#100 - 100 Episodes of Optimism: A Look Back at Our Best Moments

Today is a big one, episode 100. For the past 100 episodes, we've explored the biggest breakthroughs in tech, AI, science, and innovation. And along the way, we've had some incredible guests, wild predictions, and game-changing discussions. So for this milestone episode, we're doing something a bit different. We're taking a look back at the best moments from these past 100 episodes, the insights that shaped the future, the conversations that made us think, and and the breakthroughs that still have us all talking. Whether you've been with us from episode 1 or you're just joining in, this is the perfect time to revisit the stories that define The Tech Optimist. So sit back and get ready for a trip down memory lane, and let's celebrate 100 episodes of optimism, innovation, and the future. We're gonna take a pause here for a quick word from some sponsors and a reminder about today's disclosures. Hang tight.

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Without one, you could be missing out on enormous value creation and a more diversified personal portfolio. Alumni Ventures, ranked a top 20 VC firm by CB Insights, is the leading VC firm for individual investors. Believe in investing in innovation? Visit av.vc/foundation to get started. As a reminder, the Tech Optimist podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not personalized advice and it is not an offer to buy or sell securities. For additional important details, please see the text description accompanying this episode. 100 episodes. That's 100 deep dives into the breakthroughs, ideas, and innovations shaping the future and tomorrow. And today we're celebrating and taking a look back, not just at the big moments, but the bigger story that they tell. We'll start with how The Tech Optimist was evolved, how a simple conversation back in episode 13 sparked the creation of Tech Notes, and how certain topics from AI to space tech to climate solutions became the core of what we do. Then we're gonna revisit the most game-changing breakthroughs we've ever covered, from the new compensation model from NCAA athletes to the rise of autonomous logistics To the early discussions on carbon capture and nuclear energy that we now know are becoming a reality. And of course, we couldn't do this episode without highlighting some of the incredible guests that we've had on the show— startup founders, industry leaders, cutting-edge researchers, and many more who have given us the inside look at the technologies of tomorrow. This episode isn't just a highlight reel, it's a reflection on where we've been, And a glimpse into where we're headed next. Because if we've learned anything from the last 100 episodes, it's that the future moves fast and we're just getting started. So let's jump in. Every show has its defining moments, the conversations that spark something new, the ideas that shape the way we think, and the breakthroughs that push the show forward. For The Tech Optimist, one of those moments happened in episode 13 when a conversation between Mike and Drew led to something that would become a core part of this show, Tech Notes. It was a realization that some of these concepts, no matter how groundbreaking, needed a moment of pause. They needed some explanation and to bring everyone else along for the ride. And that wasn't the only time the show took a step forward though. Over the past 100 episodes, we've evolved not just in the topics we cover, but in the way we tell these stories. We've upped our production value and just how we produce podcasts here at Alumni Ventures. We started diving deeper, bringing in experts, bringing in more types of media, and following the real-world impact of the breakthroughs that we discuss each week. So in this segment, we're gonna revisit some of the moments that have shaped The Tech Optimist, the sparks of innovation, turning points, and the shifts that made this show what it is today. Let's take a listen.

Well, for our, for our viewers and our listeners, this is coming from a former Division I college athlete.

Okay, this comes from episode 13, which was published on June 13th, 2024, and it is titled 3 Breakthroughs: College Sports Turn Pro, Miles Per Gallon Becomes Outdated, and Ethereum ETFs. Let's watch the birth of the Tech Notes.

Uh, I don't know if we have the marginal Division 1 college athlete, but I did get to cover Michael Jordan. Thank you for bringing that up, Drew, who, you know, dropped 48 on this guy. So, yes. Yes, I still love sports.

And—

We might have to get the VCR out of the basement so we can run that. I think we can run that as B-roll.

B-roll of my blocking Michael Jordan clearly needs to be B-roll. And if you look closely at the B-roll, you'll see, though, a foul was called. It was all ball and was recognized by MJ with a slight tap on my backside indicating, yeah, you got me. So that will definitely have to be inserted into the Tech Optimist.

Yes.

Well, B-roll.

Really quick, pardon the interruption. It's Sam, but I found it. I found the game that Mike is talking about here with Drew. So I did some digging and I found out that Mike was on the Dartmouth Big Green men's NCAA basketball team in 1983. So that happened to be the same year that Michael Jordan was on the North Carolina Tar Heels basketball team. So the game that Dartmouth and North Carolina played each other was in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on December 21st, 1983. So here's some footage and audio. of that game. Hey, Mike asked for it in the B-roll, so here it is. Enjoy this audio from that game. I thought it was super cool and had to add it into the episode.

Enjoy.

The Big Green of Dartmouth from Hanover, New Hampshire, the northernmost campus in the Ivy League, against North Carolina of the ACC. Dartmouth's coach Reggie Minton in his first season without a freshman on the squad. He has a pair of very good seniors, the Green Trees, 6'5 Paul Anderson, 6'5 Brian Burke. Anderson and the tap. Michael Jordan.

Great defense.

Michael Jordan will take it.

Michael Jordan, 6'6 junior from Wilmington, North Carolina.

6 points and in a position where a defender could get his hands on.

