From TJ Alumni to Climatetech CEO: My Journey on the Alumni Blast from the Past Podcast

I recently joined Mark Grey Mendes on the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) Alumni Blast from the Past podcast to discuss my journey from student-athlete to climatetech entrepreneur leading DexMat‘s nanomaterials revolution.

You can watch the full TJ alumni interview on YouTube, but I want to share some conversation highlightst about entrepreneurship lessons and leadership insights that shaped my path from TJHSST to revolutionizing materials science.

Building the Courage to Reimagine: Lessons from TJ’s STEM Environment

One thread woven through our entire conversation: developing the courage to reimagine solutions unconstrained by the status quo. This wasn’t something I consciously developed—it was a mindset I built at TJ, where academic curiosity was celebrated rather than stigmatized.

The TJ environment created something special. When 400 academically motivated students from across Northern Virginia came together, it created a resonance where innovation thrived. I remember spending hours on the phone with a classmatee discussing quantum physics and virtual particles—not as a classroom assignment, but because we genuinely found it fascinating.

When we encountered something that wasn’t the way it should be – whether a computer program, a math problem, or even a team sport – we were encouraged to go back to first principles and rebuild it, better than before.

That culture taught me that the world doesn’t have to work the way it currently does. We don’t have to accept the constraints of the status quo. We should always have the courage to question those constraints, and the willingness to rebuild from first principles.

TJ Football: Where Entrepreneurial Leadership Skills Are Forged

Playing football at Thomas Jefferson taught me more about startup leadership and entrepreneurship than any business school could. We always underdogs, never never expected to win. We deliberately moved up a district, facing stiffer competition, including the eventual state champions every year, yet we frequently found ways to win.

Startups face the same, challenging circumstances, so I learned many entrepreneurial lessons on that football field:

  • Resilience in the face of long odds – Our 160-pound offensive linemen faced 250-300 pound defensive opponents; we had to out-technique them and wear them down.
  • Strategic thinking over brute force – We won through discipline, innovation, and and matching our strengths against opposing weaknesses.
  • The value of diverse teams – it would be hard to win with a team of just quarterbacks or just receivers. Through diverse skillsets – and the orchestration of those skillsets collaborating seamlessly – our whole was greater than the sum of our parts.
  • Doing more with less – We had less practice time every day than our opponents (because we had eight academic periods to their seven), so we had to make the most of every moment. As our coach will drill into us: “Practice doesn’t make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect.”
  • Embracing pressure as privilege – We achieved peak performance when the stakes were highest: e.g., I scored the game-winning touchdown at Homecoming on a broken ankle while the band was playing the Rocky Theme Song.

The skills that make successful entrepreneurs—drive, resilience to failure, rapid adaptation, building/leading/inspiring high-performing teams—these aren’t developed in the classroom. They’re forged in the crucible of constantly facing challenges where conventional wisdom says you can’t succeed.

From Computer Science to Climatetech: An Entrepreneur’s Non-Linear Path

My career path from TJ alumnus to climatetech CEO wasn’t linear. Starting with computer science and electrical engineering at Rice University, I moved through software startups into increasingly complex hard tech ventures.

Eventually, I built Third Derivative, which became the world’s largest climatetech accelerator, mobilizing over $2 billion into more than 200 climate technology startups.

But we faced a critical gap in investment dealflow: sustainable materials innovation. The best solutions for, e.g., steel production emissions were incremental improvements to materials humanity had used for millennia. That approach seemed to accept constraints that shouldn’t exist.

When DexMat achieved a manufacturing breakthrough making it possible to displace legacy materials like copper, aluminum, and steel at commercial scale, I knew this was the materials revolution climate solutions needed.

DexMat’s Nanomaterials Innovation: From TJ Alumni Vision to Market Reality

Today at DexMat, we’re proving that sustainable advanced materials can compete with—and surpass—traditional options:

  • 3000x production scale increase while reducing costs 99.6%
  • Negotiating multi-year, multi-million dollar supply agreements with major automotive and industrial partners
  • Market traction across 90% of our $580B+ target segments—from power transmission infrastructure to Formula 1 racing to aerospace applications
  • Galvorn performance specs: Many times stronger than steel, lighter than aluminum, as conductive as copper, and produced by capturing carbon rather than combusting it

Our recent Science magazine cover feature validated what we’re building—advanced nanomaterials that can truly displace dirty legacy materials at scale.

Essential Soft Skills for STEM Entrepreneurs and Alumni

When discussing advice for current TJ students and recent alumni, I focused not on technical skills but on the soft skills that determine entrepreneurial success:

Empathy in Technical Leadership

Understanding stakeholders’ perspectives, needs, and motivations transforms your effectiveness as a technical leader. As a startup CEO, you’re constantly communicating with diverse audiences—employees about mission, investors about returns, customers about value propositions, policymakers about constituent benefits. Each requires genuine empathy and tailored communication.

