Former Meta CTO Mike Schroepfer argues the US can still build ambitious hard tech and climate infrastructure

Compelling argument that America has major opportunities ahead.

@heronpower @CFS_energy We don't need 4,000 companies. We need ~20-40 — the @FormEnergyInc, the @heronpower, @CFS_energy, @_panthalassa, @solcoatech — and the whole physical economy gets rebuilt around them. Full episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shift-key-with-robinson-meyer/id1728932037?i=1000774822607

Everything in your life that got cheaper — TVs, computers, phones — is mass manufactured. Everything that got more expensive is custom built. Every time.

@heronpower I got a lot of feedback during the fundraise: "this is great, can you just say data centers and not say climate?" No. Cheaper, better, faster — that happens to also be cleaner. I'm not going to whisper it.

The thesis is simple: back technologies t–2 years from commercial competitiveness. Meaning they win on features and economics — not on vibes and hope.

@heronpower You don't have to invent everything. Heron Power's solid-state transformers use power electronics already shipping tens of millions of units in EVs. Borrow the part that ships at scale. Own the innovation that doesn't.

Go spec a power transformer today. Hire an engineer, write specs, design doc, wait forever. A custom bespoke wedding cake every single time.

@heronpower is the Costco sheet cake equivalent for transformers. One cake tons of customers.

@heronpower This is why we're talking about ~30-50% margin companies, not 3–5%. Concentrate billions of R&D into a product you can make a lot of and sell a lot of. That flywheel hires the world's best talent to build the next one. That's how Nvidia works.

@heronpower Vertical integration isn't ideology, it's information. You can't solve a supply chain on a spreadsheet — if you are just on the internet you are just like everyone else. In the supply chain, I'm finding the copper problem 6 months before the WSJ writes about it.

@heronpower The grid one that breaks people's brains: we build networks to average load, with buffers. We built power to peak. The grid's buffer exists now. It's called batteries. Enormous capacity gets unlocked when we build to averages.

@heronpower Solar is the cheapest electron. Batteries are the cheapest peak shave. My product keeps getting cheaper and yours doesn't — at some point I cross, and I win. I think we've crossed.