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Content provided by Arkaea Media (Payload | Ignition | Tectonic) and Payload | Ignition | Tectonic. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Arkaea Media (Payload | Ignition | Tectonic) and Payload | Ignition | Tectonic or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://staging.podcastplayer.com/legal.
Julien Barber is an investor at Emerson Collective, a venture and policy firm founded by Laurene Powell Jobs, where he backs bold bets on decarbonization, infrastructure, and long-horizon climate technologies. Before becoming an investor, Julien researched fusion energy at MIT and co-founded a carbon-tech startup.
In today’s episode, we go deep into Julien’s investing philosophy, Emerson’s unique model, and the hard tech categories he believes are most undercapitalized.
We cover:
- Why Emerson is structured for risk others can’t take
- Fusion, fission, and the evolving energy stack
- AI’s impact on power demand and hardware acceleration
- How to invest when the grid is the bottleneck
- Building conviction in hard tech when capital is scarce
- Public vs. private roles in scaling fusion
- What a 7-million-fold increase in energy density may actually look like
• Chapters •
00:00 – Intro
01:49 – From scientist to investor
04:37 – Why Julien chose fusion
08:57 – Investment process at Emerson
10:08 – The team at Emerson
12:15 – Is Emerson consensus-driven and why is it an LLC?
14:07 – Under-invested areas in climate & industrial tech
17:24 – Are AI valuations reasonable today?
18:59 – Bottlenecks in the grid
23:11 – AI energy consumption: hype or real concern?
27:10 – Bridging the energy gap
29:20 – Fusion’s role in the next decade
31:24 – Google & Commonwealth Fusion: serious commercial signal?
32:37 – Are we underinvesting in fusion?
39:12 – Who will reach commercial fusion first?
41:36 – 30-year future if fusion succeeds
• Show notes •
Emerson’s socials — https://x.com/emcollective
Emerson’s website — https://www.emersoncollective.com/
Mo's socials — https://twitter.com/itsmoislam
Payload’s socials — https://twitter.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace
Ignition’s socials — https://twitter.com/ignitionnuclear /
https://www.linkedin.com/company/ignition-nuclear/
Tectonic’s socials — https://twitter.com/tectonicdefense / https://www.linkedin.com/company/tectonicdefense/
Valley of Depth archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/
• About us •
Valley of Depth is a podcast about the technologies that matter — and the people building them. Brought to you by Arkaea Media, the team behind Payload (space), Ignition (nuclear energy), and Tectonic (defense tech), this show goes beyond headlines and hype. We talk to founders, investors, government officials, and military leaders shaping the future of national security and deep tech. From breakthrough science to strategic policy, we dive into the high-stakes decisions behind the world’s hardest technologies.
- Payload: www.payloadspace.com
- Ignition: www.ignition-news.com
- Tectonic: www.tectonicdefense.com
153 episodes
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