Category: Podcast

56. Dr. Scott Hsu, Fusion Partner, Lowercarbon Capital

56. Dr. Scott Hsu, Fusion Partner, Lowercarbon Capital

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Episode 57: $10 billion and the Universe’s Most Powerful Energy Source: Fusion 

Why have the biggest names (such as Bill Gates, Lowercarbon Capital, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Google and Sam Altman) put billions into dozens of fusion energy companies? An engaging, accessible discussion with Dr. Scott Hsu on the fascinating world and private company ecosystem of the fusion energy. Scott was with with the DOE where he helped allocate $100MM of fusion R&D investment. He is now Partner at Lowercarbon Capital. We explore the fundamentals of fusion, compare magnetic and inertial confinement methods, and discuss innovative companies like Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Pacific Fusion, Thea Energy, Xcimer and Avalanche Energy. Scott explains why there’s new hope for making fusion commercially viable in the coming years. He highlights the challenges and opportunities in building the necessary infrastructure. 

 

00:00 Introduction 

01:42 Scott’s Background and Career 

02:39 Lowercarbon Capital and Fusion Investments 

10:42 Fusion Basics and Scientific Principles 

19:57 Magnetic and Inertial Fusion Approaches 

22:52 Understanding the Magnetic Confinement (Commonwealth, Thea) 

23:35 Challenges of Plasma Confinement 

25:31 Innovations in Modern Tokamaks 

29:17 Exploring Alternative Fusion Devices (Pacific Fusion, Avalanche) 

32:40 Laser Inertial Confinement Fusion (Xcimer) 

41:26 Future of Fusion Energy

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55. Mike Zukerman, President and CEO of CSAA Insurance Group

55. Mike Zukerman, President and CEO of CSAA Insurance Group

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Protecting $500 billion dollars of real estate value: Mike Zukerman, CEO of CSAA, an $8 billion carrier of insurance distributed through AAA Clubs, tells how technology helps protect that massive asset. He tells us how enterprise technology can “surprise and delight” CSAA’s 3 million policy holders, and how self-driving cars will change insurance strategy.   

00:00 Introduction to Mike Zukerman & CSAA 

01:40 Understanding CSAA and Its Business 

04:24 Remote Work and Employee Satisfaction 

08:30 Mike Zukerman’s Background and Career Journey 

11:57 The Future of Auto Insurance and Autonomous Vehicles 

18:51 Understanding Auto and Home Insurance Regulations 

20:10 Challenges of Homeowners Insurance in California 

21:55 Innovative Wildfire Mitigation Technologies 

29:16 Leveraging AI for Customer Delight in Insurance 

35:03 Why CSAA is a Great Place to Work

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54. Jeff Huebner, EVP at Mobilitas Insurance

54. Jeff Huebner, EVP at Mobilitas Insurance

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Jeff Huebner, Head of Mobilitas, discusses how he helps his commercial transportation networks manage their second-high expense: insurance. Ride sharing networks, last-mile delivery networks, and autonomous vehicle companies are his customers, and an enormous amount of customization and data ingestion and processing is involved. 

00:00 Introduction 

00:53  Jeff Hubner’s Background and Reconnection 

01:48  Understanding AAA, CSAA, and Mobilitas 

04:33  Mobils’ Mission and Services 

06:25  Jeff Hubner’s Career Journey 

08:35  Risk Management and Commercial Insurance 

11:16  Market Trends and Innovations 

24:21  Data Integration and Risk Management 

32:37  Advances in Vehicle Technologies 

34:47  Final Thoughts

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53. Alan White, Global Head of Emerging Transportation Platforms at Siemens Smart Infrastructure

53. Alan White, Global Head of Emerging Transportation Platforms at Siemens Smart Infrastructure

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Episode 53: Making fleet electrification easy, with Alan White of Siemens. 

Alan details Siemens Depot 360’s comprehensive offerings to provide a turnkey, commercially attractive path for electrifying vehicle fleets. 

  

00:00 Introduction to Siemens  

02:08 Introduction to Depot 360 

02:37 Benefits and Challenges of Electrification 

03:30 Siemens Smart Infrastructure 

05:26 Alan White’s Background and Career 

07:36 Depot 360’s Operational Insights 

16:25 Global Electrification Trends and Challenges 

30:22 Predictions and Closing Remarks 

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52. Anja van Niersen, CEO, Milence

52. Anja van Niersen, CEO, Milence

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Episode 52: Building the Future of Electric Trucking with Anja Van Niersen

Anja Van Niersen, CEO of Milence, discusses plans to establish a charging network for European long-haul trucking. Milence is a 500MM Euro joint venture amongst Daimler, Traton and Volvo trucks.

