Beyond the Horizon: How an Ocean Adventure Shaped A Career In Venture
When Kate Eaglen first walked into Simpson Grierson’s offices, sailing across the Pacific was the last thing on her mind. At the time, her ambitions were more traditional: sharpen her legal skills, learn from the best, and make her mark in the fast-paced world of commercial litigation. Law appealed to Kate’s love of storytelling. She enjoyed crafting arguments that took a fresh perspective on the facts, seeking creative ways to frame her cases.
“It’s that idea of being able to form an argument around any statement and being able to be a little creative around it.”
Despite her aptitude for the role, by her mid-twenties, Kate decided to hit pause on her legal career. For someone else, the next few years might have been spent climbing the corporate ladder.
“I was there for about three years and then I decided to chuck it all in and bought a boat in the Caribbean.”
This wasn’t just a casual break: selling everything, walking away from a promising legal career, and moving halfway across the world. Kate and her husband bought a second-hand Beneteau 50, with a view of tackling the inevitable repairs, and then island-hopping until it was time to move on – first the Carribean, then through the Panama Canal and eventually across the Pacific.
For Kate, buying a boat in the Caribbean and setting sail wasn’t just about taking a break from her legal career – it was a deliberate choice to confront challenges that would test her limits. And these limits were tested on the crossing between the Galapagos Islands and the Marquesas. Spanning roughly 3,000 nautical miles, it’s one of the longest and most demanding ocean stretches in the world.
“During one of the longest passages in the world between the Galapagos and the Marquesas Islands, which are like a pinprick on the map, we broke the bracket that holds the rudder onto the boat, which meant that the rudder could fall out at any moment, hit a wave and rip a hole in the boat.”
It was a terrifying realisation. The rudder bracket was vital. Without it, the rudder could shear off entirely, leaving them unable to steer and potentially sink the boat in the process. To make matters worse, the autopilot was out of action, meaning they would have to hand-steer for the remainder of the journey.
As if that weren’t enough, the constant strain on the boat eventually caused the steering cable to snap. With no easy way to repair it, Kate and her husband scavenged the boat for plumbing clips and any spare parts that could hold the system together.
“You spin the wheel and nothing’s happening. You’re in the middle of the ocean, you’re about ten days out of the Galapagos, but you can’t turn around because trade winds are pushing in one direction. So we chucked out chains at the back of the boat to try and get it just heading in one direction and we got our emergency tiller out.”
The emergency tiller – a small, awkward T-bar – was their fragile lifeline, but it was never designed for sustained use, let alone a multi-week ocean crossing. While one of them worked on makeshift repairs, the other would attempt to keep the boat steady. Once the steering cable had been cobbled together enough to be used, the endless watches steering by hand began. Sleep came in short bursts, and the crushing combination of exhaustion and stress made even simple tasks feel monumental.
“The sun’s burning your back in the morning, and you’re getting blinded in the afternoon. There’s this whole premise of “worse things happen at sea”,being in the middle of the ocean; it feels like you’re in the middle of a snow globe. Nothing changes around you day-in, day-out. You get shaken with rain and wind but your horizon never changes. And you’re not on any type of cruise ship route, a helicopter can’t come and save you, and at any moment, the rudder could fall out of the boat and rip a hole and you’re going to be in a life raft. And trying to mentally understand that and prepare for it, and deal with the worst.”
Most people picture ocean crossings as dreamy stretches of sparkling water and golden sunsets but for this passage, it was the relentless intensity that defined the experience. Endless days of patching repairs, steering manually through rough seas, and pushing through sheer fatigue.
Against the odds, after 21 days at sea they eventually reached the Marquesas. Kate emerged from the ordeal with a deeper understanding of adversity. In her legal career, and later in private capital, assessing risk and solving problems were a part of the job. But in the middle of the Pacific, with no safety net, those skills were tested to their absolute limits. The principles she honed during that voyage helped to define a level of perspective for future obstacles.
Stepping onto Australian soil with the Marquesas and the restless Pacific behind her, Kate transitioned from a life of makeshift rudder repairs back into the legal world. In Sydney, she secured a position at a boutique firm, Addisons, drawing on her background in media and consumer law.
At Addisons, her work spanned familiar territory, broadcast standards, advertising regulations, and intellectual property. Yet, there was also a new dimension: gambling law. Under the mentorship of a leading specialist in Australia, Kate delved into the complex world of online betting and compliance frameworks.
While she found her footing in Sydney’s legal circles, the pull to return to New Zealand began to grow stronger. Her husband, an engineer, was struggling to find the right career opportunities in Australia, and together they made the decision to move.
A role at Westpac soon came her way, enabling her to bring her expertise to the financial services sector – an industry she had once considered uninspiring. It turned out to be a pivotal moment, unlocking doors to venture capital, fintech, and risk management.
