Beyond Conscious Investing To Compound Impact
Where Meaning + Capital Markets Define The New Investor i(x) Investments Might Be In The Sweet Spot To Lead The Way
Impact Investors are surfing, climbing and skiing the planet, connecting the world via technology and personal or philanthropic global adventures and experiential connecting. Everything they do from work to choosing responsibly made clothes or how to invest in their world, is a direct extension of who they are or aspire to be.
A look at Trevor Neilson, Founding Partner from Los Angeles
Trevor Neilson Howard Warren Buffett
Trevor Neilson & Howard Warren Buffett, the new faces of natural capitalism, social activism and financial credibility are prioritizing global health: Water, Food, Education, Health, Gender Issues, from the inside out by doing the math and inspiring new investors with creativity, meaning and solutions.
What is rising up and creating a financial platform for companies to have the incentives and the capital to invest and make sustainable returns on solving the world’s problems? Compound impact. Compound impact is the exponential, scaled growth of solutions to global problems, which can happen only when money is invested in a sustained and sustainable way and that = game changer. Trevor Neilson, Howard Warren Buffet, of i(x) Investments, a permanently capitalized holding company for investors that want to create long-term economic growth in combination with social impact are creating a new formula. They are cracking the code where altruism meets the capital markets enabling investors to deliver solutions and make meaningful investments from their abundance and early success.
“Impact investing should not be seen as a niche -- it should be seen as the norm. We need to assume that all investments can have a positive social impact -- and move away from those that don't.” Trevor Neilson Huffington Post
What does impact investing mean? Impact investments are investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. Neilson and Buffett found each other on their quest to help solve the world’s problems via the power of capitalism and creative fund structures attracting scientists, experts and thought leaders and a breed of young investors armed with tech assets and socially impactful ambition. They built a team of like minded partners including J.Todd Morley and Par Lindstrom and created I(x) Investments. To learn more go to their site I(x) Investments .
There is a crisis of meaning and spending that doesn’t fulfill our deeper need to make the world better and that is being echoed by a lot of thought leaders like Neilson in relation to how to evolve and solve critical problems. New investors in different pockets of the country, particularly the Silicon Valley, are conscious of their influence via their capital.“The vast majority of the “things” tech produces does not create meaningful social impact,” Neilson points out. See article What’s Eating Silicon Valley regarding themes that young highly compensated new investors are ruminating on regarding purpose, liquidity and path to helping solve global and local issues.
I(x) investments invest in early-stage and undervalued companies that are working on issues such as clean energy, sustainable agriculture and water scarcity. They are doing things differently and partner with issue experts around the world, which allows i(x) to measure the social impact of their investors with more rigor than any other impact investing firm.
Issue experts in human need and social change advise i(x) and build custom measurement systems into each portfolio along with systems for monitoring and evaluating rates of change. This effort will be led by co-founder Howard W. Buffett and will be based on his “social value investing” framework. A sample of a few areas of interest @ i(x) include solutions from harnessing humidity to create water or feed livestock protein in the form of crickets vs. plundering the earth’s natural resources to feed polluters and a host of other solution based opportunities.
The scientists and the experts in their fields and in the field inspire Neilson more than other players in impact investing. “We help give them momentum,” he states. Momentum and credibility resonate with the new investor looking to contribute and sustain profitability. Impact investing is now in our collective vernacular with roots in philanthropic philosophy, but it’s really conscious investing ramped up for formerly distracted types, hyper productive generators and deeply conscious leaders who want to contribute to solutions on a global scale. They are surfing, climbing and skiing the planet, connecting the world via technology and personal and global adventures. Everything they do from work, the clothes they wear and the investments made are an extension of who they are or aspire to be. There is a new breed of activist entrepreneur looking for the right vehicles. Urgency mixed with stillness and practicing mindfulness, choosing investments with a more honed intuition and wisely learning from the collective is power. There is clear evidence we are living on a very fragile planet and capitalism can solve our biggest problems. Neilson and his partners are keenly aware of all of this and doing something different.
It’s In Their DNA- Who Are These Guys?
Trevor Neilson helped define new philanthropy in the early days of tech philanthropy. He was instrumental in guiding Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as the young tech billionaire was finding his voice on the world stage of giving. A pioneer in working with young technology assets and helping philanthropy morph into something relevant to the culture, Neilson helped shepherd new tech money and it’s impact revealing a new model. He began this journey in the late 90’s.
Neilson’s core values are the hub of the wheel by staying true to his conscience and doing the math with some brilliant minds and partners. He looks inside to thread the themes of the times that we are all in this together, and as the culture becomes more conscious, so too are the investments.
Neilson’s delivery is sincere and clear from his view of the world, a paired down stylish zen like office with the Pacific as the back drop both filled with beauty and challenges. “Profit in this new model will expose dinosaurs, such as fossil fuels ( which are not sustainable), and they will go extinct. More money will be generated by doing good.” A white board with company pitches, formulas, ideas and roadmaps ignite ideas and solutions from this satellite perch on the Pacific just one of the company’s locations on the planet riding the next wave of capitalism and shaping the board with a long view and a profitable lens.
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