Brad Daugherty has 10 of North Carolina's 62 points. Here's a little play they like to run. That's inside to Brian Burke, who's 6'5 and goes over Daugherty that time.

Nice pass by Collins.

Jordan with the jumper. Drafted his, uh, intentions on that one. Here comes Dartmouth. And Burke inside. Basket by number 43, Brian Burke. Brian Burke, he's there. Well, there's no real true pivot man, no center on this team. Jordan pulls one up. Jordan saw the foul coming, I think.

So after this, you know, history kind of wrote itself. I took a gamble as the, you know, producer for the show and was like, hey, I probably should really find this footage and see if I can put proof to Mike's words. And the fact that I did just happened to be, you know, the stars aligned and everything from there. So it just turns out that, you know, having a third person interject on some of the information that is being talked about in each episode is what the show needed to help, you know, drive the narrative and keep the stories interesting, um, throughout each episode. So, so after doing that first tech note or that first sort of experiment, um, We just kept doing them and they seemed to click. So let's keep going. Over the last 100 episodes, we've had some incredible conversations with founders, innovators, and industry leaders, the people who aren't just talking about the future but are literally building it. Some of these stories still stick with us today, not just because of the technology behind them, but because of the vision, persistence, and bold ideas that set them all apart. We've talked to startup founders who left massive companies to create something new, to the minds behind revolutionary AI breakthroughs, and to leaders tackling some of the biggest challenges in energy, space, and transportation. Some companies we covered were just getting started when we first spoke to them, and now they're shaping entire industries. In the next segment, we're looking back at some of the founder stories and companies that made the biggest impact on all of us here within Alumni Ventures, the ones we still think about, talk about, and reference again and again. So let's dive in. A conversation that stuck with us from episode 5, when we took a deep dive into carbon capture technology. Back then, the industry was still trying to prove whether large-scale carbon capture was feasible. But fast forward to today, and we're seeing major investments, breakthroughs, and companies racing to make it viable. That episode felt ahead of its time, and it still does. Here is a glimpse into episode 5 titled Net Zero Heroes: Carbon Capture Insights, which was published May 14th, 2024.

Tell the audience a little bit about your business and its kind of genesis story. We always love to hear on how these things get started.

Yeah, this is, this is a fun one. So, you know, I wasn't there on day one. I joined a little bit later, but But Carbon Capture came out of an incubator called Idealab. So Bill Gross is a prolific serial, actually parallel entrepreneur.

Legend.

Yeah.

150 unique companies. But, you know, in the last part of his career, he's really shifted focus towards solving bigger problems around climate. And going back to Davos, I think it was 2018, he was coming back from Davos. He, you know, he and Marc Benioff were sharing places or they were in the same vicinity on the plane and they were having a debate about you know, what is the biggest, most existential problem that we need to be solving at this time? And it really became a debate around, is it really about the oceans or is it really about the atmosphere? And I think Bill, he's a convincing guy. He won the day and they agreed that, yeah, they really needed to be focused on really dealing with the amount of carbon that's in the atmosphere. And, you know, at that time there were already—

They're somewhat related too.

There is an interface there, which is really important. But going back, you know, to that, you know, 2018, there were still at that point only a handful of direct air capture companies. I happened to have run one of them. I was the CEO of Carbon Engineering for a number of years up in Canada. So, you know, back then, you know, they're really in sort of, I would say, you know, DAC 1.0. A few companies, they were sponsored by, you know, billionaires like Bill Gates or Marie Edwards or the Bronfmans. But there was really no clarity about what a business would look like around direct air capture. But around 2018, and I think after the IPCC report came out and said there is no way to net zero except through DAC or through engineered carbon removal, and the size of that opportunity was defined, capital started to flow. And so, you know, Bill and Mark each put some money in, like Bill does. He just puts a small team together and just starts to look for some white space, like what is missing in this industry that could be served by some new technology, different way to think about the business. He did that for a couple of years. They raised $6 or $7 million in seed rounds. And I think in, you know, around mid-2021, it was apparent that the tailwinds for direct air capture and access to capital were there. And the technology platform that had been developed was coming together.

For our audience, tell them a little bit about the state of technology and where are you in the kind of figuring it out. How do we make this work? How do we make this work at scale? What's, what's the state of your company in the industry today?

Okay.

So I mean, I would say that, you know, there's, there's lots of different ways you can think about carbon removal. You know, you can think about sinking carbon into the atmosphere, you can think about soil amendments and biochar, and you can think about biological approaches for removal. Specifically, when you get into engineered solutions, that subset gets a lot smaller, and direct air capture kind of dominates the engineered carbon removal side of this. And the reason it's considered engineering is that you're using machines. It's really something that's, you know, it's something that's easy to measure and verify. And depending on where the CO2 is going, and typically you're talking about, you know, putting it into geological formations, it's as well. So there's a lot of reasons why people really like engineered solutions. Direct air capture particularly is really talking about machines that are stripping CO2 out of the atmosphere. So tackling, you know, that 430 ppm, concentrating it and getting it out of the atmosphere and into somewhere permanent. And so I think that, you know, that's sort of the basic premise of what DAC or direct air capture is.

Yeah.