Humility as a Competitive Advantage

Recognizing you don’t have all the solutions keeps you open to innovation and to partnering with brilliant minds. This humility has been essential throughout my career in climatetech entrepreneurship and is what opened to the door to my commercializing at technology that was invented by Nobel-winning scientists. TJ prepared me very well this; getting comfortable being surrounded by people smarter than you may be the most relatable TJ experience ever!

Building Cross-Functional Relationships

My comparative advantage has never been being the smartest engineer in the room. It’s been serving as the interface between technical experts and those who need to understand their work—translating vision, technology, and requirements bidirectionally. This skill, developed at TJ across different groups, has proven invaluable in startup leadership.

TJ Alumni Leadership: Mike Mukai’s Return as Principal

Learning that Mike Mukai—my former TJ football coach and a 1989 TJ alumnus—was returning as principal gave me chills. Coach Mukai understood what it meant to be a TJ student-athlete because he’d lived it. He mentored players far beyond football, working with teammates on career aspirations and personal challenges.

Having a TJ alumnus who “gets it” leading the school into its next chapter feels significant. I’m energized about TJ’s future and looking forward to the 40th anniversary celebration this October.

TJ Alumni to Climatetech CEO: Entrepreneurship Journey

Attending the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology was an enormous privilege that marked a clear inflection point in my life. TJ continues bringing together academically motivated, ambitious students and creating conditions for innovation and breakthrough thinking – inside the classroom and beyond.

If you’d like to support TJ’s next generation of entrepreneurs, scientists, and leaders, consider contributing to the TJ Partnership Fund.

Bryan Guido Hassin is the CEO of DexMat and a 1997 graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Previously, he founded Third Derivative, the world’s largest climatetech accelerator. Connect with him at greenknig.ht.

On Track For a Successful Summer

Sunday I raced my final track meet of the season, and it was a blast.

Back in July, I raced my first masters track meet at CU Boulder since my failed comeback attempt last year. I beat my target times in the 100m, 200m, and 400m, and, most importantly, didn’t get injured! I returned after two weeks of sprint training and improved on those times while winning a gold and two silvers at the Colorado Masters Track & Field Championships. Then, Sunday, there was a final meet of the season. There I raced only the 100m and 200m, and improved my times further.

Brought home some hardware - one gold and two silvers - from the Colorado Masters Track & Field Championships

Results

My records this outdoor track season are:

  • 100m – 14.29s
  • 200m – 30.43s
  • 400m – 1:13.9

Looking Back

Those aren’t particularly impressive, but they have me feeling good after not much training. I can compare them to PR times of my past:

  • 100m – 13.2s (2014)
  • 200m – 27.7s (2014)
  • 400m – 1:03 (2015)

However, that doesn’t seem like a fair comparison, looking back 10+ years – before kids, before spinal surgery, and 20 kg (50 lbs) lighter. There is a way to normalize results by age, though, called age grading (AG), and so that is a more useful way to measure whether I have been improving, falling, or holding steady:

Event2014AG2015AG2018AG2019AG2025AG
100m13.2s72.5813.7s70.3913.7s71.8113.9s71.2814.2972.19
200m27.7s70.7328.5s69.2029.4s68.3928.6s70.7630.4369.13
400m64s68.4363s69.9765.5s68.5765.2s69.4373.9s63.64

It’s neat to see that my 100m sprint has remained relatively steady. My 200m has slipped a bit, and my 400m has slipped a lot. That feels right to me, as I can feel my form breaking down toward the end of the longer sprints. The good news is that sprint endurance is trainable – I just haven’t been training it for the past five years!

Looking Across

Another lens through which to analyze my performances is how they compare to my age group peers. In 2014, I was ranked #375 (out of 532) in the world and #61 (out of 120) in the US for the 400m, so in the middle of the pack. I didn’t have rankings for the 100m and 200m, because they weren’t electronically timed. By 2019, my time was a little slower, but I was in a similar position – #39 (out of 63) in my new 40-44 age group.

Outside of sprints, I did race some top masters track national times in other events about 10 years ago.
Outside of sprints, I did race some top masters track national times in other events about 10 years ago.

This season I finished #39 (out of 42) in the US in my new 45-49 age group in the 400m, #48 (out of 52) in the 200m, and #54 (out of 61) in the 100m, so near the bottom of the field. That’s to be expected, coming out of five years of not training/competing for track. I’m back now, though, and I look forward to getting back in better competition form before next season.

