Inevitable

Jake Jurewicz is the Co-founder and CEO of Blue Energy, a nuclear power plant developer. Blue Energy starts with proven, light water reactors and builds everything around them — prefabricating standardized nuclear plants as massive modules in shipyards and fab yards, then barging them to site.

It pairs that with a patented gas-to-nuclear approach that energizes the plant on gas turbines first and converts to nuclear later. The goal is to make nuclear cheap enough and fast enough to build that private lenders will finance it, rather than the taxpayers and ratepayers who've carried almost every plant built so far. The company recently announced a collaboration with GE Vernova on a 2.5-gigawatt gas-plus-nuclear project in Texas, built around GE Vernova Hitachi's BWRX-300 reactor, with backing from VXI Capital, At One Ventures, and Engine Ventures.

The why now is straightforward: AI data centers are pulling on the grid harder than anything in a generation, firm clean power is scarce, and the cost and speed of building nuclear have been the thing holding it back. Jake's bet is that the fix lives in how you build and finance the plant, rather than in the reactor itself.

Episode recorded on June 10, 2026 (Published July 21, 2026) 

In this episode, we cover:

(0:00) Overview of Blue Energy

(2:20) Why construction, not reactor tech, is the focus

(5:32) Two innovations: modular construction and gas-to-nuclear

(6:56) Why proven light water reactors beat new designs

(9:39) Building nuclear like LNG terminals

(11:57) The history of shipyard-built nuclear power

(14:17) Lessons from Venture Global's LNG buildout

(16:44) Why megamodules cut construction costs

(20:43) What Blue Energy builds versus buys

(22:14) Why civil construction, not the reactor, drives cost

(25:14) Navigating NRC approval for gas-to-nuclear

(28:21) Why customers still want nuclear after gas

(32:56) The first project: Victoria, Texas

(36:00) Financial innovation to unlock private capital

(39:19) Blue Energy's biggest execution risks

(43:32) Where nuclear heads next

(46:59) Commercial criticality beyond the chain reaction

(48:20) Nuclear's role in energy security and geopolitics

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Pete Johnson, Co-founder and CEO of Koloma, joins Inevitable to break down geologic hydrogen — naturally occurring hydrogen found deep underground — and why he believes it could be the first new primary energy source since nuclear power in the 1950s. Koloma has raised more than $400 million from Khosla Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund, Osaka Gas, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and holds roughly 20 million acres of exploration rights across the U.S. Midcontinent, the Philippines, Australia, and Canada.

Pete explains why Koloma's first commercial target isn't power generation but ammonia and fertilizer production in the U.S. Midwest, where farmers pay a $150-per-ton premium on imported ammonia. He walks through the geology of where natural hydrogen forms, how Koloma's 25-year proprietary subsurface dataset shapes its exploration strategy, what it actually takes to prove a commercial-scale discovery, and how he separates genuine clean-hydrogen economics from tax-credit-driven projects.

Episode recorded on June 24, 2026 (Published July 14, 2026)

In this episode, we cover: 

[0:00] Intro: Pete Johnson and Koloma's geologic hydrogen bet

[2:02] What "Koloma" means — and the gold rush origin story

[3:31] Where geologic hydrogen actually forms

[7:07] The Iowa project and why the resource lines up with demand

[7:51] The $150/ton ammonia premium hitting Midwest farmers

[10:53] Why hydrogen pipelines aren't the real bottleneck 

[13:52] Koloma's model: exploration engine, not driller

[15:12] What makes hydrogen exploration so hard

[18:13] How big a discovery needs to be to matter commercially

[22:39] Power vs. ammonia: how end use changes the math

[23:50] The Philippines opportunity and energy security stakes

[28:48] Pete's path: solar, Monolith Materials, and stumbling into hydrogen

[35:53] Sorting real clean hydrogen from a tax credit grab

[38:52] Current state of Koloma: 20 million acres and what's next

[42:04] Where Koloma needs help — policy and data

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@mcj.vc.
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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Shannon Miller is Co-founder and President of Mainspring Energy, a company developing a new category of power generation technology called the linear generator. Mainspring’s systems generate electricity through a low-temperature, flameless chemical reaction that converts fuel directly into electrical power.

Shannon has been at this for about 15 years. She started the company on technology she developed while earning her PhD in mechanical engineering at Stanford, and took it from a lab experiment through commercial deployment to hundreds of megawatts in development and running in the field. Mainspring closed a $258 million Series F in 2025, led by General Catalyst and has raised more than $800 million to date.

In this episode of Inevitable, Shannon explains how Mainspring’s technology differs from traditional gas turbines and fuel cells, why modular and fuel-flexible generation is becoming increasingly valuable, and how the growth of data centers is reshaping energy infrastructure.