Within that, there are a couple different approaches that have been deployed, and Carbon Engineering took a very process-heavy approach. So using liquid contactors and basically an acid-base reaction, you know, reacting the CO2 in the atmosphere with potassium hydroxide, forming carbonates, and effectively, you know, thinking about then the rest of the system is how do you get carbonates, you know, to break down? They're very stable molecules and get pure CO2 for sequestration. That was sort of that approach. And it's a series of really kind of clever process steps, but doesn't really work at anything but very large scale.

Yeah.

We're taking a different approach where we're focused on material science. So we're looking at solid sorbents, amines, MOFs, things like that, or hybrids of the two that have a really high affinity for CO2 that we can structure, basically put them into filters inside our machines, pass air over them, load them up, and then in a second step, heat them up, Remove the CO2, and then repeat. And so that idea of a cyclic process has the benefits of really a much, much simpler process. And there's really only one piece of equipment. The challenges obviously are that, you know, it has a different approach in terms of scale. But the big advantages around this is that we can think very, in very much a modular way about thinking about, you know, a relatively modest building block that we can build lots of and deploy at scale.

Yeah, it's like a data center.

Yeah, right.

That's a really good way to look at it.

You can rack them up, right? Kind of thing.

That's right.

And as you're building out your capacity and better stuff is available, you put the better stuff in.

Few guests have taken us further into the future of space tech than Tom Mueller, the legendary engineer behind Impulse Space. That conversation for episode 28 gave us a front row seat to how the next wave of propulsion technology could change everything from interplanetary travel to commercial space stations. Let's take a listen.

I was working mostly on, on BFR, which became Starship, and, um, having— which was fun, you know. I Originally sized that spaceship and convinced Elon and others to change it from hydrogen fuel to methane fuel. A fully reusable vehicle that can be flown often, that can take at least 100 tons to lower orbit every time it flies. And realizing it was going to be a thing, I was just thinking the next opportunity is going to be in space. Think of a of a big cargo ship coming into port, lots of cargo containers, they need to go to lots of different places. So the whole thought for Impulse was, let's, let's develop in-space transportation to move those things around in space.

I, I used the, you know, a Boeing 747 example of, you know, great for taking people or cargo from New York to London. You're not going to park it in your driveway, right? You're not gonna, you're not gonna pull it into your you know, local town hall to deliver packages. And so that's really the mission of Impulse. There's 2 offerings kind of under the Impulse umbrella. There's Mira, which you guys launched your first one pretty recently. And then you have Helios, which was publicly announced, you know, a couple of months ago.

Right.

Talk kind of how those 2— what is Mira? What is Helios? And how do those 2 relate to each other in kind of this grand vision that you have for the company?

Yeah, um, I, I call MIRA the stay-there vehicle. It has storable propellants. It can stay on orbit for years, um, because the propellants can be stored at room temperature and, and don't go away. But it has limited amount of delta-v it can do. It can— in-space movement is, is delta-v, like how many meters per second you could add to a body to change its orbit. And MIRA can do something like on the order of 1 kilometer per second of delta-v, which is great for moving around in geo, but it won't get you to the moon or to high-energy orbits. Helios is the get-there product. It's basically adding a kick stage, almost like adding a 3rd stage to an existing vehicle like Falcon 9, or to— or actually several could fly on a Starship. And it can do, um, anywhere from 4 to 10 kilometers per second of delta-v. So now you're talking about able to escape Earth's gravity, able to go to high-energy orbits, able to go to the Moon, able to go to Mars, able to, to, you know, speed up getting to the outer planets. So it's, it's definitely, um, basically adding, uh, as much chemical energy impulse to a payload as possible.

Yeah.

It's just really about prime movement in space.

And you can see that there's 4 thrusters on each side. Those are little safe thrusters, and there's 4 more on that side, so 8 total. And that structure on the back there is the mount for the solar cells. And out on the corner of the solar cells, those valves there are basically our cold gas thrusters. So they use ethane gas to point it, so like the point the antennas at the ground and point the solar cells at the sun. And then when we want to do an orbit change, we point it in the right direction and burn, you know, and burn the engines for a given amount of time and move into orbit.

And when do you expect to launch this one?

This one's going up in October of this year. Okay.

Yeah.

Wow.

So it's getting ready here, and in the next month it's going to go to Um, the system vibes. We send it out to a company and shake it to simulate launch, launch. And then it's kind of like hands-off after that.

Okay.

It's been, you know, tested.

And your first one was November 2023 on a SpaceX rocket, correct?

Yep.

Is that—

did you want to have a full year almost in between, or have there been like delays?

I think we, we wanted to go on 11, but for For some reason, we just ended up on 12.

Okay.

Interesting.

Yeah, no, it's fine.

Very cool.

We're mostly working on Helios this year.

Yeah, right.

Last year was all about MIRA. This year is mostly about Helios.

Okay.

Autonomous technology isn't just about robotaxis. It's reshaping logistics. Our conversation with Laura Rippy and Gaddock AI in episode 73 opened our eyes to a world where Driverless trucks handle middle-mile deliveries, reducing costs and improving efficiency in a way most people didn't even realize was possible.

