Hope Dose

Matt Myers

Hope Dose, where we believe the world is not quite f*d.

  1. Project Omega: Staff Sheehan

    Jun 15

    Project Omega: Staff Sheehan

    Guest bio Dr. Staff (Stafford) Sheehan is an American scientist and serial entrepreneur, and the founder and CEO of Project Omega, a nuclear recycling company rebuilding the US nuclear fuel cycle. Project Omega recycles spent nuclear fuel into long-duration, high-density power sources and critical materials for the advanced reactor industry, working with the Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The company emerged from stealth in February 2026 with an oversubscribed $12M seed round led by Starship Ventures. Previously, Staff co-founded Air Company, where as CTO he invented a carbon-dioxide-to-hydrocarbon catalysis process — first commercialized as vodka and perfume, then as sustainable aviation fuel, including powering a US Air Force drone on CO2-derived jet fuel. He holds a PhD in physical chemistry from Yale and is a Forbes 30 Under 30 alum.   Key takeaways America stores ~100,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel across 100+ sites — and that fuel still contains 90%+ of its energy and is 95%+ reusable uranium. The current US "plan" for waste is largely concrete storage pads plus settlement payments, after the government defaulted on its 1998 obligation under the Standard Contract. Project Omega's wedge product is a betavoltaic power source built from strontium-90 — a "battery that never dies" over a span of decades. Recycling first removes the hard-to-contain fission products (strontium, cesium) and shrinks the truly-permanent waste from "the size of a room" to "the size of a tennis ball." The go-to-market mirrors solar cells: start in high-value government/defense applications, ride the cost curve down toward commercial uses like edge compute and AI power. Early revenue is the hardware survival strategy — the comp Staff and Matt discuss is Avalanche Energy (a fellow portfolio company), which found ways to earn revenue before the ultimate goal.     Links & resources mentioned Project Omega — Staff's company; nuclear recycling and "batteries that never die" Commonwealth Fusion Systems (Bob Mumgaard) — the "first guest" good-luck callback Slow Ventures — seed investor; host of Staff's first post-stealth podcast Air Company — Staff's previous company (CO2 to vodka to sustainable jet fuel) Idaho National Laboratory (INL) & Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) — DOE partners Yucca Mountain — the failed US permanent repository Avalanche Energy — referenced as a hardware-with-early-revenue comp Orano — the French nuclear recycler (~$20B facility) used as the cost contrast

