The Billion-Dollar Shift in Sustainable Investing | Dan Pascone with Helena Wasserman | Podcast #21

Posted on June 27, 2025 by Dan Pascone

Answer Box: TL;DR

Sustainable investing is quietly shifting from a “nice-to-have” niche to a core investment lens. In this episode, Dan Pascone sits down with Helena Wasserman, co-founder of Investors for Climate, to explore how families, angels, and fund managers are collectively moving capital toward climate solutions. Helena’s global network of ~400 investors collaborates on deals, SPVs, and LP–GP introductions with a shared conviction: sustainability won’t stay a separate asset class forever. Instead, it will become a standard lens—just like risk and return—used to evaluate how resilient, resource-efficient, and future-proof a business really is. For high-earning professionals and families, that means climate-aligned investing can be both purposeful and commercially attractive when you understand where the market is going.

Key Takeaways

Investors for Climate is a curated global community, not a placement agent. Helena’s team blends a private network of family offices, angels, and fund managers with an investment arm that runs SPVs and “spotlights” opportunities sourced from members who are already personally invested.
Different investor types want different things. Angels mainly want access to high-quality syndicate deals with smaller tickets. Fund managers want introductions to family offices (LPs). Family offices want vetted, climate-focused deal flow. The platform is designed to serve all three, but in distinct ways.
Local ambassadors drive global scale. Instead of hiring staff in every region, Investors for Climate relies on 30+ “ambassadors”—family offices or fund managers who host events, refer members, and leverage the brand and playbooks locally.
Sustainability is moving from vertical to lens. Helena believes climate and sustainability will become embedded into mainstream investing—similar to how AI is becoming part of every business model—rather than being siloed as a niche “impact” bucket.
Returns and impact aren’t mutually exclusive. Many new climate solutions (e.g., more efficient building materials or processes) can be both less polluting and cheaper or more profitable, but there’s still a big education gap—especially with older generations who equate “sustainable” with “concessionary.”
Exits are more likely via M&A than IPO. In climate, the path to liquidity is often strategic acquisitions of solid, profitable companies (e.g., $200M revenue with healthy EBITDA), not just unicorn IPOs—an important nuance for families and LPs.
Purpose, freedom, and capital can coexist. Helena is explicit that she wants abundance and comfort, but not necessarily billionaire status. Her personal north star is enough wealth plus the ability to move capital toward planetary health, while preserving her own freedom of time and place.

Key Moments

00:27 – Introducing Helena and Investors for Climate. Dan sets the stage and Helena shares her background (Swiss–Italian, Clinton Foundation) and her passion for moving capital into sustainability.
01:37 – What Investors for Climate actually does. Overview of their 400-member private investor network, blending community, deal review, and capital deployment into climate solutions.
02:15 – From “free community” to paid membership. How they started with a curated, invite-only free group, proved value with events in 30+ cities, then transitioned to a premium membership model.
03:32 – Three investor archetypes. Helena breaks down what angels, fund managers, and family offices respectively want—and how IFC designs offerings for each group.
04:44 – How deals enter and move through the system. Members can submit deals only if they’re personally invested, helping maintain quality and alignment before the team screens and sometimes launches SPVs.
06:11 – The ambassador model. Instead of staff everywhere, IFC appoints local ambassadors (themselves investors) to host events, refer members, and run city-level programming under the global brand.
07:37 – Event design and “80/50” rule. Helena explains their goal for 80% investor attendance, with at least 50% of those being family offices, plus their LPGP series with a 2:1 LP-to-GP ratio.
09:16 – The future of sustainable investing. Why Helena sees climate as a long-term conviction play, with Europe and Asia currently ahead of the U.S. in many respects.
09:42 – From vertical to investment lens. Her core thesis: sustainability will soon sit alongside risk and return as a default lens for evaluating companies, rather than a separate “impact” bucket.
11:50 – Exits, M&A, and realistic outcomes. A discussion of why climate exits often come via acquisition of strong, profitable companies rather than unicorn IPOs—and why that still works for families and LPs.
13:32 – A global journey to New York. Helena shares her path through Switzerland, London, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and ultimately New York City in pursuit of big vision and entrepreneurial energy.
15:12 – Lightning round: tools, pizza, and energy management. Helena talks Fixer.ai, Italian comfort food, journaling, and why nature and phone-free walks are her top “regeneration” hack.
18:52 – Moving to NYC with nothing. Helena recounts arriving with no visa, no apartment, and no money—and building her life and company from scratch in 18 months.
20:32 – Advice to her younger self. Start faster, overthink less, and treat entrepreneurship like a muscle that strengthens with repetitions and iterations.