Final Thoughts

A few more interesting take-aways from these few 2025 track meets:

  • In the Colorado Masters Track & Field Championships, the same guy beat me in the 100m and 200m. He likely would have beaten me in the 400m, too, but he scratched out of it, so I won the gold. As I get older, half the game is just showing up. As the saying goes, “You can’t win it if you ain’t in it.”
  • In one of my 100m races, I recorded peak power output of 850W! If I can drop some weight while maintaining that same power output, that will substantially increase my speed.
  • ChatGPT analyzed my Garmin data and estimated that I ran my first 40 yards of my 100m race in 5.6s. That’s a lot slower than the 4.9s I ran in high school and the 4.7s I ran in college, but it’s a lot faster than the 6.0s I ran a few weeks ago before shifting into track gear. I’m encouraged by the improvement!
Racing the 100m at the CU Boulder masters track meet

Game Sack in Boulder

Today I had a delightful surprise. I was working from home when my canine alarm system let me know that someone was approaching the front door. Assuming it was a delivery, I stepped away from a Zoom meeting to see if they needed a signature.

It was a delivery, but it was also so much more. The person dropping off the package was none other than Dave of Game Sack! Game Sack is one of the most preeminent Youtube channels for retrogaming content, and I have been watching them for years. Dave actually left the show a few years ago, but he is remembered and loved by all the fans. I had forgotten that Game Sack is produced here in Colorado, and I guess Dave’s day job is nearby. FedEx, if you’re watching, give this man a raise!

I jokingly invited him in to play TurboGrafx. He was a good sport about it and took a selfie with me. I thought about running back inside to change into a TurboGrafx shirt for the picture, but I figured I was already fanboying a bit too much.

About that time, my colleague – who was working at my house too – came outside to remind me that I was missing the Zoom call. Oops! Ah well, it was a great diversion and a very, very small world. The world is even smaller when you consider what was inside the package he delivered . . . TurboGrafx games, of course!

Here are some of my favorite Game Sack episodes:

Long-Overdue in Laramie: Reconnecting with Corey Billington

Five years. That’s how long it had been since Katie and I moved to Colorado, and shamefully, how long it had taken us to make the mere 2½-hour drive north to visit one of my favorite IMD professors, Corey Billington, in Laramie, Wyoming. I blame COVID, then having a second baby, but really there’s no excuse for letting geography keep us from one of those deeply valued relationships that transcends the classroom.

From Swiss Alps to Wyoming Plains

Corey was one of my favorite professors during my 2008 IMD MBA, and, like John Bennett from my previous post, he’s evolved from beloved professor to dear friend and DexMat investor-advisor who also happens to enjoy excellent wine. For family reasons, Corey moved from Switzerland to Wyoming several years ago, where he now teaches Entrepreneurship and Supply Chain at the University of Wyoming’s College of Business in Laramie—bringing his wealth of experience from IBM, HP, and startups to the Mountain West.

Even across the distance, we’ve maintained our professional collaboration. I’ve been fortunate to engage Corey as a supply chain advisor for DexMat, where his expertise has been invaluable as we scale our advanced materials production. Additionally, I’ve had the privilege of guest lecturing in his entrepreneurship course, sharing lessons from my experience raising over $100M across nine ventures with the next generation of Wyoming entrepreneurs. These remote touchpoints have kept our relationship alive, but nothing replaces the magic of face-to-face connection.

It was actually Corey’s dog, Acacia, who first caused Katie and me to fall in love with the Bernese Mountain Dog breed, which ultimately led to us adopting our beloved Genève many years later. Though Acacia is no longer with us, Corey and his partner, Katherine, now have Ollie, a sweet Welsh Springer Spaniel who was incredibly patient with our kids—and seemed to particularly appreciate how much food two small children can drop during meals!

Wyoming Really Is Small

As we drove north from Boulder after our 4th of July race, I was struck by just how sparsely populated Wyoming truly is. With a total state population of just 590,169 people, Wyoming is indeed the least populous state in the nation. Laramie itself has only about 32,638 residents, making it the 4th largest city in a state where over half the cities have fewer than 500 people.

The drive was refreshingly easy—plenty of EV chargers along the way, though unnecessary for such a short trip. The change of scenery from Colorado’s Front Range to Wyoming’s high plains was exactly what we needed.

A Weekend of Home Cooking and Friendship

Friday afternoon brought us straight into Laramie’s 4th of July celebration, with the downtown park bustling with vendors and activities. His kids all grown up now, Corey and Katherine have become empty nesters—though I suspect they’d forgotten just how much entropy two small children can bring to a peaceful household!

Corey, who is an excellent chef, took charge of Friday dinner, treating us to one of many incredible home-cooked meals of the weekend. Saturday saw Katherine handling breakfast and lunch duties with equal skill, while Corey once again worked his culinary magic for dinner. Between meals, we explored a nearby school playground and enjoyed a tour of downtown Laramie, including the University of Wyoming campus where Corey teaches. I succeeded in throwing a pine cone into Rexy’s mouth, which means I’m assured an “A” on my next exam . . . whenever that will be! Corey treated us to another sumptuous dinner, and great wine was enjoyed by all—except the kids, of course!