    39 min
  2. Norma: Monica Larrazabal

    May 28

    Norma: Monica Larrazabal

    Norma: Mónica Larrazábal ☁️🔋Direct Air Capture, ⚡️Supercapacitors, 🥖Baguettes and more! Fellow Hope Dealers, welcome to another episode of Hope Dose. In this episode, we head to Paris to grab a drink with Mónica Larrazábal, Co-Founder and CEO of Norma. Mónica walks us through Norma’s radically different approach to carbon capture — one that treats direct air capture not as an energy-consuming process, but an energy-storing one. We get into supercapacitors, sandwich-stacked cells, the “winter” in climate funding, and why she believes today is the best moment to invest in carbon removal. Plus: how to carry a baguette like a true Parisian. 📝 Show Notes Below👇 🎧 New podcast episode: “Call me bold, but I think today is the best moment to invest in carbon removal.” — Mónica Larrazábal, Co-Founder and CEO of Norma Find Mónica on LinkedIn, and check out Norma’s website here. 🍸 Recorded across the Atlantic — Paris meets Hope Dose. 🥖 Enjoy the show! 📻 Listen to the episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and Substack 👉 Interested in sponsoring? Please reach out to m@hopedose.co Companies/Startups mentioned during the show: ☁️ Norma 🔥 Avalanche Energy 🤝 Founders Pledge 💚 Milkywire 💸 Counteract 💸 Marble People/places/things mentioned during the show: 🧑‍🔬 Dr. Silvia Pugliese — Co-Founder & CTO of Norma 📍 Paris, France 📍 Spain 📍 Venezuela 📍 Buenos Aires 📍 Amsterdam 📍 Château de Versailles ⚡️ Supercapacitor 🌍 Direct Air Capture (DAC) 🏭 Electrolyzer 🍝 Pasta alla Norma 📚 The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything — Peter Brannen -TIMESTAMPS- [00:00] Intro [01:38] Learning Languages & Multilingual Hellos [02:40] How to Be Parisian: The Baguette Technique [05:11] Siestas, Hammocks & Managing Energy [06:43] What Norma Is Building [08:12] The Electrochemical Umbrella & DAC [09:49] Supercapacitive Carbon Capture, Explained [13:15] What Happens to the Carbon? [14:51] Storing Energy as a Flexibility Asset [16:13] Additional Revenue Streams & Use Cases [19:15] Device Size, Prototypes & the “Sandwich” Design [21:13] Why Modularity Matters [23:35] The Roadmap: 2027 Pilot Facility & Beyond [24:24] The 10 Gigaton Goal [24:48] Matt’s Skepticism on DAC & the Energy Problem [28:05] Avalanche Energy & Desktop-Size Fusion [28:36] The Origin of the Norma Name [30:44] The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything [33:52] Intermediate Revenue Streams & Surviving the Downturn [36:11] What’s Giving Monica Hope: Founders Pledge [41:17] How You Can Help Norma [44:46] Closing Thoughts & Le Grand Bal Masqué [46:26] END

    49 min

  3. Apr 15

    Climate Tech Coffee: Avalanche Energy (rewind)

    ☕ Climate Tech Coffee: Robin Langtry, CEO of Avalanche Energy   Fellow Climate Warriors, this is a replay of our Climate Tech Coffee episode with Robin Langtry of Avalanche Energy— this was the shorter, usually sober version of Climate Tech Cocktails.   We are re-releasing a few coffee episodes as we prepare to evolve transition to Hope Dose.   🍾 This episode marked the announcement of FUSIONWERX, the first-of-it’s kind commercial-scale testing facility for advanced fusion technologies.   📣 READ THE ANNOUNCEMENT HERE!   Avalanche Energy has since gone on to raise and addition $29m since posting this episode on Substack!   Join us as we sit down with Robin Langtry, CEO and Co-founder of Avalanche Energy, a fusion startup building micro-sized fusion reactors. We dive into how their “orbital fusion” technology works, why smaller might be better, and how this team of fusion rebels plans to electrify the future — one table-sized reactor at a time. Grab your favorite form of caffeine, and hop on board.   📝 Show Notes Below 👇   🎧 New podcast episode: “I just didn’t want to build software anymore — I wanted to build something that could change the physics of the planet.” — Robin Langtry, CEO of Avalanche Energy   Enjoy the show!   🚀 Companies / Startups Mentioned ⚛️ Avalanche Energy 🛰️ DARPA 🚀 Anduril ⚡ Zap Energy 🔋 Helion ⚡ Oklo   🌎 People / Places / Things Mentioned 📍 Seattle 📍 Los Alamos 📍 Montana 📍 DOE (Department of Energy) 📍 Air Force 📍 Austin 🔬 Ion guns 🔋 High-voltage capacitors 🎮 Sci-fi inspired design   ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS [00:00] Intro [01:23] Meet Robin [03:48] From Montana to Micronuclear [07:15] Fusion in a Truck?! [12:45] Avalanche's Breakthrough [17:30] Competing with Big Fusion [22:00] National Security + Energy [28:49] The Road Ahead [33:58] Outro

    49 min

  4. 04/09/2025

    Mitra Chem: Vivas Kumar

    🔋Batteries, ⛓️ Supply Chain Innovation, 🌍 Energy Transition, 🤺 Olympic Fencing, and More⚡ Fellow Climate Warriors, welcome to another episode of Climate Tech Cocktails! Get ready for some shrewd global insights with Vivas Kumar, CEO of Mitra Chem, here today! Swapping cocktails for hydrogen water, Vivas shares his journey from Singapore & Tesla's supply chain to innovating iron-based cathodes. He and Matt cover Li-ion battery history (Korean War to Walkman!), the intense truth of entrepreneurship (what Stanford doesn't teach!), US funding's role, as well as fencing & travel tales from Tbilisi to South Africa. Drink up and enjoy this deep dive into tech, markets & climate drive!