Episode Summary

Episode 21 of the Making Sense of Your Money podcast dives into the evolving world of sustainable investing with Helena Wasserman, co-founder of Investors for Climate. Host Dan Pascone explores how Helena and her co-founder have built a distributed, global community of roughly 400 investors—angels, family offices, and fund managers—aligned around the goal of moving more capital into climate-positive solutions.

Helena explains how Investors for Climate started as a curated, free community where members had to apply and be interviewed, then evolved into a premium membership model once they’d proven consistent value through events in 30+ cities. The platform serves distinct needs: angels want access to high-quality syndicate deals with small minimums, fund managers want to meet LPs (especially family offices), and families want vetted, climate-focused deal flow. Deals come from members who are already personally invested, helping maintain quality and alignment, and the team sometimes structures SPVs to pool capital into promising opportunities.

On the thematic side, Helena shares a big-picture thesis: just as AI is rapidly becoming embedded in every industry, sustainability will increasingly become a standard lens for evaluating businesses—not just a separate “impact” niche. Rather than chasing unicorn IPOs, many climate investors are focused on building robust, profitable companies that may exit via strategic M&A. She also emphasizes the importance of education, especially with older generations who assume that impact means accepting weaker returns, and highlights how many climate technologies today are both cleaner and commercially attractive.

The episode closes on a personal note: Helena’s move to New York with no money, no visa, and no apartment; her love for the city’s high-ambition culture; and the mindset shifts that have powered her journey. Her advice to her younger self (and to listeners): start sooner, overthink less, and remember that whatever you build becomes your new baseline—you rarely go backwards once you commit to the entrepreneurial path.

Full Transcript

Dan Pascone: Brought to you by Tailored Wealth, helping business leaders live their version of a rich life.

Dan: Welcome to another edition of the Making Sense of Your Money podcast, where we cut through the financial noise and help business leaders to make smart, confident money decisions. Welcome to episode 21 of the Making Sense of Your Money podcast.

Dan: I’m your host, Dan Pascone. I’m the founder and CEO of Tailored Wealth. And each episode here features a trusted voice in the financial world, someone who works directly with high-level professionals to simplify the complex and turn strategy into action.

Dan: And I’m really excited for today’s guest. We have with us Helena Wasserman, who is the co-founder of Investors for Climate, and her and her team specialize in moving capital for sustainability. So, this should be a really, really fun conversation.

Dan: Helena, thanks for joining us on the Making Sense of Your Money podcast. Pumped to have you today.

Helena: Super happy to be with you, Dan, today. Thank you.

Dan: All right, great. Well, I know we’ve got a lot to cover. You’ve got a really interesting background and, I know, an interesting take on a lot of things that our audience will want to hear from.

Dan: But if you don’t mind, do us a quick favor and just give me like a 90-second overview of what it is that you and your team do, and tell us a little bit about your background and how you got into that space.

Helena: Sounds good. Cool. So, I’ll give you the quick version. I’m half Swiss, half Italian. I live in New York City. I started my career at, you know, the Clinton Foundation, and I was always passionate about moving capital into sustainability and impact. So that was the beginning point.

Helena: What we do today is we have a network—a private investor network—of 400 climate investors. So we are a mix of family offices, venture capitalists, high-net-worth individuals. And basically, what we do together is that we invest, we raise capital, and we look at investment opportunities together.

Helena: So think about us as a mix between a community and an investment arm.

Dan: Very, very cool. That’s super interesting. So let’s dive into that a little bit more. Tell us a little bit about how you started to build this community. I want to get a sense for how you put this community together.

Helena: Yeah, absolutely. So it’s been definitely an interesting journey in the sense that, you know, we started—as all entrepreneurs—we thought, “Okay, what do I have that is unique to bring to the table?” Right? We all have different assets.

Helena: And for me and my co-founder—I’m here in New York, my co-founder is in Singapore—we both had really strong investor networks: family offices, VCs, angels, because of previous roles that we had. And so we said, “Okay, before investing, let’s put together our relationships, let’s put together the people that we know, and build trust with the community.”

Helena: And so we started actually with—it was a free community initially—where you had to get invited to join. So you had to apply, get interviewed, but it was free. And then it allowed you to, you know, meet families.