It has probably been since before we had children that we’d enjoyed so many consecutive home-cooked meals, which was an incredible treat in itself. Sunday morning brought another fantastic Katherine breakfast before we made our way back to Colorado.

Lessons in Long-Term Relationships

This quick trip reinforced something I’ve learned throughout my entrepreneurial journey: the relationships you build along the way are what you carry from one adventure to the next. Whether it’s former professors turned advisors, or longtime friends who become investors (or vice versa!), these connections form the foundation of everything we do.

Corey embodies the kind of long-game thinking I’ve written about before—someone who brings both academic rigor and real-world experience to every conversation. His transition from the corporate world to academia to now supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs in Wyoming’s emerging ecosystem reflects the kind of purposeful deployment of time – the one thing we can never raise more of – that inspires me.

Passing away the late evening hours sharing learnings about AI-augmented leadership (one of his areas of research) transported me back to the very beginning of our relationship. It was glorious. Restorative. And the food, wine, and company didn’t hurt either!

Looking to reconnect with long-distance relationships in your network? Consider a weekend road trip—sometimes the most meaningful experiences are closer than you think.

Running Together: How Family Road Racing Became Our New Tradition

A year ago, we lined up for our first family road race. This Fourth of July, we celebrated our one-year anniversary of running together—and crushed our personal best in the process.

Friday, July 4th marked a special milestone for our family: the one-year anniversary of our first road race together. We returned to the Avery Brewing 4k on the 4th, the same race that introduced us to the joy of family running in 2024. What started as a tentative experiment with an 8-month-old in a stroller has evolved into a family tradition—and a testament to how quickly kids develop.

From First Steps to Personal Records

Last year’s race was filled with firsts. Our then-6-year-old was tackling their first road race and longest continuous distance ever. Katie was returning to racing for the first time since giving birth to our second child. I had only recently returned to racing myself. We broke the race into run-walk intervals, focusing purely on having fun and finishing together. Our 34:00 finish time (8:30/km pace) felt like a victory just for crossing the line as a family.

Fast forward twelve months, and our now-7-year-old has transformed into a confident runner. And, as a family, we have developed the muscle of running together. This year we’ve already run several races together:

  • March: St. Patrick’s Day 5K – 38:34 (7:35/km), running the entire distance
  • May: Bolder Boulder 10K – 1:21:41 (~8:00/km), doubling our longest family distance
  • June: Pearl Street Mile – Our 7-year-old completing the kids 800m in 3:52, and me completing the stroller mile in 8:38

Each race built confidence and endurance, setting us up perfectly for this year’s 4K anniversary celebration.

Setting Goals for Family Running Races

For this year’s 4K on the 4th, we established five clear objectives:

  1. Have fun
  2. Work hard
  3. Run the entire way
  4. Stay together as a family
  5. Beat our 34:00 time from last year

Our strategy was simple: start at our proven 8:00/km pace from the Bolder Boulder and assess whether to pick up the pace each kilometer. Starting from the back due to our stroller meant we’d spend the first kilometer weaving through walkers and other stroller pushers.

Race Day Execution

Colorado’s summer heat and surprising humidity added an extra challenge, but we came prepared with water bottles loaded in the stroller – extra weight for me to push, enhancing my workout!

The starting horn went off, and then our splits tell the story of the race:

  • KM 1: 7:08 (faster than target, everyone feeling strong)
  • KM 2: 7:16 (slight slowdown, but running by feel, not pace)
  • KM 3: 7:21 (maintaining effort, passing runners consistently)
  • KM 4: 6:31 (unleashing the sprint finish)

Final time: 28:15 (7:03/km pace)

The 6-minute improvement from last year represented our fastest sustained family effort to date. More importantly, we executed our strategy and achieved our goals – negative splitting while staying together and having a blast.

The Team Sport Transformation

What I love most about family running races is how it transforms an inherently individual sport into a team effort. My team happens to comprise my favorite people in the world, which makes every stride more meaningful. Our 7-year-old’s excitement when passing runners in the final stretch was infectious. Even our 20-month-old squealed with glee at the breeze in their hair during our finishing kick.

We don’t have any delusions: our 7-year-old will likely outpace us within a few years. We’re making the most of this precious window when we can run together as equals. Soon, our toddler will graduate from stroller passenger to active participant, adding another active teammate to our family running adventures.

Beyond the Finish Line

The lessons our kids are absorbing extend far beyond running technique or race strategy. They’re learning to set goals, work hard to achieve them, and feel genuine pride in their performance. These skills compound over time, creating value that extends into every aspect of life.