00:00 Introduction to Milence

03:04 Anja’s background and career

03:10 Milence’s mission and operations

12:41 The profile of a charging hub

16:47 Future of heavy-duty/long-haul trucking

23:15 Geographical footprint and infrastructure development

30:00 Future enablers

37:26 The role of consumers and market demand

40:03 Optimism for adoption

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51. Advanced Clean Transportation Expo, 2025

51. Advanced Clean Transportation Expo, 2025

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Live from Anaheim! I was at the world’s premier event for sustainable commercial transportation. Here’s a brief ~10-minute recap of key trends regarding China, electrification, sustainability’s future, and regulation. The highlight for me was driving a massive “day cab,” the driver part of a semi-truck.  You can see the video at www.gtkpartners.com/act25

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49. Shahin Farshchi Ph.D, General Partner at Lux Capital

49. Shahin Farshchi Ph.D, General Partner at Lux Capital

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Lux Capital General Partner Shahin Farshchi, PhD, talked with me about his background, Lux’s history, and how the firm came to position itself as the leading investor in hard-tech. A focus on outstanding teams, market readiness, patience and taking the lead from entrepreneurs on the “next great sector” has led to investments such as Anduril, Aurora, Databricks, Hugging Face, Matterport, Nirvana, Planet Labs, Zededa and Zoox.

Note the “skip to” audio time stamps below.  You can read the related article here in 3 minutes.

Links to Lux Capital and Shahin.  Host: Ali Tabibian of GTK Partners.

On some podcast players you can click to jump to the timestamps below.

(1:44) Introduction to Lux

(6:14) Shahin’s background and initiative in managing your career

(20:49) Investment selection process

(34:30) Focusing on the long-term

(37:33) The next big things

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48. Mark Papermaster, CTO and EVP at AMD

48. Mark Papermaster, CTO and EVP at AMD

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AMD’s Mark Papermaster, CTO and EVP, talked with me about his background, AMD’s history, and how the company came to position itself as a “bankable supplier” with one of the most diverse semiconductor portfolios for the age of AI: CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs, accelerators, custom development, and with rack-scale systems with the pending acquisition of ZT Systems.  A focus on performance and open-ness are AMD’s guiding lights.  Needless to say, we discussed DeepSeek AI, too.  

Note the “skip to” audio time stamps below.  You can read the related article here in 3 minutes.     

Host: Ali Tabibian of GTK Partners.  

On some podcast players you can click to jump to the timestamps below. 

(0:00) Introduction to AMD 

(7:23) Mark’s background and lessons from the iPhone and iPod 

(15:10) The whole banana, or a comprehensive solution suite   

(23:32) DeepSeek AI and the benefit of constraints 

(27:37) Software and an open approach 

(32:30) Balancing investing in innovation and margins 

 

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47. Steve Patton, Americas Automotive Sector Leader at EY

47. Steve Patton, Americas Automotive Sector Leader at EY

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Steve Patton shares EY’s perspective on how consumer demand and regulations shape the automotive landscape.  We touch on Chinese car makers, sustainability, electrification, autonomy and logistics.  Is sustainability self-sustaining, or does it still need regulatory incentives?  Steve explains.  

Note the “skip to” audio time stamps below.  You can read the related article here in 3 minutes.     

EY Transportation group is here.  Host: Ali Tabibian of GTK Partners.  

On some podcast players you can click to jump to the timestamps below. 

(0:00) Introduction to Steve and EY 

(5:42) Sustainability, regulation 

(16:37) Supply chain and fulfillment   

(20:32) Connectivity, especially in industrial applications 

(31:27) EVs and Chinese car companies 

(45:18) Predictions and hopes 

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46. CES 2025, Marinated

46. CES 2025, Marinated

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With the advantage of letting a few days pass before collecting my thoughts, two themes came into focus.  First, the rise of Chinese auto companies, and the mainstreaming of electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles and IoT were starkly clear.  Second, I explain why there seems to me to be a correlation between exhibitor behavior and their business prospects.  This isn’t investment advice, of course.  

Host: Ali Tabibian of GTK Partners.  

Other posts regarding CES: Chris Stallman, VC; Marc Amblard, Mobility Adviser.   

 

 

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