Helena: It gave us basically events in 32 cities around the world. So a really very global community. And then about a year in, we introduced membership fees. So you know, once we had—we went from like “freemium” to “premium.” Once we felt we were really bringing value and had built a really strong product, we introduced membership fees.

Dan: Very cool. Very cool. And help us understand the members that you have in your community. What do they get from being in that community? I’m sure there’s a networking aspect to it, but tell us the value that you and your team provide to that community.

Helena: Yes. So essentially there’s three types of investors. Every investor wants something slightly different. There’s angel investors, fund managers, and family offices.

Helena: Initially, we thought, “Oh, all investors will want the same thing.” You know—not at all.

Helena: So angels, they want access to our syndicate. So they want to be able to invest with us because we can get them into deals with a very small ticket, while on their own they would have to have much larger tickets in order to access those opportunities. So that’s the main appeal for angels.

Helena: For fund managers, you know, a fund manager typically is raising the next fund. So they want access to family offices. So we give them access to our LP–GP series, which gives them access to meeting families to raise money, basically.

Helena: And then family offices, they come to us for deals. They want to find the right opportunities for the family in order to deploy capital. So those are the three ways in which we help investors, beyond building relationships through events.

Dan: Got it. And tell us a little bit about your process for finding some of those deals. So you’ve got kind of the membership side and then you’ve got the deal side. Tell us a little bit about the deal side.

Helena: Yeah. So the deal side is super interesting. Basically, we get deals referred by our members. So as a member, you can submit a deal, but you need to show that you are personally invested in the company.

Helena: We don’t allow placement agents; it’s purely asset owners that have invested. And so they would recommend a deal that they’re personally invested in, or invested with our company. And so as you can imagine, with 400 members in 32 cities, that brings us a lot of deals.

Helena: And we have a team that basically sorts through them, and we basically showcase the best ones.

Dan: Yeah, so that was going to be my next question. Tell us a little bit about the logistics behind that. How does someone bring you a deal? Do they go directly to your team and you guys promote the deal? Is it like a community where you’re actually privately—within the community—marketing it? Tell us a little bit about the logistics behind the deals and then getting them promoted within them.

Helena: So we’re not a placement agent, right? We’re a community. So we don’t actually “promote” deals.

Helena: The only thing we can do is spotlight opportunities—so, you know, show that people can see that they’re there and then they take it from there. And then we do have an investment unit where we do SPVs, where we actually group capital into specific opportunities.

Helena: So it’s both spotlighting on one side and then actually doing SPVs on the other side.

Dan: Very cool. Very cool. And I imagine that you started this network with your network, but how have you been able to grow it and get to the scale of having 400 individuals, families, institutions as a part of it now? What’s been your approach to your growth?

Helena: Yeah, absolutely. That’s a good question. So we actually have quite a unique strategy in the sense that we have ambassadors in 32 cities that represent us locally. But that doesn’t mean we have 32 people on payroll.

Helena: That means that we have 32 ambassadors that are family offices themselves or fund managers themselves, that are representing us locally and that are referring us new members. So it is actually through the ambassador network that we’re able to grow at this speed, because typically it takes much longer.

Helena: But we have this win–win agreement amongst us and the local family office or fund manager: they benefit from our global community—we have a lot of investors in Singapore and places like that—and we benefit from the local community. So they’re happy to do this as a leadership opportunity as opposed to a paid opportunity.

Dan: Okay, so you’ve got these ambassadors which essentially are serving as your referral partners.

Helena: Exactly.

Dan: And they’ve all got networks and you’ve got them across the globe, it sounds like. And so as they come across individuals, institutions, deals even that make sense, they’re referring them into your network.

Helena: Exactly. And in exchange, they can use our brand and they can host programming locally with our playbook of events and how we do things. So that’s what they get in return in addition to having access to all our global events.

Dan: Tell us a little bit about the event side. What do those events look like for someone that’s never attended something like this? What do they look like? How are they hosted? What is the value that you promote? Give us a little bit of a look under the hood from the events perspective.

Helena: Yeah, absolutely. Well, think about it as, you know, TED—the big TED conference—and TEDx, the local chapters. Think about it that way. So, you know, we have the central brand, and then we’ve opened our brand so that people can use it locally.

Helena: And we have a very simple way of doing things. Basically, we want to make sure there’s 80% investors at every event. And out of these 80% investors, there needs to be 50% family offices. Okay? So that’s our rule of thumb.

