly correlated. For any leader, Wes points to three dimensions: the redemptiveness of the work itself, the effect on employees, and what you do with the profits — a great plumber included.
LINKS
eagleventurefund.com
LinkedIn: Eagle Venture Fund