Mike Schroepfer is Partner at Gigascale, a venture firm he founded and self-funded to back startups building venture-scale businesses with the potential for outsized climate impact. Previously, Mike served as CTO at Meta (Facebook’s parent company) from 2013 to 2022, having originally joined in 2008 as VP of Engineering.
In this episode, Mike and Cody discuss his career journey, key lessons learned, and their shared counterpoint to the often-repeated myth that "America doesn’t build hard things." They also dive into AI, energy’s role in its advancement, and the work Mike and his team are doing at Gigascale.
Mike has been a longtime supporter of MCJ, and we’re honored to count him among our investors. It’s inspiring to see a technologist of his caliber not only invest in climate solutions but also roll up his sleeves to help founders tackle hard problems and build the future.
In this episode, we cover:
- [2:08] Mike’s early career working on video software
- [5:28] Fundraising challenges and lessons from the dot-com crash
- [10:12] Working at Sun, Mozilla, and joining Facebook in 2008
- [13:16] Risks and opportunities of early Facebook
- [15:40] Managing large engineering teams and the value of humility
- [18:30] The era of building hard things in the U.S.
- [21:25] AI and energy innovation: compute, chips, and power
- [27:49] How scale brings down cost curve and modularized technology
- [32:01] How he thinks about software-based opportunities
- [37:40] Shrep’s pivot to climate tech after Meta
- [41:04] The talent interest evolution in climate
- [43:33] Gigascale’s investment thesis
- [49:49] Gigascale’s approach to identifying sectors
- [51:37] Storytelling and marketing in climate tech
- [54:10] Gigascales talent efforts for its portfolio
Episode recorded on Mar 4, 2025 (Published on Mar 20, 2025)
Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@mcj.vc.
Connect with MCJ:
*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com