Helena: And if you want to host an event for us using our brand, you need to make sure that happens. And then we have typically two formats. Either it’s what we call the LP–GP series, and that’s a way for fund managers to meet family offices. And there, the specific ratio—we want two LPs for one GP. So, you know, as a fund manager, you have an unusual ability to meet potential institutions and families that could come in your fund.

Dan: Got it. Got it. Okay, that makes a lot of sense. So the folks that are putting on these events, are you sort of giving them this playbook to be able to execute and then they just need to sort of adhere to your standards in order to use your branding? Is that essentially how it works?

Helena: Exactly.

Dan: Very cool. Very cool.

Dan: All right, let’s shift gears a little bit. I want to talk a little bit more about the industry. Let’s talk about sustainable investing—something that I know I’m excited to get into, pretty passionate about myself, and we have a lot of clients and folks within our audience and network that I know want to hear your take on that.

Dan: Tell us a little bit about what the industry’s been like recently and where you see it going in the future.

Helena: Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, for us, we’re in it by conviction in the sense that, you know, right now with the current administration in the U.S., it’s obviously not a “trending” vertical in terms of hot trends right now, but we are in it by conviction and a lot of the people that are investing with us believe in it in the long run.

Helena: And we’ve also seen that Asia and Europe are still carrying through more than the U.S. And so I would say right now globally, there’s about 10% of venture capital funding that goes to sustainability. But I’m pretty sure that it’s going to keep growing.

Helena: Our perspective is that sustainability won’t be a vertical anymore like it is now—like “cleantech” or “climate tech”, like a part of tech. What we believe is that sustainability will be a lens. It will be the same way as you look at deals through risk, through returns—you will look at deals through sustainability standards.

Helena: It will just be a lens that will be, we think, the way investments are done all over the world, just because we want to make sure that we can maintain and preserve resources.

Dan: So that’s really interesting. I want to unpack that a little bit more. So instead of it being sort of a vertical—like “I want to invest in sustainability”—every private deal would essentially have a sustainability component to it that you would use to evaluate the deal. Do I have that right?

Helena: Exactly. Think about it like AI today. You know, today we’re like, “Oh yeah, we’re doing an AI fund,” or “We’re going to do an AI investment.” But at the speed at which things are going, AI is going to be embedded in every single company in the world, right?

Helena: So eventually AI won’t be a vertical; it will be a lens in which you look at investments in terms of: how effective is this company at managing staff, at using AI to be more efficient?

Helena: Basically same thing with sustainability: how good is this company at preserving resources and maintaining resources so that it’s a good and great company? The same way: how good is it at treating their employees?

Helena: So that’s how I see it. There’ll be lenses as opposed to verticals. Does that make sense?

Dan: It does. Very, very cool. It’s an interesting sort of mindset shift.

Dan: Tell me and tell us what your team at Investors for Climate are doing to help sort of further that mission—to sort of further that transition of sustainable investing.

Helena: Well, I think there’s a lot of education that needs to be done because, you know, a lot of people, especially from the previous generation—if you look at families, you know, you look at the first generation—they will think, “Oh, sustainability, impact… we’re going to lose money.” You know, there’s like that mindset.

Helena: Versus right now, there are entire industries being built. If you look at construction and sustainable cement, you know, it’s just cheaper, less polluting—it just makes sense from a commercial point of view. So I think there’s still a lot of education that is needed.

Helena: We obviously need more exits, you know, more liquidity in the market to be able to make the case that those exits are coming.

Helena: It’s slightly different in sustainability in the sense that there’s less IPOs and more M&As.

Dan: Right. And that’s been the trend recently in private markets in general, right? There’s been a lot less IPO activity in the last few years than there had been prior.

Dan: So what does that mean to, maybe, sustainable investing compared to what our audience would typically just think about in terms of private markets? What does the uptick in M&A and the downtick in IPOs mean in your space?

Helena: I think in our space, M&As make more sense because we’re not necessarily trying to build unicorns. We’re trying to build, let’s say, $200 million companies with a healthy EBITDA that can, you know, make a difference.

Helena: So if you look at that, an acquisition like that or a merger like that would create liquidity—but maybe not at the same scale as an IPO. Or maybe it could, but I think that’s typically the trend that we’ve seen in terms of how to create liquidity in the market.

