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The Private Company Bringing Nuclear Enrichment Back to America (Scott Nolan, CEO of General Matter)

2026-02-03 21:03:34

“We [the U.S.] went from controlling something like 86% of global enrichment capacity to effectively last place.”

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Roughly 20% of the U.S. power grid runs on nuclear energy. A quarter of the fuel behind it is headed toward a hard stop. In this episode, I sit down with Scott Nolan, founder and CEO of General Matter, to unpack why uranium enrichment has quietly become one of the most consequential industrial bottlenecks of the 21st century.

While at Founders Fund, Scott spent over a year searching for an American enrichment company to back. When he couldn’t find one, he decided to build it himself. Less than a year after emerging from stealth, General Matter secured a historic enrichment site in Paducah, Kentucky, and was awarded a $900 million Department of Energy contract—marking one of the first serious efforts to rebuild domestic enrichment capacity ahead of the 2028 ban on Russian supply.

In this episode, we discuss:

  • Why enrichment is the missing link in America’s nuclear supply chain

  • How the U.S. went from controlling 86% of global enrichment capacity to effectively none at commercial scale

  • The science behind uranium enrichment and why it matters for next-generation reactors

  • Why Scott applied the SpaceX playbook to nuclear after more than a decade in venture capital

  • How General Matter is revitalizing the historic Paducah, Kentucky enrichment site

  • The significance of General Matter’s $900 million Department of Energy contract

  • The bipartisan political support for expanding nuclear energy

  • Why Scott believes nuclear energy could grow 3-4x by 2050

  • The parallels between America’s space and nuclear industries

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Explore the episode

Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction to Scott Nolan

(02:24) General Matter’s mission to rebuild U.S. enrichment

(05:08) How the U.S. lost its edge

(06:24) The nuclear fuel cycle explained—and where enrichment fits

(08:31) Scott’s background: From SpaceX and Founders Fund to General Matter

(13:56) Lessons from SpaceX

(17:50) How Scott’s focus evolved over 13 years at Founders Fund

(21:00) How Scott landed on nuclear enrichment

(25:58) Why nuclear energy was off the radar—until recently

(30:10) Finding the right partner: Scott and Lee’s collaboration

(32:04) What downblending means and why it matters

(33:30) How U.S. uranium enrichment quietly came to an end

(38:34) The Russian uranium ban and the 2028 supply cliff

(40:38) How General Matter plans to compete

(43:09) Building a world-class team

(46:03) The market for enriched uranium

(49:30) Future bottlenecks

(50:56) What the U.S. needs to actually scale nuclear energy

(51:32) Uranium supply constraints

(54:16) LEU vs. HALEU: the fuels powering old and new reactors

(57:49) Why 20% enrichment is a critical threshold

(59:30) Why General Matter chose Paducah, Kentucky

(01:04:35) Legislation and executive orders easing nuclear friction

(01:07:06) The $900 million Department of Energy award

(01:11:08) Why mission matters most

(01:14:12) Final meditations

Follow Scott Nolan

X: https://x.com/ScottNolan

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Production and marketing by penname.co. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

The Generalist’s Productivity Stack (2026)

2026-01-22 23:41:21

Friends,

Last January, on a whim, I shared a few of the productivity methods I’ve found effective in maximizing my output while building The Generalist. It was driven by a geekish obsession with tiny optimizations, a love for adopting niche tools, and a real belief that the environment you make for yourself impacts the work you are capable of.

To my surprise, it became one of The Generalist’s most popular pieces. With January in full swing and the year still stretching in front of us, I decided to sit down and outline the new tools and methods I’ve found effective over the past year. It turned into quite a collection. You’ll find 26 tools I recommend (both digital and analog) and 8 practices I’ve found invaluable.

I’ve avoided repeating last year’s recommendations (though I still use them), so if you’re as into these kinds of hacks and optimizations as I am, you may want to read that piece, too.

Tools

An exhaustive list of the programs, apps, extensions, and physical objects I recommend.

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Programming Sunlight: How Reflect Orbital Is Building Satellites to Redirect Light From Space (Ben Nowack, Founder & CEO)

2026-01-20 21:03:59

“It’s either sunny or it’s not sunny, and there’s not much you can do about that—but we’re trying to change that for the first time ever.” —Ben Nowack

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Most energy conversations start with scarcity. This one starts with abundance. Sunlight powers nearly everything on Earth, directly or indirectly. And yet we have almost no control over when or where we get it. Ben Nowack thinks that’s a solvable problem. Ben is the founder and CEO of Reflect Orbital, a company building satellites designed to redirect sunlight from space—not as a thought experiment, but as a product. The company nearly died before it worked. Eight months in, Ben had $300 left and was living in a garage. He made a deliberate decision to go $50,000 into credit card debt to finish critical tests. At one point, he was down to $21 of available credit. A month later, Reflect raised its first round. Today, the company is preparing to launch its first revenue-generating satellites. This is a conversation about building conviction, finding the real market, and what changes when a fundamental resource becomes programmable.

