Inevitable

Yasir Arafat is the co-founder and CTO of Aalo Atomics, a company developing factory-manufactured modular nuclear power plants designed for AI data centers. Before founding Aalo, Yasir led the MARVEL microreactor program at Idaho National Laboratory.

In this episode of Inevitable, Yasir explains how Aalo became one of four U.S. nuclear startups to achieve criticality by the July 4, 2026 deadline. He breaks down what criticality means, why the milestone matters, and how the team went from a small startup to sustaining a nuclear fission chain reaction in less than a year.

The conversation explores why Yasir believes nuclear's biggest challenges are speed and economics rather than safety or reliability, and how Aalo is trying to address both through factory-based manufacturing. Yasir also shares how the company built its own reactor building in 36 days, tested its full-scale reactor systems, developed scalable fuel assembly manufacturing, and partnered with Idaho National Laboratory to learn how to operate a real reactor.

Finally, Yasir outlines Aalo's path from its zero-power Critical Test Reactor to Aalo-X, a full-powered reactor designed to generate electricity and power a co-located AI data center, and ultimately to the company's commercial Aalo Pod. The discussion also covers DOE demonstration pathways, future NRC licensing, the resurgence of nuclear innovation, and why Yasir believes multiple reactor technologies and companies will be needed to scale nuclear energy.

Note: Aalo Atomics is an MCJ portfolio company.

Episode recorded on August 6, 2026 (Published on August 18, 2026).

In this episode, we cover: 

(0:00) An overview of Aalo Atomics

(2:00) What criticality means in a nuclear reactor

(3:38) Why the July 4 deadline was set and why it mattered

(7:07) The final 24 hours before Aalo reached criticality

(9:24) How accurately Aalo's reactor matched its physics models

(11:43) From the MARVEL microreactor to founding Aalo Atomics

(13:56) Why Aalo is focused on nuclear speed and economics

(17:05) Why Aalo built a zero-power critical test reactor first

(19:01) Building a nuclear reactor building in 36 days

(19:21) What Aalo tested beyond the reactor itself

(20:53) Building fuel assemblies for the next 100 reactors

(23:43) Why organizational readiness matters as much as reactor technology

(24:05) Running the CTR and Aalo-X projects in parallel

(24:56) Excavating through unexpectedly difficult basalt rock

(26:03) The progression from CTR to Aalo-X to the Aalo Pod

(29:29) Partnering with turbine suppliers and Crusoe

(31:27) The timeline for powering a co-located AI data center

(32:09) How DOE authorization supports first-of-a-kind reactor demonstrations

(34:01) Moving from DOE demonstrations toward NRC commercial licensing

(42:03) Why Aalo is betting on the next generation of sodium-cooled reactors

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

Fiona Spruill is CEO of Overstory, a company helping electric utilities reduce power outages and wildfire risk using satellite imagery, aerial data, and AI-powered vegetation intelligence. Since joining as employee number 10 and later stepping into the CEO role, Spruill has helped Overstory evolve from a vegetation mapping startup into a resilience platform serving many of North America's largest utilities.

In this episode of Inevitable, Spruill explains why vegetation management is one of the largest operating expenses for utilities and how improving grid resilience starts with better risk prioritization—not simply collecting more data.

The conversation explores how Overstory combines satellite imagery, computer vision, and customer data to help utilities identify vegetation threats, wildfire fuels, and infrastructure risks before disasters occur. Spruill also discusses selling into the utility industry, the growing importance of resilience as climate risks expand beyond the western U.S., and how the company navigated an extraordinary leadership transition following the loss of co-founder and CEO Indra den Bakker.

Note: Overstory is an MCJ portfolio company

Episode recorded on July 22, 2026 (Published on August 11, 2026).