Dan: Very cool. Very cool. All right, that’s some really, really good stuff there.

Dan: All right, I want to shift gears a little bit and I want to start to talk a little bit about you. So give us your background. First off, how long have you been in New York for and what made sense for you to come over from Europe to New York?

Helena: Yeah, good question. So I’m a bit of an unusual person in that sense—I’ve lived in six cities. I grew up in Switzerland. So I’m half Swiss, half Italian. I left Switzerland when I was 18, and then my career took me to London, Kuala Lumpur, to Singapore, and spent most of my career out there.

Helena: And I recently relocated to New York City. You know, I always love the U.S. as an entrepreneur. I find that, you know, New York City is like the most exciting market to build anything because of the energy, because of how big people think.

Helena: And so when I had the opportunity to move here about 18 months ago, I jumped on it. When I got my visa, for me it was a green light. I was like, “Okay, let’s go,” because I just really appreciate—I think the entrepreneurial side here in the U.S. is very unique, and how everybody works hard, hustles—it’s very endearing.

Dan: You nailed it. I would totally agree with everything. I’ve been local to New York for most of my life, so I can certainly relate to everything that you just said there. And yeah, you can’t match the energy, that’s for sure.

Dan: How are you liking it so far?

Helena: So like I said, I don’t like it—I love it. I’m a big fan. And I feel that if you are—you know, we have a big, big mission, big dreams. There’s a lot… we’ve barely scratched the surface in everything we want to do. You know, we want to move one billion into sustainability.

Helena: And so I think when you have big goals like that, I feel like you get rewarded for that. I feel like in New York if I run around and I’m like, “Yeah, I want to raise a $30 million fund,” it’s like, “Why would you do that?” But if you say, “I want to raise a $150 million fund,” people are like, “Oh…” you know, listening.

Helena: So yeah, I think for anybody who is ambitious and focused, I think this market really rewards that—and I like that.

Dan: Yeah, I couldn’t agree more.

Dan: All right, we’re going to move into a really fun part of our segment that we call the lightning round. Okay, so our guests never get any heads up on this because we want it to be just super organic.

Dan: So I’m going to ask you a series of questions. Helena, are you nervous?

Helena: (Laughs) Don’t be.

Dan: Don’t be. It’s going to be fun. All we want is—just give us the first thing that comes to your mind. It could be a one-word answer. It could be a long, drawn-out thought and anything in between. You ready?

Helena: Oh, I didn’t catch the question.

Dan: I said all we care about with the lightning round is I’m going to ask you a question, you give us the first thought that comes to your mind. Could be a one-word answer, could be a long, drawn-out thought. You ready?

Dan: All right, start simple. Coffee or tea?

Dan: If you have to have one meal every day for the rest of your life, what is it?

Helena: Pizza.

Dan: Oh, okay. And all right, so now, how have you found the pizza in New York? And then maybe what’s the best pizza you’ve had outside of New York?

Helena: Well, it’s easy. New York, there’s really good pizza on every corner of the street, pretty much. So it’s been wonderful.

Helena: I’m Italian, right? So I grew up eating comfort Italian food. Always my go-to. So yeah, that’s the food that makes me feel most at home anywhere I go.

Dan: All right, I like it. I like it.

Dan: What’s one tool or piece of technology—so it could be hardware or software—other than your computer or your phone that you can’t live without?

Helena: Right now it’s an AI tool called Fixer.ai that drafts my email responses.

Dan: Yeah, I’ve heard good things about Fixer, actually. We’ve got a company that we work with that’s pretty heavy in that one. So all right, awesome. Fixer—good promotion there.

Dan: Do you have a favorite quote about money or success?

Helena: I like a quote that I have right in front of me called, “Better build a product that 30 people love instead of a product that 100 people find just okay.”

Dan: Build a product that 30 people love versus one that 100 people find okay. I love that. I love that.

Helena: So basically, be specific. Build a product that is really blowing people’s minds off as opposed to, you know, something that is just half-assed for the masses.

Dan: Yep, I got it. Makes a lot of sense.

Dan: Do you have a favorite book on finance or business?

Helena: I read The Money Trap recently.

Dan: Okay. Yeah, that’s a good one. That’s a good one.

Helena: It’s a book which is more about the meaning of life and wisdom in general as opposed to financial tools. But I thought it was a good one.

Dan: Okay, I like it. I like it.

Dan: Do you have a personal hack that you can share with us?