Running together costs nothing, requires minimal equipment, and creates shared experiences that strengthen family bonds while building physical fitness.

Looking Ahead

As we celebrate this one-year milestone, we’re already thinking about what’s next. The possibilities are endless, but the core mission remains unchanged: having fun, working hard, and supporting each other across the finish line.

Whether you’re considering your first family race or you’re veterans looking for new challenges, remember that the magic isn’t in the times or distances—it’s in the shared journey. Every family’s running story will look different, but the joy of crossing finish lines together is universal.

What goals are you setting with your family this year? Share your family fitness adventures in the comments below.

Lake Tahoe Family Reunion: Twelve Years Later

After leaving Oregon, we headed south to one of North America’s most spectacular natural destinations: Lake Tahoe. We stayed on the California side in South Lake Tahoe, and I was immediately struck by something remarkable – despite being the biggest town around the entire lake, it hasn’t built up very much at all. Sure, there are some big casinos just over the state line in Nevada – not my jam – but the town maintains that authentic small lake town feel that makes places like this so special – the perfect setting for our Lake Tahoe family reunion.

A Lake That Rivals the Alps

Lake Tahoe reminds me in many ways of Lac Léman (Lake Geneva), where I used to live in Switzerland. While Lac Léman covers 580 km² and Lake Tahoe only 490, Tahoe is actually much larger, containing 150 km³ of water to Léman’s 89, due to Tahoe’s greater depth (501 meters vs 310).

Both lakes share that bone-chilling cold water and are surrounded by dramatic alpine mountains. Lake Tahoe’s surface sits at 1,900 meters above sea level, giving it crisp mountain air and ice-bath-level frigidity when you take the plunge.

Twelve Years Later, Everything Has Changed

This trip was a reunion twelve years after the wedding of my sister- and brother-in-law, so lots of Katie’s family were there. It’s remarkable how much life changes in just over a decade. Twelve years ago, those of us in our generation were only recently married, but now we all have kids running around. The entire dynamic of our gathering was completely different – instead of staying up late and sleeping in, we were operating on nap schedules, snack packing, and the chaos that comes with multi-generational family travel.

Thursday: Reunion at the Brew Pub

Thursday evening marked our arrival and immediate reconnection with everyone at a nearby brew pub. The kids ran absolutely wild, and it was incredibly relaxing to have the collective eyes of parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents all watching them. “It takes a village to raise a child,” and we all had our village there.

Friday: From Creek to Bay to Beach

Friday morning we walked the nature loop at Taylor Creek Visitor Center. The Rainbow Trail is an easy 1 km walk that is paved and wheelchair accessible, making it perfect for our multi-generational group. The real highlight was the Stream Profile Chamber – this unique underground viewing chamber provides a view of the stream environment through aquarium-like windows, offering a fish-eye view of Taylor Creek’s underwater wildlife.

After lunch – and ice cream – at nearby Camp Richardson, we drove to Emerald Bay – and nothing could have prepared us for our first of many take-my-breath-away moments. We drove around a bend, there was a break in the trees, and suddenly the entire bay opened up beneath us: sapphire water fading to turquoise near the shore. The hike down took us through towering pines, and ended at the majestic Vikingsholm castle. It felt like we had stepped into another world, transported to a Scandinavian fjord!

The hike back up reminded me rather abruptly that just a few days on the Oregon coast had already affected my elevation acclimation! But every labored breath was worth it for the changing panorama as we climbed back toward the overlook.

Emerald Bay - our favorite discovery during this Lake Tahoe family reunion

Friday Evening: Geese Guard Duty

Friday evening we brought dinner to Pope Beach, where the kids played in the sand while I stood guard against some very brazen geese trying to steal our food. These weren’t your average timid waterfowl; they had clearly learned that families with picnics made for easy meals – but they hadn’t counted on encountering me!

Saturday: Beach Day and S’mores

Saturday was our designated beach day at Zephyr Cove, which was clearly a local hangout. We arrived just as they opened, and immediately the entire beach was swamped by people with tents, stoves, and everything else they needed for a full day along the lake. Other members of our party wore wetsuits, but I ventured into the water unaided – and was rewarded with a very different kind of take-my-breath-away moment!

That evening we gathered at the hotel fire pits for s’mores and hot chocolate. We taught the kids bocce and cornhole, which provided hours of entertainment and gave the adults a chance to engage in some good-natured intergenerational competition.

Sunday: From Sea Level Runners to Mountain Heights

Sunday morning some of our party ran the Rock Tahoe half marathon, so we all went out to support them. It must have been very challenging to run 13.1 miles at elevation, but at least the race was net downhill.