    1 hr

  5. 02/24/2025

    Nature's Fynd: Thomas Jonas

    🌱Alternative Proteins, 🌱Fungi Powered Nutrition,⚡️Infrastructure, and 💥More Fellow Climate Warriors, welcome to another episode of Climate Tech Cocktails! Celebrating the poetic irony of sustainable protein rising from the ashes of Chicago's meatpacking past, Thomas Jonas, CEO and Co-founder of Nature's Fynd, joins Matt for today’s stop on the "Here We Are" tour. Together, they unveil the magic of fungi-powered nutrition cultivated from a resilient Yellowstone microbe, and how it can revolutionize our plates and heal the planet. So buckle up for a thoroughly enlightening journey into the future of food, where microbes are the unsung heroes of a sustainable tomorrow!

    33 min

  6. 02/03/2025

    Bloom: Justin Kosmides

    🚲 E-Bikes, 🏭 Manufacturing, ♻️ Circular Economy, 📍Detroit, and  More Fellow Climate Warriors, welcome to another episode of Climate Tech Cocktails! Coffee, E-bikes, the resurgence of American Manufacturing in Detroit, and a deep dive into the circular economy are all on the menu today as Justin Kosmides, co-founder and CEO of Bloom joins Matt for a chat. A trailblazer in the electric mobility space, Bloom is building an operations-as-a-service platform to help e-mobility companies scale production and operate efficiently. Coming at you straight from Newlab Detroit, this is one electric ride!

    46 min

  7. 07/31/2024

    WeaveGrid: Apoorv Bhargava

    🪩Disco,⚡️Energy Efficiency, 🚗EV Grid, 🎤Karaoke, and 💡More Fellow Climate Warriors, welcome to another episode of Climate Tech Cocktails! Climate Tech Cocktails is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.  It’s all 🍸Bombay Sapphire,🍸Citadelle Gin, disco-balled cocktail shakers and Karaoke with Apoorv Bhargava, co-founder and CEO of WeaveGrid. A trailblazer in electrifying the future of EV grid integration, WeaveGrid is connecting automakers, utilities and drivers to tackle the challenges to and boost EV adoption across the industry. Featuring a stirring performance from Apoorv, this is one episode you’ll want to sit back, take a sip, and maybe even sing along to!

    1h 14m

  8. 06/27/2024

    Yard Stick: Chris Tolles

    🌱 Soil health,💡Agricultural innovation, 🤝Humanitarian Aid,🌱Carbon offset, and💥More Fellow Climate Warriors, welcome to another episode of Climate Tech Cocktails! Climate Tech Cocktails is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.  Today, Matt is joined by Chris Tolles, Co-founder and CEO of Yard Stick, an organization that is revolutionizing the way farmers measure their soil by making it accurate, instant, and affordable. While Chris sips on a Gangster Duck, and Matt quaffs both a Sparkle Pony and A Brew Hope, their discussion unearths the importance of soil health, its role as a carbon sink, and Chris’s fascinating journey from humanitarian relief worker to cutting-edge climate tech leader. So, go ahead, grab whatever beverage is calling your name right now, and let’s dig into the dirt together!

    1h 18m
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4.5
out of 5
26 Ratings

About

Hope Dose, where we believe the world is not quite f*d.

Information

  • Creator
    Matt Myers
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    55
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    Hope Dose

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