Helena: Yeah. I think for me, obviously, you know, I work in sustainability. I think for me nature is one of the most regenerative activities we can do. So for me, going out—you know, people always ask me how I have so much energy. I always, you know, go out for walks, and yeah, nature really regenerates me and gives me the energy I need to build my business, actually.

Dan: Do you have a process around that? I’ll do from time to time what I call clarity breaks, where I just try and get out of the office and walk outside and just think and let thoughts materialize. What’s your process on walking and being outside and utilizing nature to your advantage?

Helena: I think for me it’s about just having the phone away—like just not looking at my phone for at least half an hour. I think that really makes a big difference.

Helena: Even if you’re on a walk and you’re on a call, it’s great, but your brain is still in that same mode. So I don’t think you get the same rejuvenation as when you’re just walking in silence with no phone.

Dan: Yeah. Agreed. Agreed. I couldn’t agree more. That’s a really good one for everyone listening.

Dan: What’s one bucket list item that you’ve already accomplished?

Helena: Moving to New York with no money, no visa, no apartment, and building everything from scratch in 18 months.

Dan: That’s a pretty good one. Congratulations on that. That’s a pretty good one.

Dan: All right, what’s one financial milestone that you’re working towards?

Helena: So, you know, for me, even though I’m in finance, I’m not looking to really—like I’m not looking to become a billionaire, for example. For me, that’s not interesting.

Helena: So for me, my milestone… I just want to have enough money, but then I want to make sure money is moving and that it’s supporting the planet. So for me, I’m not—I won’t tell you I want to become a billionaire. That’s not my goal. I do want to live comfortably. I want to have a few millions—I’ll be happy. So that’s more how I see it. It’s not really like a specific financial target: “I want to get to 50 million or 100 million.” That’s not how I see it.

Dan: It’s more purposeful around how you want to use it.

Helena: Exactly. And I want money—don’t take me wrong. Like, I want abundance. I want to do it. But I feel like I already live the life that I want, in terms of I can do whatever I want whenever I want. You know, I’m an entrepreneur. I’m free. I just need my computer; I can work from wherever I want.

Helena: For me, I have freedom. So for me, that’s worth a lot of money. So I’ve kind of already achieved that just by being an entrepreneur. And for me, it’s more about abundance and freedom of time as opposed to a big, big financial milestone.

Dan: If you’re not working, what do you prefer to be doing?

Helena: If I’m not working, I am usually out meeting all the fascinating people that you meet in New York.

Dan: If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?

Helena: I would tell myself to not overthink and start faster.

Dan: Okay, I like that. Starting faster is a really good one for everyone out there and listening. You’re right. Sometimes we try to perfect—especially when we’re starting out, we try to perfect things—but a lot of it, at least I’ve found, is the lessons you learn along the way, which you could have never even prepared yourself for anyway, so you might as well just start.

Helena: Exactly. I started my first company at 29. I’m sure if I would have started my first company at 18 or 21, I would be… You know, it’s a muscle to flex, right? Entrepreneurship. The more companies you’ve done, the more you’ve trialed and errored, the better you become.

Helena: So for me, it would be like: just stop overthinking and start.

Dan: It’s such a powerful concept. I could not agree more with that thought, and I’ve found it in myself. Sometimes we try to get the timing perfectly right, and there is no perfectly right timing in life. But the lessons that you learn along the way—

Dan: All you can do is go through the experiences so that you learn those lessons, right?

Helena: Yeah. And then whatever you create becomes your new baseline. So you’re never going to go back.

Helena: You know, once you start your business, you’re never going to be like, “Oh, I’m going to go back and get a job.” Like, never. You know, I look at what I was doing three months ago sometimes and think, “Wow, I can’t believe I was doing this that way three months ago.”

Helena: Exactly. You’re never going to go back. This is your new baseline. It always gets better. You get used to taking risks, etc.

Dan: Very, very cool. Well, that’s awesome, Helena.

Dan: And then lastly, if our listeners want to connect with you, collaborate, work with you, learn more about Investors for Climate, what’s the best way for them to find you or connect with you?

Helena: Yeah, absolutely. So the best way would be LinkedIn under “Helena Wasserman,” or Instagram at “@iamhelena.” Those are my two preferred channels. Then you can always see my website as well, helena.com. But yeah, LinkedIn is preferable.

Dan: Awesome. Love it. I’m very active on LinkedIn as well, so looking forward to collaborating with you there myself.