After cheering on our runners, we took the gondola experience that had been beckoning to us since our arrival. The Heavenly Mountain Gondola offers a 4-km ride up the mountain with breathtaking panoramic views of Lake Tahoe. We started at 1,950 meters elevation and climbed to 2,750.

The resort offers summer activities including a Ridge Rider Coaster, rock climbing, and snow tubing – yes, in June! We rode that mountain coaster over and over again, each ride delivering more take-my-breath-away views of the entire Lake Tahoe basin spread out below us like a blue jewel set in rock.

Aptly named overlook at our Lake Tahoe family reunion

Sunday Evening: Beer Mission Accomplished

Sunday afternoon my father-in-law and I embarked on what I can only describe as a scientific mission to drink all of the hotel’s stout beers. Mission accomplished. Then we headed to Himmel Haus for excellent German fare and, naturally, more beer!

Monday: Departure and Reflection

Monday we departed, but not without considerable reflection on what a perfect trip this had been. It struck me how returning to the same location with a completely different MO – kids instead of just couples, early bedtimes instead of late nights – had created an entirely new experience while still honoring the connection to that original celebration twelve years ago. Lake Tahoe welcomed our chaos of children and grandparents with the same serene beauty it had offered our younger selves twelve years earlier. That’s the mark of a special place – it adapts to who you are in any given moment while remaining fundamentally timelessly itself.

What experiences have you had returning to meaningful places with family? Share your Lake Tahoe memories or ask questions about planning your own family reunion in the comments below.

Oregon Coast Adventures: From Donuts to Dreams on the Pacific

There’s something magical about the intersection of mentorship, family, and new adventures. Last week, Katie, our two kids, and I experienced all three during our first Oregon Coast family travel, hosted by one of the most influential figures from my Rice University days.

The Professor Who Changed Everything

My host wasn’t just any professor—he was one of my favorite computer engineering instructors at Rice and is a multi-degreed Rice alum himself (as is his wife). Beyond his technical expertise, he profoundly shaped my life in an unexpected way: he introduced me to wine with the unforgettable declaration, “Taste that? That’s French dirt!” That moment sparked a lifelong appreciation that extends far beyond the glass.

Today, he serves as both an investor in and advisor to DexMat, demonstrating the enduring power of academic relationships. His impact on our company extends beyond capital: he helped us recruit our incredible Chief of Staff, proving that great mentors continue giving long after graduation.

Pacific Northwest Hospitality

For years, he and his wife had been encouraging us to visit their house in Neskowin on the Oregon Coast. With hectic schedules and young children, the invitation always seemed just out of reach. Finally, the stars aligned for a perfect family getaway.

This marked my second visit to Oregon—my first trip took me only inland, leaving the legendary coastline unexplored. This time, we’d experience the full Pacific Northwest treatment.

Donuts and Departures

Our adventure began at the airport with a delightful discovery: Blue Star Donuts, the gourmet donut shop I remembered fondly from my previous Oregon visit, now had an airport location! We grabbed a box containing one of each variety for our two-hour drive to the coast—the perfect fuel for a family road trip.

Blue Star Donuts: optimal fuel for Oregon Coast family travel

Beach Days and Creek Adventures

Arriving Monday afternoon, we immediately made our way to the beach, where Hawk Creek empties into the Pacific. The creek provided the perfect introduction to Oregon’s coastline for our young explorers—gentler than the ocean waves yet still magical. There, we encountered two of the coast’s iconic landmarks: Proposal Rock and the Ghost Forest, natural monuments that speak to both romance and the raw power of nature.

Tuesday morning brought us to a different stretch of beach, where I enjoyed a solo run while our kids collected shells and sand dollars—treasures that would rival any pirate’s hoard. Speaking of pirates, I couldn’t help but reflect on perfect timing: we were visiting during the 40th anniversary year of The Goonies, which famously took place on this very Oregon Coast in Astoria. The adventure-seeking spirit of that classic film felt tangible here.

Coincidentally, I had recently backed the Life After The Goonies documentary—a passion project celebrating the film’s enduring legacy. Being here on the actual coast where Mikey, Data, and the gang searched for One-Eyed Willy’s treasure added an extra layer of magic to our own family adventure. “HEY, YOU GU-UYS!”

Connections and Generations

Tuesday afternoon delivered an unexpected reunion when my college roommate—who happens to be our hosts’ nephew—arrived with his kids. Multiple generations and decades of friendship converged on this beautiful beach, creating the kind of spontaneous joy that defines the best vacations.

Our evening adventure took us to a brewpub in Pacific City for dinner, followed by an ambitious climb up a massive 400-meter-tall sand dune near Haystack Rock. The steep ascent tested my stamina, but the panoramic views justified every challenging step.

Oregon Coast family travel isn't complete without climbing a massive sand dune!