I'm here with Gadav Naring, who is the CEO of Gadot and someone I've known now for quite a few years. We've been working together and thrilled to share the story. So why don't we introduce the company to everyone? How do you position Gatik today and what you're accomplishing and the sort of the elevator pitch, if you will, for all of our listeners?

For sure. Firstly, thank you so much for having me on. Super excited about the podcast today. And just Gatik is an autonomous trucking company. We focus on B2B short-haul logistics segment. So we call this the middle mile segment of supply chain. At a very high level, think of us as filling the gap between long-haul trucking on one end, which is usually highway driving only, moving goods interstate, and the other end of the spectrum is last-mile delivery. So between these 2 ends, there is a niche of a market that we call the middle mile that we as a company are now focused on. And the best part is the problem that we are going after is more constrained, more structured. So getting to the point of commercialization and scaling is faster And relatively easier than some of the other applications in the autonomy space.

That is what I have always loved. Like, you are solving the meatiest, meatiest part of the supply chain, this repeat routes with partners that are deep and want to stay with you and build those relationships over time. Maybe we can double-click on some of those big partnerships because you have been working with some very impressive brands for quite a long time.

Yes.

So today, Gatik works with about 10 Fortune 500 customers. These are customers across different verticals. So initially, we started out with a focus on retailers, grocers, then expanded that focus to e-commerce companies, logistics companies, and then more recently, distribution and CPG as well. And these are some of the largest brands in the world with very large fleets. And we are on a mission to help automate those fleets so that we can move goods more efficiently and safely between their businesses, which are typically distribution centers to other DCs or stores.

That's right. You're not going to share any of those brands with us, are you?

Well, the ones that are public is we have been working with Walmart since 2019. Kroger is another partner. Loblaws, which is Canada's largest retailer, has been a partner since 2020. And then recently Pitney Bowes, Georgia-Pacific, and a few others as well.

I love that. And it is boldly humble, right? It is a huge opportunity. The amount of these repeat routes that have to happen and have to happen across the country is so real. The fact that you commercialized it with Walmart originally, right? They've been like a building partner for you from so many years ago.

Yes.

And then to recognize that this is then the starting point. You can build a bigger business beyond this, but this opportunity is enormous in and of itself. And it has so many fabulous attributes for autonomous driving and the way that you have already sort of answered that with over 1,000 trips and to all of those with No driver involved. I mean, you've done amazing things at Gatick. We're so proud to be on board, Gadham. So the underlying software platform of Gatick, I mean, you guys have been doing artificial intelligence before it was cool, right? And machine learning and sort of the intelligence behind us. Can you unpack that a little bit? Like, give us— give our listeners a sense of the software underneath the hood?

For sure. So the reason we chose this use case or this market segment was we have the benefit of operating our trucks back and forth on known and repeatable routes. And at the heart of any autonomous driving technology is using AI and machine learning to basically get the vehicles to learn how to navigate urban scenarios or highway driving scenarios. So our technical stack is AI-first, meaning all the decision-making is happening in a learning fashion. But we also believe that it's important to have guardrails from a more traditional robotics approach as well. So at a very high level, think of our technical approach as hybrid, hybrid in a way that it's AI first, but then we have safety redundancies or the guardrails from more traditional, more deterministic classical robotics techniques. So we get the best of both worlds where the decisions are not pre-programmed, we don't use a rule-based technique, Rather, we use an AI-first learning-based technique with the right guardrails so that our trucks are always following the traffic rules. They are doing what they're supposed to do in a safe fashion.

Some breakthroughs aren't just exciting in the moment. They stick with us because we know they're going to change everything. Over the past 100 episodes, we've covered technologies that felt ahead of their time, and now we're starting to see them play out in real time. From small modular reactors revolutionizing nuclear technology to AI-driven discoveries in medicine, these aren't just ideas. They're shaping the next decade of research. Some of these breakthroughs seemed experimental when we first discussed them, but now they're becoming mainstream funded and they're scaling fast. In the next segment, we're going to be looking back at the breakthroughs that are still on our minds. The ones that haven't just stayed relevant, but are gaining momentum every day. Let's dive in. Tech doesn't just change industries, it redefines the rules. One of the most fascinating shifts we covered was the new compensation model for NCAA athletes. This wasn't just a breakthrough in sports, it was a complete shift in how young athletes could monetize their talent and how it sparked one of the most thought-provoking discussions we've had. This was from when Drew Wonsalac was Mike's partner in this set of breakthroughs. Let's take a listen.

So, and then going back to your point, so I mean, this is obviously— I think both of us have been looking at this pretty closely. We're both sports fans and, um, it, it hits a little bit close to home. Can you touch more maybe on what this settlement was? Because it was a pretty— it felt like a pretty seminal moment, um, either the start or, you know, towards the end of kind of how this landscape is, is changing. Um, what actually happened here?