Dan: Helena, this has been a lot of fun. I’ve really enjoyed the discussion. Appreciate your insights today. Thanks for sharing. Thanks for coming on. It’s been a blast.

Helena: Thank you so much, Dan, for having me. Really enjoyed the conversation as well.

Dan: You bet. You bet. That’s it for our episode. As always, keep your strategies sharp, your goals clear, and your money working as hard as you do.

Resources & Citations

Investor coalitions and climate networks. Background reading on how family offices, angels, and institutions collaborate to move capital into climate solutions and sustainable ventures.
Global climate tech & sustainability funding trends. Independent research on the share of venture funding going to climate and sustainability-related companies and how that has evolved across regions.
Impact vs. “concessionary” return myths. Articles and reports that examine whether climate and impact investments must sacrifice returns, including case studies of commercially successful climate technologies.
M&A as an exit path for climate companies. Analyses of how strategic acquisitions have provided liquidity for founders and investors in sustainability and cleantech businesses.
ESG & sustainability as an investment lens. Frameworks used by institutional investors to integrate environmental and social considerations alongside traditional risk–return analysis.

FAQs

What is Investors for Climate, in simple terms?

Investors for Climate is a curated, global network of climate-focused investors—mostly family offices, angels, and fund managers. It acts like a hybrid between a community and an investment arm: members share deal flow, co-invest via SPVs, and meet each other through structured events and LP–GP forums. It’s not a public crowdfunding platform and not a placement agent; it’s a private ecosystem for aligned investors.

How does deal quality get maintained if members submit opportunities?

Only asset owners who are personally invested in a company can submit it into the flow. That rule helps filter out pure “placement” pitches and ensures that at least one committed investor already has skin in the game. From there, Helena’s team reviews and screens deals and decides which to spotlight or aggregate capital into via SPVs.

Is sustainable investing just about sacrificing returns for impact?

Not necessarily. Many climate and sustainability solutions—such as more efficient materials, energy technologies, or business models—can be cost-competitive or even cheaper than status quo alternatives. The mindset that “sustainable = concessionary” still exists, especially with some older generations, but a growing body of deals shows that you can pursue strong commercial outcomes and meaningful environmental benefits at the same time.

Why does Helena think sustainability will become an investment “lens” instead of a niche?

Just as AI is quickly moving from a separate “sector” to something that touches nearly every industry, sustainability factors (resource efficiency, climate resilience, stakeholder treatment) are increasingly relevant across the board. The idea is that investors will routinely ask, “How does this company manage its environmental and social footprint?” in the same way they ask about risk and return, rather than confining those questions to a narrow “ESG” or “impact” bucket.

What kinds of exits should climate investors realistically expect?

While IPOs sometimes happen, many climate and sustainability-focused exits occur via mergers and acquisitions—especially when a company grows into a strong, profitable business (e.g., on the order of hundreds of millions in revenue with healthy margins). Strategic buyers often value technology, teams, and market position, which can produce solid outcomes even without a unicorn-style IPO.

How can a high-earning professional start aligning more capital with climate goals?

At the personal level, you might start by reviewing your investment accounts and private opportunities through a “sustainability lens”: What industries am I exposed to? Are there funds or direct deals focused on climate solutions that fit my risk profile? From there, you can layer in education—through communities like Investors for Climate, specialized managers, or your advisor—to gradually shift part of your portfolio toward climate-aligned strategies without abandoning diversification or return discipline.

Disclaimer

This episode and page are for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, tax, legal, or investment advice. Any companies, funds, networks, or tools mentioned are provided as examples only and are not endorsements or recommendations. Investing in private markets and climate-related ventures involves significant risks, including loss of principal and illiquidity. Always perform your own due diligence and consult qualified professionals before making investment decisions.

Next Steps

If you’re a high-earning professional or part of a family office, now is a good time to decide how you want sustainability to show up in your investment life. Take an hour this month to review your portfolio and ask: “Where am I unintentionally exposed to climate risk? Where could I redirect even a small slice of capital to climate-positive opportunities without compromising my core plan?”

From there, consider whether you want to engage with specialized managers, join curated communities, or simply bring a clearer sustainability lens into your existing investment process. When you’re ready to integrate these questions into a broader wealth strategy, explore more episodes and resources at Making Sense of Your Money, or see how Tailored Wealth partners with equity-rich professionals and leaders at yourtailoredwealth.com.