Pacific Northwest Perfection

Wednesday we embraced the region’s signature experience: a lush forest hike surrounded by towering trees and verdant greenery. This felt quintessentially Pacific Northwest—the kind of environment that reminds you why this region inspires such fierce loyalty among its residents.

Our afternoon featured ice cream at Nestucca Bay Creamery (because what’s a family vacation without strategic dessert stops?) before one final creek session. The kids’ laughter echoing off the water provided the perfect soundtrack to our last full day.

Wine and Wisdom

True to form, my wine-introducing mentor ensured we experienced exceptional bottles throughout our stay. The quality reflected his discerning palate—the same attention to detail that made him such an inspiring professor and now makes him such a valuable advisor.

Airport Excellence

Thursday’s departure gave us a chance to tarry at Portland International Airport (PDX), which exceeded all expectations. The highlight was discovering the Tillamook playground in Concourse E—a 608-square-foot interactive play area featuring a life-sized flying “Yum Bus” that doubles as a slide. Tillamook, the cheese brand we love, had created this thoughtful space for traveling families. Our kids burned energy while we enjoyed Tillamook ice cream, proving that great brands understand their customers’ real needs.

Lessons from the Coast

This trip reinforced several truths about meaningful relationships and experiences. Great mentors continue shaping your life long after formal education ends. The best adventures happen when you finally accept those long-standing invitations. Family travel, while challenging, creates irreplaceable memories. And sometimes the most impactful people in your life are those who share not just knowledge, but also “French dirt” in a glass!

The Oregon Coast delivered everything promised: dramatic landscapes, family bonding, professional relationships deepened, and enough natural beauty to fuel months of inspiration. Most importantly, it reminded us that the most valuable investments aren’t financial; they’re the time we spend with people who’ve shaped who we are and who we’re becoming.

Even on the Oregon Coast, you are never far away from lush forest!

What mentors have had an outsized impact on your life? How do you maintain those relationships as they evolve from academic to professional to personal? Share your stories—I’d love to hear about the professors, advisors, and guides who’ve shaped your journey.

The TurboGrafx-16 Legacy: How a “Failed” Console Created a 35-Year Love Story (Plus a Secret Trick Never Before Published)

Recently, my 7-year-old clutched my TurboExpress as we boarded a plane. “Dad, can we beat Cadash together?” they asked. Watching them discover the same wonder I felt 35 years ago, I realized the TurboGrafx-16 wasn’t just a console—it was a lifelong companion that has shaped both my gaming journey and now his.

Summer 1989: When Everything Changed

Picture this: I was a new latchkey kid in a new city, watching The Super Mario Bros. Super Show after school, when those first TurboGrafx-16 commercials exploded across my TV. The graphics were unlike anything I’d seen—Keith Courage leaping across alien landscapes, The Legendary Axe taking on a screen-filling boss. And the promise of CD-ROM technology? Light years ahead of anything else in 1989.

Christmas came and went disappointingly without the console under our tree. But here’s where the story takes a turn that would echo through decades: by combining Christmas money with months of saved allowance, I bought a TurboGrafx-16 myself in January 1990. My first major purchase. My first taste of financial independence.

Now, when I teach my kid about saving money, he always references “like when you saved for your TurboGrafx, Dad.” That $199.99+tax investment has paid dividends I never could have imagined.

The Golden Years: Military Madness, Multiplayer Mayhem, and Annual Rituals

Middle school with the TurboGrafx-16 meant:

  • Military Madness marathons: Still my favorite game of all time (and now I hold multiple speedrun world records!)
  • Five-player Dungeon Explorer sleepovers: Nothing compared to the chaos of five friends crowding around one TV
  • Annual TV Sports: Football completions: Every summer before two-a-day football practices began, I’d beat the entire game—a personal ritual to get my head in the game

The TurboGrafx-16 wasn’t just entertainment; it was the backdrop to adolescence, the common thread weaving through friendships and seasons.

The Dark Age and Glorious Return

Like many teenagers, high school and college pulled me away from gaming. In what would become one of my life’s great regrets, I sold my entire TurboGrafx collection to a friend for $50. The console that had been my companion for years, gone for gas money.

But true loves have a way of returning.

In my 30s, emulation opened a portal to the past. Not only could I reunite with old friends like Military Madness and China Warrior, but I discovered treasures I’d missed the first time around—Blazing Lazers, Ys Books I & II, and countless PC Engine imports. Decades later, the TurboGrafx-16 library could still induce the same childlike wonder of my youth.

The Collector’s Journey and Passing the Torch

Now in my 40s, I’ve rebuilt my collection with the dedication of someone making amends. Original hardware lines my shelves, including my holy grail: a SuperGrafx. I’ve published Military Madness strategy guides and I now have all the games I never could have afforded back then.