In our conversation, we explore:

  • How Reflect’s satellites work

  • The surprising pivot from energy to lighting applications that made the business immediately viable

  • Ben’s remarkable journey from building RC planes and X-ray machines in high school to founding Reflect

  • Why previous attempts at space mirrors failed and what’s changed to make this possible now

  • The near-death moment when Ben went $50,000 into credit card debt to keep his vision alive

  • How Reflect plans to scale from moonlight-level brightness to potentially powering solar farms

  • The company’s first satellite launches planned for this year, and their path to a full constellation

  • The wide range of applications, from emergency response to municipal lighting to agriculture

Explore the episode

Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction to Ben Nowack

(02:26) What Reflect Orbital is building

(05:07) How the satellite constellation works

(08:00) What Reflect is launching this year

(10:35) Finding early markets

(13:43) Ben’s childhood and early building experiences

(22:04) What Ben learned working for startups

(28:03) High school projects: X-ray machines, rocket engines, and fusion reactors

(33:14) The eureka moment that led to Reflect

(35:24) Early validation of the idea

(38:35) The Russian space mirror experiments of the 1990s and what’s changed

(42:31) Partnering with Tristan Similac as co-founder

(45:05) Baiju Bhatt’s involvement

(47:04) Why Reflect isn’t pivoting to space-based data centers

(50:54) Common misconceptions about Reflect’s technology

(55:11) Why programmable light is valuable

(1:01:28) Initial target markets

(1:03:42) The future markets for Reflect

(1:07:33) Reflect’s company culture and operational philosophy

(1:12:05) Surprises and struggles in building Reflect

(1:14:56) Putting the idea to the test

Follow Ben Nowack

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-nowack

X: https://x.com/bennbuilds

Resources and episode mentions

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Production and marketing by penname.co. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

Nothing’s Carl Pei on Building a $1B Smartphone Company, Why He Left OnePlus After 10 Days of Retirement, and Why He Thinks About Death Every Week

2026-01-13 21:03:26

“As humans, one of our superpowers is creativity. Both on an individual level, but also on a species level. And by creativity, I mean the ability to solve problems.” —Carl Pei

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Carl Pei is the founder of Nothing, the consumer electronics company known for its distinctive transparent design language across smartphones and audio products. Before launching Nothing in 2020, Carl co-founded OnePlus, where he spent seven years helping build it into a major smartphone brand. But Carl’s instincts as a builder showed up much earlier. As a teenager, he taught himself to code by building Pokémon fan sites, all while moving between China, the U.S., and Sweden. That combination of early creation and constant change shaped a founder comfortable with uncertainty—and deeply motivated by questions bigger than products. Carl thinks often about time and mortality, is skeptical of early retirement, and believes creativity is humanity’s real advantage. In an industry obsessed with optimization, he’s focused on making technology feel meaningful again.

In our conversation, we explore:

  • The origins of Nothing’s transparent design language and how it helps differentiate the brand in a mature, competitive market

  • Carl’s childhood fascination with mortality and how it continues to drive his ambition today

  • Nothing’s multiple near-death experiences, from 80% defect rates on first products to fundraising struggles

  • Why India has become a crucial market for Nothing’s smartphone business

  • How Nothing approaches community involvement, including letting users invest alongside VCs

  • The company’s approach to integrating AI features without overhyping the technology

  • Carl’s admiration for Genghis Khan’s management style and talent acquisition approach

  • The future of consumer electronics beyond smartphones

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Explore the episode

Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction to Carl Pei and Nothing