In this episode, we cover: 

(0:00) An overview of Overstory

(4:44) Why vegetation management is one of utilities' biggest expenses

(6:17) How Overstory helps prevent outages and catastrophic wildfires

(7:33) From vegetation mapping startup to grid resilience platform

(9:14) Why utilities need better prioritization

(12:03) What utilities see inside the Overstory platform

(14:12) How satellite imagery, aerial data, and AI power the product

(17:31) Supporting wildfire prevention and public safety power shutoffs

(19:16) Where Overstory fits within utility resilience strategies

(21:21) Lessons from selling climate technology to utilities

(25:18) Serving both rural co-ops and North America's largest utilities

(28:21) How wildfire risk is expanding globally

(30:26) Fiona's leadership journey and Overstory's evolution

(34:44) Building a global remote-first company and culture

(38:21) Overstory's fundraising journey and investor partnerships

(42:09) Measuring climate impact through operational change

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

Arch Rao is Founder and CEO of SPAN, the company behind the smart electrical panel that has expanded into utility grid management with SPAN Edge and distributed AI infrastructure with XFRA. What began as a smarter way to manage home electricity has evolved into a platform designed to digitize the electric grid, enable mass electrification, and unlock new AI compute capacity using existing residential infrastructure.

In this episode of Inevitable, Rao explains why SPAN's vision has grown beyond the home electrical panel, how utilities are using software-defined power management to avoid expensive infrastructure upgrades, and why distributed AI inference could become a new class of digital utility. He also discusses the intersection of electrification, grid modernization, and AI demand, arguing that the next major energy transition is the digitization of the electric grid itself.

Note: SPAN is an MCJ portfolio company 

Episode recorded on July 8, 2026 (Published on August 4, 2026).

In this episode, we cover: 

(0:00) An overview of SPAN

(1:53) How SPAN evolved from smart panels to grid infrastructure

(3:41) The inspiration behind XFRA and distributed AI compute

(5:21) What an XFRA node looks like and how it works

(6:04) Why homeowners would host AI compute infrastructure

(8:06) The homeowner business model: free panels, batteries, and lower utility bills

(10:48) Why SPAN is focused on new home developments

(11:56) How SPAN Edge helps utilities avoid costly service upgrades

(16:35) SPAN's go-to-market evolution

(17:16) Lessons from customer behavior and software adoption

(20:53) How SPAN Edge creates value for utilities

(26:16) Securing distributed AI infrastructure in residential neighborhoods

(27:48) Who is buying XFRA compute today

(29:45) Why distributed infrastructure offers flexibility over traditional data centers

(31:04) XFRA as a new form of digital infrastructure

(32:50) How SPAN differs from virtual power plants (VPPs)

(34:56) Why the real energy transition is analog-to-digital

(36:43) Why talent is SPAN's biggest hiring priority

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

Noah Schochet is the co-founder and CEO of TerraFirma, a construction technology company rethinking how infrastructure gets built. Founded by two former SpaceX engineers, TerraFirma combines robotics, remote operations, and software into a construction business that performs projects directly rather than selling technology. By vertically integrating its tools with field operations, the company aims to make construction dramatically faster, safer, and more affordable while addressing labor shortages and enabling the next generation of infrastructure.

In this episode, Noah shares how his experience building Starship at SpaceX inspired TerraFirma, why he believes construction—not autonomy—is the real bottleneck to civilization-scale progress, and why robotics companies should focus more on delivering outcomes instead of products. He also explains TerraFirma's remote-operated construction model, its approach to rapid iteration, and why the future of construction still depends on people empowered by better technology.

Episode recorded on June 25, 2026 (Published on July 28, 2026).

In this episode, we cover: 

(0:00) An overview of TerraFirma

(1:04) How SpaceX inspired the creation of TerraFirma

(4:47) Why construction has fallen behind other industries

(9:33) The structural reasons construction is slow to modernize

(12:33) Why the goal isn't autonomy—it's better construction

(14:25) TerraFirma's construction-first business model

(17:11) Why customers buy outcomes, not robots

(20:54) How TerraFirma's retrofit robotics and software platform works

(25:53) Operating multiple construction machines from a mission control center

(29:01) How robotics could reshape construction jobs instead of replacing them

(32:02) Early customer adoption across data centers, housing, and hazardous environments

(34:20) Winning projects by building faster, cheaper, and safer

(36:13) The biggest challenge to transforming construction

(38:32) Hiring builders with extreme ownership and mission alignment

(42:55) TerraFirma's $100 million Series A and plans to scale

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

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

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