“I got so many opportunities working in financial services and finding the consumer law slant in there. In financial services, the customer protections focus on how we can deliver products that are fit for purpose and suit the customer needs..”
The world of financial services turned out to be rich with opportunities for innovation. Kate’s role evolved quickly, moving far beyond the traditional legal sign-offs she had expected. Instead, she was actively helping to build frameworks that balanced regulatory requirements with a genuinely customer-centric design.
“I had a real interest in technology and I had lots of opportunities to look at new ways of delivering products and apps, and working on compliance by design. So how can we make this app the easiest flow, the best for the customer and get the best results?”
Over time, her responsibilities broadened to include privacy work and eventually extended into wider risk and compliance initiatives. She became a guide for product teams navigating the complex regulatory environment, covering areas such as anti-money laundering (AML), data protection, and responsible lending. Throughout, she championed an approach to compliance that prioritised user-friendliness, embedding regulations into customer journeys in a seamless way.
“Instead of the usual ‘here’s huge amounts of forms’ thinking, well how can we make this easier from a customer’s perspective? How do we pull information that we already have about the customer and present it back to them in a way that they’re going to understand instead of getting the customer to enter it?”
Westpac’s launching of RedBird Ventures, its corporate venture capital arm, became another avenue for Kate’s interest in technology and innovation. While RedBird had offered her a front-row seat to this intersection, Kate was soon ready to take on a more founder-focused role. An opportunity came up with Mike Burke, whom Kate had worked with in ventures before. Kate became Head of Investments, Risk and Compliance for Point16, which is responsible for the New Zealand FinTech Fund and the Sustainable Lifestyle Fund.
For Kate, the post-investment involvement quickly became the most rewarding part. Rather than limiting her role to periodic check-ins, she had the chance to dive into the operational realities of these companies – everything from compliance frameworks and user onboarding to addressing privacy concerns. It was an opportunity to demonstrate how thoughtful, forward-thinking regulation could drive innovation rather than hinder it.
At the same time, Kate became a key figure in Point16’s broader mission. The organisation’s ethos, “uncomplicating business to unlock growth,” aligned perfectly with her own belief that risk and compliance should act as simplifying forces, not obstacles. As she explains, “How do we take complicated regulations and serve them up in a real simple way?”
Her focus also goes beyond fintech. In her role as a director on the management company for the Sustainable Lifestyle Fund, Kate also applied her expertise to more traditional businesses, finding ways to integrate technology solutions into their operations. It wasn’t just about writing cheques; it was about ensuring that each portfolio company had the tools and processes to grow sustainably, whether that meant implementing robust data protection measures or streamlining consumer experiences.
Though this might seem worlds away from dealing with a stricken boat in the middle of the Ocean, there are parallels. Whether fixing a broken rudder bracket or guiding a start-up through its first regulatory challenge, Kate has leaned on the same qualities: adaptability, calmness under pressure, and a belief that most problems could be solved with clear thinking and the right support. Also risk, when handled effectively, can drive progress. This mindset was forged under the unforgiving conditions of ocean travel, where the cost of poor planning or a lack of adaptability is immediate and unmistakable. Yet, it’s found an equally vital role in the fast-paced worlds of fintech and venture capital.
“There are always going to be risks in whatever you do, and it’s about taking well-understood risks and about managing them well, not about avoiding at all costs.”
Instead of adopting a conservative, risk-averse mindset that shies away from untested ideas, Kate embraces a forward-thinking approach: identify potential challenges early, establish safeguards that allow creative thinking to thrive, and maintain focus on the bigger picture. This way, even if setbacks arise, the organisation has the resources and plans in place to recover swiftly and move forward.
Amidst her growing responsibilities in private capital, Kate would also like to see more opportunities for women in the industry – whether as founders, investors, or key decision-makers. For her, diversity isn’t just a trendy talking point; it’s a proven driver of better outcomes.
“There’s never enough women to invest in and I think women often wait until they’ve got 100% covered before they pitch, while men maybe 60%. I do have a particular bias of wanting to invest in women and there are results, which show that companies with women on boards do better, so we need more coming through.”
Kate’s own career journey – from law to banking, corporate venture capital, and now leading investments at the New Zealand FinTech Fund – illustrates that the paths available for women in finance and technology are broad, provided there’s access to the right networks and mentorship. Kate also believes in giving female entrepreneurs early hands-on support instead of waiting for them to check every box. This means guiding them through regulatory hurdles, introducing them to reliable capital partners, and encouraging them to pitch confidently – even if not every detail has been finalised.
Looking ahead, Kate is optimistic. She believes that the rising financial literacy and the growing popularity of accessible investment platforms – such as Sharesies – will inspire more young women to view finance and entrepreneurship as not only viable but exciting options. Just as Kate’s journey has taken her from law to battling ocean storms and, finally, into the world of venture capital, she hopes the next generation of women will take bold leaps of their own. And when they do, they’ll have the tools and support to navigate whatever waters lie ahead.