Yeah, I mean, basically they got sued, and instead of going to court where it would— may have been completely set aside, there had been some signaling from the Supreme Court actually That what the NCAA was doing with individuals looked a lot like antitrust and a bunch of other things that kind of our system doesn't allow. And, you know, just historically, for a lot of, you know, reasons, oh, let's treat— we all love college football, so let's keep that. Or, you know, we all love baseball, so let's let them create a monopoly. That has happened in our American society. From time to time. But, you know, this was a case where, you know, we were starting to see some lawsuits happening and some settlements and the NCAA just trying to kind of preserve as much of it as they can, as long as they can. And this was just another case of, you know, a settlement that is staying in front of it. But with every settlement, we move closer to a marketplace where individuals are free to be paid for their services. And, you know, this patina that, you know, Big 5 college football isn't a business was frankly a joke. And, you know, preserving it under this, you know, patina of, oh, student athletes So yeah, another settlement and another move toward, you know, that this is the portal, athletes moving around every year is kind of a new recruiting game, more and more direct payment for athletes directly to play at a college or university. You know, you know, I'm— and I'm not saying even I like it. Or personally, or that it's not going to be problematic for the way things have been done historically. I just observe that this is what's going on. And as a venture capital investor, it's going to create opportunities for entrepreneurs and new businesses and investors. And that's really, you know, that's the nail with which I drive my hammer.

So this is really fascinating. With this breakthrough from last year, we have an update. So when we witnessed this seismic shift in college athletics, the NCAA's adoption of name, image, and likeness, or NIL, policies that allows student athletes to profit from their personal brands. This move not only redefined amateurism, but also opened the floodgates to a new era of college sports. So let's dive into what this change has made within that landscape. So in the 2023 to 2024 academic year, NIL deals collectively amounted to about $1.2 billion. Projections indicate that this figure could reach $1.6 billion for the 2024 and 2025 season. And potentially surpass $2.5 billion by this athletic season, 2025 to 2026, especially with the anticipated implementation of revenue-sharing models. And several student athletes have secured substantial agreements. For instance, University of Connecticut basketball star Paige Bueckers launched the Paige Bueckers GT Hustle 3, becoming the first college athlete to have a Nike Player Edition shoe. And her endorsement profile also includes major brands like Gatorade and Nike. So universities are also adopting this, like ASU received a high 6-figure donation from NBA star and alumni James Harden to its Sun Angel Collective, an initiative designed to support NIL opportunities for student athletes. And despite the lucrative deals making headlines, a significant portion of NIL agreements are modest. Recent data reveals that over half of these deals are only valued at $100 or less. Highlighting a sort of disparity between high-profile athletes and their peers. In August of last year, the NCAA implemented new rules to enhance transparency in these deals. Student athletes are now required to disclose any NIL agreements exceeding $600 within 30 days of signing. This measure aims to protect athletes by promoting the sharing and centralization of information related to NIL deals, ensuring fair practices And informed decision-making. So, as the NIL landscape continues to evolve with ongoing discussions about revenue-sharing models and the potential for federal regulations to standardize practices across states, as we move forward, the balance between maintaining the integrity of college athletics and embracing the commercial opportunities for these athletes remains a focal point of debate. This past year was undeniably transforming the collegiate athletic experience, empowering student athletes And reshaping the future of college sports today. Up next, our other young VC, Matt Caspari. During his tenure with Mike, in episode 31, Matt Caspari introduced us to a small modular reactor, a technology that could change how we generate nuclear energy. The conversation showed us that the future of energy doesn't have to be massive and centralized, it can be modular, scalable, and much safer.

Mine today is really about, really, some of the advancements going on with what are called SMRs, which are small modular reactors. And, you know, we have been following a few of our A few of these companies that are doing really interesting work in the space. And, you know, we just think it's super exciting. And I think there's a couple of kind of key things to keep in mind, which is, you know, this technology, which is you think of, you know, the big nuclear power plants you drive by, you know, that is 50, 60-year-old technology. The ability now to do smaller, modern designs and some of the things going on and kind of trying to make the equivalent of a Gigafactory when it comes to these SMRs, I think is a really exciting thing. You know, and this is something Elon Musk did with battery technology, viewing it as like Hey, if we're going to make, you know, a shitload of electronic vehicles, that's going to mean a lot of batteries. And we need to create a modular system that is super flexible, that we can mass produce. I think that is the future, right?

Yeah.

In these kind of SMRs where you can, in a central location, make modules, ship them, You know, bolt one on, again, the size of a shipping container, put it on the back of a data center, have it powered a medium-sized city with 3 of these things. I think that—

Highly scalable.

Highly scalable, highly redundant. Obviously, when you put something on an assembly line, make it modular, you get huge cost benefits, safety benefits. It's, you know, this bespoke, huge, centralized 1970s approach is not where this industry is at anymore.

Yeah.

And if you look at the cost overruns and just the—

yeah, it's just crazy.

It's—

I just think this will be much more capital efficient. Um, yeah, for the world.

And this is— and, and this is going to be a global race. I mean, we can talk about You know, the international race to manufacture chips or AI, you know, the countries, the, the, the communities that figure out how to put together SMRs are— and the energy that they can produce, which is orders of magnitude, not a little bit, orders of magnitude more powerful than carbon fuels. So it's a big deal. There's some really promising stuff. We're investors in some, we're wannabe investors in others. And so, but we think that this is really where the future of energy lies. It's all of the above for sure.

Yeah.