The conversation explores the urgent demand for faster power deployment, the advantages of dispatchable generation, the role of hydrogen and other future fuels, and why flexibility may become one of the most important characteristics of the future electric grid. 

Episode recorded on June 2, 2026 (Published on July 7, 2026). 

In this episode, we cover: 

(0:00) An overview of Mainspring Energy 

(1:47) What a linear generator is and how it differs from traditional ones

(3:57) Behind-the-meter power and the race for faster time-to-power 

(5:47) How Mainspring converts fuel into electricity 

(8:18) The benefits of modular power generation 

(10:34) Comparing linear generators to fuel cells 

(12:32) Where Mainspring fits into modern data center energy stacks 

(13:48) Transitioning from prime power to dispatchable grid support 

(14:42) Why fuel flexibility matters 

(15:27) Use cases for propane and hydrogen switching 

(18:57) The economics of power generation and cost competitiveness 

(20:44) Scaling from laboratory technology to commercial deployment 

(22:49) How utilities evaluate new generation technologies 

(25:00) Shannon’s vision for the future power mix

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Michael Spencer is the Founder and CEO of Zeno, an electric mobility company building electric motorcycles, battery-swapping infrastructure, and distributed energy systems across East Africa. Drawing on experience from nearly a decade building businesses in East Africa and four years at Tesla during its hypergrowth era, Spencer is applying lessons from EV charging infrastructure to one of the world's largest transportation markets: two- and three-wheel vehicles.

In this episode of Inevitable, Spencer explains why electrifying motorcycles in emerging markets may be one of the most efficient ways to reduce transportation costs and emissions. He discusses how Zeno combines hardware, software, and energy infrastructure to create a business that looks like an electric vehicle company on the surface but increasingly operates like a distributed utility.

The conversation explores lessons from Tesla’s Supercharger network, why Kenya became Zeno’s launch market, how battery swapping and AI-powered infrastructure management drive capital efficiency, and why building hard-tech businesses may become even more valuable in an AI-driven world. Spencer also shares his vision for turning Zeno’s charging network into a distributed renewable energy platform capable of serving both mobility and grid customers.

Note: Zeno is an MCJ portfolio company 

Episode recorded on June 8, 2026 (Published on June 23, 2026) 

In this episode, we cover: 

[00:00] The Trojan horse: what Zeno actually is

[03:00] From East Africa to Tesla: Michael's path

[04:36] Inside the supercharger rollout — and what it really taught him

[08:02] Why two-wheelers are paradoxically easier to electrify

[10:17] The Kenya opportunity: spending half your income on fuel

[16:19] 200 charge points, $8M spent — how they did it

[20:27] The AI matching algorithm behind 75% network utilization

[23:20] Building a world-class team across four continents

[28:17] Supply chain, oil prices, and the double-edged sword

[32:03] Why hardware can't be vibe-coded

[36:41] The five-year vision: from motorcycle company to distributed utility

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@mcj.vc.
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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Marc Berte is the Co-founder and CEO of Overview Energy, a startup developing space-based solar power systems designed to turn existing solar farms into around-the-clock power generators. By placing satellites in geosynchronous orbit, collecting near-continuous sunlight, and beaming energy back to Earth as safe near-infrared light, Overview aims to dramatically increase the utilization of solar infrastructure already deployed around the world. 

In this episode of Inevitable, Marc explains how space solar works and how Overview’s approach differs from decades of prior space solar concepts. He talks about the economics of “photon fuel,” the company’s gigawatt-scale agreement with Meta, and the concept of “supply response”—delivering power exactly where and when grids need it most. 

The conversation explores the manufacturing challenges of deploying thousands of satellites, the role of defense and energy security applications, and why the long-term value of solar assets could change dramatically if space-based power delivery becomes commercially viable. 

Finally, he shares one of the more unconventional engineering stories you'll hear this year: how 75 pounds of Otter Pops helped cool Overview’s airborne power-beaming demonstration system.

Episode recorded on June 1, 2026 (Published June 16, 2026)

In this episode, we cover: 

(0:00) An overview of Overview Energy

(2:34) Why space solar belongs alongside fusion, fission, geothermal, and storage 

(4:30) How geosynchronous satellites shift power between global demand peaks 

(5:59) The concept of “supply response” 

(8:57) How Overview’s power-beaming technology works 

(12:51) Cloud cover and line-of-sight requirements

(15:32) Creating a new energy market with “megawatt photons”

(17:00) Overview’s gigawatt-scale agreement with Meta 

(22:32) The economics of adding photon fuel to existing solar assets 

(26:22) Competing with gas peakers and complementing storage 

(36:38) US manufacturing advantages and competition with China 

(39:26) Defense, energy security, and powering remote military installations 

(42:48) Financing space-based energy infrastructure 

(48:10) The Otter Pop engineering story behind the airborne demonstration system

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@mcj.vc.
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Cody Simms on LinkedIn
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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant