Why this investor thinks most founders should try ayahuasca

A venture capitalist who recently tried ayahuasca thinks founders should consider using the psychedelic drink as a way to become better leaders.

• The psychedelic drink ayahuasca might be good for founders seeking understanding and growth.
• That's the assessment from one venture capitalist, who recently tried ayahuasca for the first time.
• A company called 1heart uses ayahuasca as part of an 8-week program designed for leaders and others.

Aaron Rodgers has tried it. So has Prince Harry.

If you're a founder of a company, it might be your turn to give the plant-based psychedelic brew ayahuasca a go. That's according to one young venture capitalist.

Investor Eddy Vaisberg, 33, told Business Insider ayahuasca could help founders gain better insights into themselves and others — and boost their creativity.

"Essentially, your entire compass as a founder can shift," Vaisberg, managing partner at VC firm MindEd Ventures, said. He said ayahuasca can bring increased clarity and help leaders run their teams better.

Vaisberg is quick to say the trippy tea isn't for everyone. Yet he's not the first person from the business world to dabble with altering one's mind. Elon Musk memorably smoked up with Joe Rogan. Ayahuasca even became a serious plot point on the show "Billions." Other CEOs have tried psychedelics but run into trouble for it.

It wasn't ayahuasca on its own that shifted Vaisberg's compass, he said. He's taking part in an eight-week program offered by a company called 1heart. The program involves virtual prep for a journey of personal growth and a weeklong sojourn at a jungle retreat in Costa Rica where ayahuasca is on the menu.

"This is the highest ROI on human transformation," Vaisberg said, referring to his overall experience with 1heart. Vaisberg recently returned from the Costa Rica trip and said he feels different than before he went.

"I'm recommending this to everyone," he said. " I recommend; I don't push. Because it's not like getting an Oura ring."

Ayahuasca helped bring clarity

Brandon Evans is CEO — chief elevation officer — and cofounder of 1heart. Over the past five years, he's taken nearly 1,000 people through the program, often in groups of about 40. There have been founders, entrepreneurs, big-time execs, and a few billionaires, he said.

Evans, 46, got into the work after he first tried ayahuasca about a decade ago at a yoga studio in Brooklyn. He'd found success earlier in his career building and then exiting two tech startups. With those successes — including a $15 million funding round — his investors then asked Evans to raise another $20 million. But he wasn't feeling it.

"At that moment, like something in me just like kind of sunk," Evans said. "I didn't want to keep doing this." He wasn't feeling connected to the "unhealthy, unneeded" products the company was selling to large corporations. Eventually, the investors grew tired of his reluctance to raise funds and fired him.

Evans said that caused everything to shift. He was married and living in New York City but was unhappy. "I had done basically all the things — checked all the boxes — that I thought I was supposed to do to live a happy, fulfilled life and I wasn't feeling any of it. I felt very disconnected from myself and from a lot of areas of my life."

That was around the time he first tried ayahuasca. Evans said the experience let him get a clearer picture of what would bring him joy and fulfillment. So he left New York — and his marriage — and began to travel.

Now, Evans is based full time in Costa Rica. And he sees his work at 1heart as part of his purpose. The program involves more than just ayahuasca ceremonies, though they're a major component. There's also yoga, breath work, and meditation. The price of the eight-week endeavor, excluding airfare to Costa Rica, ranges from $5,000 to $9,000, Evans said.

"You essentially lose control"

Vaisberg's experience wasn't just about the ayahuasca, which he hadn't tried before his 1heart trip. "It would have been 100% worth it if we never touched ayahuasca," he said.

Vaisberg added that the encounter with ayahuasca, which is often made from a pair of plants that grow in the Amazon, wasn't easy. "You essentially completely lose control," he said. "Whatever is coming up and showing you, you're living through it again."

The first ceremony was "really dark," Vaisberg said. So was the first part of the second ceremony. "I thought I had lost my mind and then I had to go through the depths of my own insanity to, like, come out," he said. But then it flipped. "Starting with the second half of the second ceremony, it was the most beautiful 96 hours of my life."

Vaisberg, who's VC investing is focused on what he calls the "mental fitness" space, said founders, in particular, would benefit from the understanding they get of themselves and how they can become better leaders by becoming more attuned to the needs of others. He could see VCs even recommending founders take part in ayahuasca ceremonies — even though there's a slight risk leaders could discover they don't want to be doing what they're doing.

The experience with ayahuasca and the 1heart program has made Vaisberg more willing to trust his gut, which he didn't always do with past financial bets. "Those investments are not doing as well. And now I've learned to trust it," he said, referring to his instinct. "So I do think from that perspective, it makes me a better investor. And from a founder perspective, I mean, I think it's all about human connection."