But SMR, we need them all. But SMRs definitely have a place in the, in the, in the mix with these small nuclear reactors.

Yeah, super exciting. Okay. Turns out we have an update for this one as well. Last year, we explored the potential of SMRs to revolutionize the nuclear energy landscape. And since then, significant strides have been made, bringing us closer to a future where SMRs play a pivotal role in our energy infrastructure. Let's dive into some of those right now. In the US, in Michigan, Holtec International has partnered with Hyundai Engineering and Construction to build 2 SMRs at the Palisades nuclear plant site, aiming to rejuvenate the US nuclear sector and meet rising electricity demands. And Last Energy, a nuclear technology startup, plans to construct 30 micronuclear reactors in Haskell County, Texas, targeting the substantial energy needs of data centers. And this initiative sort of underscores the adaptability of SMRs to provide scalable and reliable power solutions. And in the UK, the UK government is advancing its competition to develop SMRs with companies like Rolls-Royce, Westinghouse, Holtic Britain, and the GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Alliance in the final round. A decision is anticipated by spring, potentially unlocking government contracts that are worth billions. Siemens Energy has also agreed to supply equipment for Rolls-Royce's future SMRs, including steam turbines and generators, And this collab aims to streamline the deployment of modular nuclear power plants, making them more efficient and even more cost effective. And at Valor Atomics, led by Isaiah Taylor, has secured $21 million in funding to develop these SMRs. The company plans to establish giga sites housing multiple SMRs to supply substantial energy directly to high-demand clients such as data centers and industrial facilities. And Penn State is set to establish a nuclear research facility featuring the eVinci microreactor developed by Westinghouse. This reactor can operate for over 8 years without refueling, positioning Penn State at the forefront of SMR research and application. And so the momentum behind SMRs is undeniable since this breakthrough has come through. Their potential to provide flexible, efficient, and low-carbon energy solutions is attracting global interest, not just here in the US, which is a huge, huge green flag and a great sign. And as these projects are advancing from just plan to execution, SMRs are poised to become integral components of our energy infrastructure, addressing both current demands and the future challenges of what the world might throw at us. Next, we're going to dive into Mike Perry's set of episodes with Mike Collins, and we're going to hop into episode 45 when Mike Perry blew our minds with the potential of sodium-based batteries.

With cheaper All right, I've got an exciting one for us today, um, one that could really change the future of energy storage. So on a personal note, um, my wife and I, we went down the rabbit hole on this topic because we finally upgraded to a plug-in hybrid car.

Oh, that's right.

And with that upgrade, we realized that we needed to upgrade our energy storage.

Yep.

So this breakthrough really caught my attention.

Welcome to the club.

We're here and we're loving it so far. It's been a very nice welcome to Upgrade. So this is really about just reimagining a world in which batteries are not only more affordable, better for the environment, but also way more efficient. And I think the future is closer than we think. There is some groundbreaking collaboration between researchers at University of Chicago, So shout out my alma mater there and UC San Diego. And they've been focused on researching and developing a new sodium-based battery that could be a total game changer for how we store and use energy. So for those out there that this might be new, like, you know, why is this a big deal? So unlike lithium-ion batteries, which we currently rely on, they use materials that are super expensive.

Scarce. Rarer.

Yeah. With sodium-based battery, it uses sodium, super abundant, much cheaper, and it's just a much more sustainable option, especially for, you know, large-scale energy storage. You know, you have renewable energy grids. We invest a lot in that, obviously electric vehicles. So, you know, they really leaned into this and they said, okay, we have to think about how to tackle challenges that have held back sodium batteries in the past because it's not a novel idea for them to innovate here. And what they did is they started to design a new anode material that's optimized for this electrolyte. And in the early indications, it's resulting in a battery that performs on par with or even better than traditional lithium-ion batteries. Plus, it works really efficiently at room temperature, which is a huge step forward.

Yeah.

Ford. I think that was part of the big issue. So, you know, what does this mean?

How does it look at manufacturability? Because obviously that's, you know, there's, you got to make this stuff at huge scale, right?

Yep. So that, that's it. I mean, this is where it's like, so what does this mean for the future? You know, it's got to get off the bench of research.

Yeah.

So if it, if sodium-based batteries can truly be scaled up and brought to market, it's going to dramatically reimagine, you know, how we operate with this stuff today. It's going to reduce definitely dependence on lithium. It's going to significantly lower costs. And it's finally going to make renewable energy more practical and widespread.

Yeah.

And I think about that, you know, just in my one use case, right? Electric vehicles, way more affordable, much more accessible, and just, it eliminates the Okay, how do I have to think about this on a daily basis?

Yeah.

So it was a cool one, super timely for us, and it's always great to see some innovation out of USC.

