#180 Tough Tech, Scaling DeepTech, MIT's Ecosystem, Political Durability of IRA, & More w/ Michael Kearney (Engine Ventures)

CleanTechies Podcast

Michael Kearney started off this podcast defending the political durability of the IRA…and he had us convinced. If that doesn’t have you hooked, I don’t know what will!

Building for deeptech founders is HARD…like folding a fitted sheet hard.

And that’s why we need someone like Mike to do it. Mike himself did his undergrad and Ph.D. at MIT, so he’s knows the MIT innovation ecosystem like the back of his hand (The Engine is an MIT spin-out). In between, he spent his time drawing power from the Sun…well not literally…he worked on grid-scale renewable energy at Ambri in corporate development.

Now, he’s focused solely on supporting “Tough Tech” founders (side note, that’s definitely a favorite term of this podcast now).

Mike clearly loves doing really easy things…right?
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Topics:
**02:29 Introduction
**03:50 Political Durability of the IRA
**07:46 Supporting Tough Tech Startups
**16:06 Scaling from Early-Stage Innovation to Large-Scale Deployment
**26:30 Building in the Field
**28:35 The Investment Model of Engine Ventures
**30:41 Commercializing Technology
**36:46 The Changing Nature of Competition in Clean Energy
**45:20 Room for Innovation
**51:36 Takeaways

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Links:
**Engine Ventures | Michael Kearney
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**@Silas & @Somil_Agg on X

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