(02:44) Nothing’s long-term vision

(06:33) How existential thinking shapes Carl’s motivation

(10:12) Why Carl’s planned sabbatical ended after ten days

(12:35) Carl’s international upbringing

(16:02) Entrepreneurial experiments in China

(19:10) Carl’s competitive nature and attitude toward school

(25:30) Lessons from seven years at OnePlus

(28:07) Taking a break at age 31

(30:50) Carl’s fundraising strategy

(33:26) Why Carl chose London for Nothing’s HQ

(35:12) Lessons from Genghis Khan

(38:38) Nothing’s first near-death moment

(42:56) Nothing’s product evolution and breakout hits

(45:24) Partnering with Teenage Engineering

(49:28) Design inspirations

(51:36) How Nothing recruits talent

(53:42) Nothing’s approach to marketing

(56:51) How India became a key market

(59:48) Why Nothing created CMF

(1:02:12) Why Carl is bullish on India

(1:03:32) How Carl thinks about AI

(1:07:05) Rethinking ads based on community feedback

(1:09:05) How Nothing leverages community

(1:11:23) Why AI hardware is struggling

(1:13:37) Carl’s thoughts on the future of consumer electronics

(1:15:10) Philosophies that shape Carl’s worldview

(1:16:45) Final meditations

Follow Carl Pei

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/getpeid

X: https://x.com/getpeid

Resources and episode mentions

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People

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Subscribe to the show

I’d love it if you’d subscribe and share the show. Your support makes all the difference as we try to bring more curious minds into the conversation.

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Production and marketing by penname.co. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

What to Watch in 2026

2026-01-09 21:49:14

🌟 Happy 2026! There’s never been a better time to join our premium newsletter and invest in yourself. It’s designed to make you a better founder, investor, and technologist. Members get access to the strategies, tactics, and wisdom of exceptional investors and founders. Today’s piece is a subscriber-only edition.

Friends,

The world is not waiting to start the year.

In just over a week, we have seen that the world of 2026 will not be the same as that of 2025. Trump’s actions in Venezuela are the most naked illustration of this fact, revealing the changing nature of power and shifts in spheres of relative influence.

Technology is not immune to such developments, and, indeed, is a key input. Even with January just getting its footing, our sector is in motion: in a span of just a few weeks, Jensen Huang struck a $20 billion deal for Groq’s talent and IP, revealed Nvidia’s upcoming Rubin architecture, and saw China order its domestic companies to pause purchases of H200 chips. Meanwhile, DeepSeek released research rethinking AI training, ChatGPT launched a dedicated health product, Meta is attempting to purchase Chinese-founded startup Manus, and Anthropic is raising $10 billion at a $350 billion valuation.

All of this is happening against the backdrop of growing unease about AI valuations and the possibility that we are in the midst of a rapidly inflating bubble primed to burst.

As a reminder: it is January 9th.

To try and grasp what (else) 2026 might have in store, particularly with regard to tech and venture capital, I reached out to a collection of more than 45 elite investors and thinkers. I asked each of these people to answer the question: What company, market, or trend do you think is most worth paying attention to in 2026?

Below, you will find their answers, organized into seven themes. It includes entries from legends like Reid Hoffman, Kirsten Green, Gili Raanan, and Aydin Senkut, as well as those I consider the sharpest thinkers from the next generation. It is, in a sense, a collection of futures. A cadre of possible paths that may or may not unfurl. In big and little ways, I hope that they make you a little more aware of what may happen and where opportunities might lie.

As was the case with last year’s edition, I compiled this piece with the express goal of creating something that more than justifies the cost of The Generalist’s premium subscription on its basis alone. Given the insights I’ve gleaned from it already, I believe we’ve achieved that for anyone who works in venture capital, actively angel invests, or is considering starting a company. I suspect it will also be of great use to operators who want to understand how their respective industries could develop.

Here’s what to expect:

  • The robotics company helping with data center buildouts

  • A voice AI company poised to come out of stealth

  • The African fintech following Nubank’s trajectory

  • Where China is poised to outcompete America

  • A potential landmark in nuclear energy

  • An AI myth gets exposed

  • The startups poised to win in Latin America

  • The under-the-radar search startup used by Cursor

To set yourself up for the best possible 2026, join our premium subscription for just $22/month today. It’s designed to make you a radically better investor for a teeny fraction of the cost of a traditional investing intelligence service.

Subscribe now

Again, my hope and goal is that this piece alone repays the cost of a year’s subscription.

PS. You know this already, but for the avoidance of doubt: this is not investment advice. This is intended to surface new ideas and guide you toward interesting topics. Most submissions focus on private companies, but please heed this, particularly for those that highlight a crypto project with a public token. These tend to be hyper-volatile assets. You should always make investment decisions based on your own research.

I. The physical world wakes up

AI’s most impressive feats have typically occurred on screens. That may be changing. Robots are learning by watching humans, excavators are moving dirt without drivers, and the robotics sector is splitting into two worlds: one of hype, another of quiet deployment.

Read more

Modern Meditations: Immad Akhund

2025-12-18 22:22:49

Illustration by Eleanor Taylor

Friends,

How often do you think about the Mongolian Empire?

For Mercury CEO, Immad Akhund, the answer seems to be “surprisingly often.” For our final interview of the year, I asked the founder of one of my very favorite products to share his latest obsessions, contrarian opinions, and favorite reads.

As well as outlining the h…

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