Okay, so in August of last year, with when Mike and Mike were the 2 legends behind the breakthroughs for this quarter of the year, We discussed the emerging potential of sodium-based batteries as a promising alternative to traditional lithium-ion technology. So over the past year, there have been significant advancements since this episode has released. So let's go through those now. In November of 2024, Argonne National Laboratory spearheaded a $50 million consortium aimed at developing sustainable and cost-effective sodium-ion batteries. This initiative seeks to reduce reliance on lithium by leveraging more abundant and affordable sodium resources. And Chinese battery giant CATL unveiled the FreeVoy battery in October of 2024, designed for extended-range hybrid vehicles. This innovative battery combines sodium-ion and lithium-ion technologies, offering a range exceeding 400 kilometers, or in miles, that's about 250 miles. And reliable performance in extreme cold conditions. And researchers have also developed sodium vanadium phosphate, a novel cathode material that delivers higher voltage and greater energy capacity than previous sodium-based materials. This breakthrough enhances the efficiency and affordability of sodium-ion batteries, making them a very viable alternative to their counterparts. Natron Energy became the first U.S. company to commerce commercial Production of sodium-ion batteries utilizing Prussian blue analogs for both cathode and anode materials. Natron's batteries are particularly suited for data centers and industrial applications, offering rapid charging and a long cycle life. And in November of last year, CATL announced its second-generation sodium-ion battery, expected to be released this year in 2025 and reach mass market by 2027. And this battery is designed to operate effectively at temperatures as low as -40 degrees Celsius, expanding the applicability of sodium-ion technology in various climates. So despite these advancements, though, challenges still remain in scaling production and achieving cost competitiveness with established lithium-ion technology. So the abundance and affordability of sodium, coupled with ongoing research and developing efforts, positions sodium-ion batteries as a promising component of the future energy storage landscape. And as we continue to monitor these developments, it's evident that sodium-based batteries are transitioning from experimental concepts to practical solutions, offering a sustainable and cost-effective alternative in the evolving energy storage market. For the next set of Breakthrough episodes with Mike is Narain Ramaswamy, and we're going to dive into episode Episode 70. One of the biggest AI-driven breakthroughs we've ever covered came from this episode when Naren walked us through AlphaFold. It's a tool that's changing how we understand proteins and how we develop medicine. This breakthrough not only caused most of the discussion in this episode, but it even carried into episodes after.

I think I'll start with just the field of biology, AlphaFold, and the recent Nobel Prizes that AI has seemed to sort of pervaded. And just to give the audience a little bit of background on AlphaFold, this is an AI algorithm that was developed by Google DeepMind, the research division of Google, and their work recently contributed The research contributed to work that led to a Nobel Prize for understanding protein folding structures. And what's really cool about this is that AlphaFold, the algorithm, it can accurately predict protein folding, which is a major breakthrough only because scientists had to basically laboriously do trial and error to find the way proteins actually fold and what their structure is. And just for a little bit of context, proteins are produced by a series of molecular beads from amino acids. We might have learned this in high school biology. And these proteins, they fold into a mechanical shape, right? And that is crucial for how they function. So what this breakthrough has actually enabled is helping us understand how proteins actually function. It's the science of the human body.

How we work as human beings, right? As machines.

Exactly. It's critical.

This is— if you really shrink everything up, like, how do things work? It is really— this is at the core of how things work. And, if you're going to have a drug that solves a problem or how things go wrong, this is really the tinker toys that are involved. So—

Exactly.

It's keeping us alive, it's making us sick, There are drugs that make us healthy. This is a huge piece, roadmap in understanding it. And again, it was awarded the Nobel Prize. People get that it is a huge deal in life sciences.

Yeah.

And this is really— I mean, it's just one of the— we're still in the very early innings of AI being applied to biology. And, What, what's really inspiring about this work is that it proves that AI is so good at pattern matching. When you think about ChatGPT and text, you give ChatGPT just a corpus of text data from the internet and it can predict the next word really well. In this situation, scientists over years have been collecting characteristics and data about proteins in a database. AlphaFold came in and was like, all right, let's ingest this data and try to predict how the next protein is going to fold. And suddenly it's doing that much better and much quicker in a matter of minutes, what scientists would have taken months or years to figure out. And suddenly it's an order of magnitude faster and more efficient. And to your point, we can understand the human body in a way that just wasn't possible before. And that's the first step. Yeah.

And again, I think that underlying point, Naren, I just want to emphasize, which is the world moving from these deterministic plans and rules and software to one that is much more around pattern recognition. And so the analogy that I think is easier for a lot of people to understand in this regard is Self-driving cars. So, if you have to write software that says, if this, then that, the complexity of that system to drive a car is really, really, really tough. If on the other hand, you just upload into a neural network, learning system, just tons of information, video, how people, the steering wheel moved, all of that stuff. You aren't writing rules. You are just creating a garden that allows the AI to learn, observe, create patterns, test things. And I think this is a fundamental change of the way things are happening and work is being done. And here is another example. example of really making something, using new tools to make understanding of the human body, biochemistry, etc., much more of an engineering problem. So, we can load all this stuff in. We know enough to know what we'd like to have happen. But now, we're creating kind of a model of a human being.

We also have an update for AlphaFold. So from Niren's breakthrough in episode 70, when we first discovered AlphaFold, it was already revolutionizing biology, right? It gave researchers an unprecedented tool to predict protein structures. But the real test of any breakthrough isn't just how it starts, it's where it leads. And AlphaFold? It's leading to some incredible new applications. So first, let's talk about drug discovery. Earlier this year of 2025, Google DeepMind CEO hinted that AI-designed drugs powered by AlphaFold may enter clinical trials by the end of this year. And this could be the moment that we see AlphaFold move from lab predictions to real-world treatments, proving its impact on modern medicine. In cancer research, AlphaFold is accelerating the development of targeted cancer therapies, giving scientists a faster, more precise way to identify how drugs interact interact with certain proteins. If these breakthroughs continue, we could be looking at a whole new era of oncology treatment. And now researchers at Cambridge University have taken AlphaFold even a step further. Last month in February, they introduced AlphaFold meta-interference, a technology that combines AI and molecular dynamic simulations. So why does this matter? Because it allows scientists to predict the structures of intrinsically disordered proteins, which play a role in Many diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and certain types of cancers. Proteins that were once considered too chaotic to model accurately. So where does this leave us? AlphaFold isn't just a specific tool anymore. It's a platform for medical breakthrough. From clinical trials to cancer drugs to unlocking the mysteries of distorted proteins, the impact of AI in medicine is only getting started. And if this is what we're seeing now, just imagine where we'll be at the end of this year. And last but not least, the last tenure of these 100 episodes, Lucas Paasch. We're diving into episode 95, a recent one, when Lucas told us about the latest advancements in Boom Supersonic. We've talked about the return of supersonic travel before, but this time it feels closer than ever to becoming a reality. Lucas, let's let you take it away.

Um, all right, so, so let's talk about Boom Supersonic. Uh, last week, um, you know, history kind of repeated itself, um, in, in the same Mojave Desert where Chuck Yeager first shattered the sound barrier in the 1940s. Boom Supersonic's aircraft achieved its own milestone. It's the first independently developed jet to break the sound barrier, reaching Mach 1.1, or about 750 miles per hour at over 35,000 feet, and kind of marks this new era of aviation. This is all about bringing supersonic travel back after more than a couple of decades since the Concorde's retirement, which was retired for a host of reasons that we can circle back to. Fuel inefficiency, safety issues, things like that. But Boom's ultimate goal here is the Overture aircraft.

Okay.

It's a commercial jet designed to fly at Mach 1.7. It will cut transatlantic flight times in half. Major airlines like American, United, Japan Airlines have already lined up with 130 orders or pre-orders, signaling real demand for You know, faster than sound passenger travel.

I mean, this is, you know, a couple of things here, right? Which is echoing Chuck Yeager, right? That, you know, this reminds me a little bit of, you know, space, right? We made tremendous progress in space exploration with Sputnik and, you know, the landing of We had man on the moon. And then frankly, it was a lot of sideways activity for a long, long time. And recently, the last 5 years, we've seen a rebirth with the private sector getting involved and tremendous entrepreneurship and innovation. And we're back in the game. And you think about airline travel, it's one of those things where You know, you go back in time 40 years and you look at what people could do with computer technology, and it's like you wouldn't recognize it. It's magic.

Let's talk a little bit about that magic. When was the last time you imagined cutting your flight time in half? For Boom Supersonic, that vision is close to reality. Founded in 2014, By Blake Scholl, Boom is on a mission to make faster, more affordable, and sustainable air travel accessible to the world. This month, Boom's XB-1 demonstrator, also known as Baby Boom, achieved a historic milestone by breaking the sound barrier for the first time. This test flight is a key step forward in the company's ultimate goal, launching its flagship project, the Overture, a mock 1.7 supersonic airliner that can carry 65 to 88 passengers. With orders already placed by United Airlines and American Airlines, Boom aims to test flights in 2026, with commercial flights taking off in 2030. So Boom isn't stopping at speed. They're also committed to sustainability. From their Symphony engine, designed in collaboration with Florida Turbine Technologies and GE Additive, To partnerships advancing sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, Boom is blending speed with environmental responsibility. And the ambition doesn't just stop there. Boom is contributing to a NASA-led study on concept designs for a Mach 4 airliner, exploring the next frontier of aviation. With over 150 full-time employees, $600 million in funding, and manufacturing in Greensboro, North Carolina, Boom's Boom Supersonic is shaping a new era of air travel. High-speed, sustainable, and game-changing. Boom is redefining the skies. 100 episodes in. We're 3 episodes in, and if there's one thing we've learned, it's that the future moves fast. We've covered so many things, including AI revolutions, energy breakthroughs, space exploration, and the changing landscape of commerce and technology. We've talked to founders, industry leaders, and experts shaping what comes next. And through it all, one thing has remained constant: innovation never stops. So what's next? We are doubling down on what makes this podcast stand out: deep dives into the biggest ideas shaping our world, smarter discussions about emerging tech, and more conversations with the people that are making it happen. Because if the last 100 episodes have shown us anything, it's that the best breakthroughs are always just ahead. So from all of us here at Alumni Ventures, thank you for being part of this journey, and here's to the next 100. Thank you. Thanks again for tuning into The Tech Optimist. If you enjoyed this episode, we'd really appreciate it if you'd give us a rating on whichever podcast app you're using, and remember to subscribe to keep up with each episode. The Tech Optimist welcomes any questions, comments, or segment suggestions, so please email us at info@techoptimist.com. with any of those, and be sure to visit our website at av.vc. As always, keep building.