But the greatest joy? Sharing this journey with my kids. My 7-year-old doesn’t just play these games—they experience them with the same awe I felt in the early 1990s. When we work together to beat Cadash or Bomberman, or when he takes my TurboExpress on trips, we’re not just playing games; we’re sharing a cultural experience that transcends generations.

Why the TurboGrafx-16 Still Matters in 2025

The TurboGrafx-16 may have been a commercial underdog in North America, but for those who experienced it, the connection runs deeper than nostalgia. Here’s why this “failed” console continues to captivate:

  1. Groundbreaking Technology: First console with CD-ROM support, and epic graphics that went toe-to-toe with much newer consoles
  2. Unique Library: Games you couldn’t find anywhere else, especially shooters – not the typical IPs that have become so entrenched over the decades
  3. Import Heaven: For every TurboGrafx-16 game, there are six more Japanese games in the massive PC-Engine library
  4. Timeless Design: Pixel art, manuals, and magazine covers that still look gorgeous today

Your Gift: The China Warrior Secret Technique

As a thank you for reading this far, here’s a game secret I discovered as a kid that I’ve never seen published anywhere else:

The China Warrior “Machine Gun Punch” Technique

Everyone knows China Warrior’s Super Punch (Right + I simultaneously) is notoriously inconsistent. The 1-900-FUN-TG16 tipline taught me that you can execute it reliably by taking two hits first, then pressing I. The Super Punch deals 3 damage.

But here’s what I discovered through experimentation: Take THREE hits, then press I, and you’ll unleash what I call the “Machine Gun Punch”—it deals 4 damage instead of 3. If you have enough health to spare, it’s a game-changing technique for stubborn bosses.

Getting Started with TurboGrafx-16 in 2025

Playing TurboGrafx-16 games has never been easier:

  • Original Hardware: Check local retro game stores or eBay
  • Analogue Duo: Premium FPGA-based console for perfect accuracy
  • TurboGrafx-Mini: The best mini-console on the market – and someday it may eventually be jail-broken
  • Emulation: Multiple options for desktop and mobile devices

The Legacy Continues

Some relationships transcend time. Some consoles transcend generations. The TurboGrafx-16 taught me about saving money, sharing with friends, and the joy of discovery. Now it’s teaching my children the same lessons.

Whether you’re rediscovering these games or experiencing them for the first time, the TurboGrafx-16 library awaits with the same magic it offered in 1989. And who knows? Maybe in another 35 years, my grandchildren will be clutching a TurboExpress, asking to beat Cadash together.

The circle of gaming life continues.

What are your TurboGrafx-16 memories? Have you tried the Machine Gun Punch technique in China Warrior? Share your stories in the comments below, and don’t forget to subscribe for more retro gaming deep dives and hidden secrets.

Full Circle: Transforming Waste into Worth at Colorado Climate Week

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a fascinating panel at Colorado Climate Week titled “Full Circle: Transforming Waste into Worth.” The session explored how innovations in the circular economy are transforming what we traditionally consider waste into valuable resources – a critical component of our climate solution toolkit.

The Scale of Our Materials Challenge

When asked about the importance of circularity in sustainability, I shared some eye-opening statistics about our current materials economy:

We currently have approximately 32 billion tons of steel in use globally – enough to wrap Earth in I-beams 33 times or build high-speed rail tracks that could stretch to the sun and back 4 times. That’s roughly 4 tons of steel for every person on the planet, and we’re adding nearly 2 billion more tons annually.

The problem isn’t just scale – it’s that producing conventional materials like metals is inherently extractive, inefficient, and wasteful. We’re facing increasing supply constraints with materials like copper ore, making legacy approaches to materials increasingly unsustainable.

Galvorn: A Circular Carbon Material

At DexMat, we’re addressing these challenges through our advanced nanomaterial, Galvorn. What makes Galvorn unique in the materials landscape:

  • It’s produced from captured carbon rather than extracted resources.
  • It’s infinitely recyclable without degradation of properties.
  • We’ve designed a truly circular supply chain by paying customers for Galvorn once they’re done with it, allowing us to recycle it over and over again.

This approach aligns with what I believe is needed most for circular economy success: techno-economic scalability. The most successful circular systems are those where the cost to recycle is the same or less than the cost to produce virgin material.

Breaking Down Industry Roadblocks

During our Colorado Climate Week discussion about obstacles to circularity, I highlighted the significant fragmentation across value chains as a primary challenge. While industrial policy could theoretically address this, I’m more optimistic about industry consortia like the Rice Carbon Hub, which brings together academia, startups, and public companies to create collaborative solutions.

An important point I emphasized is that effective circularity isn’t necessarily one big circle but many smaller, interconnected cycles – similar to how the carbon cycle itself operates in nature. Free market capitalism can be quite efficient at optimizing these cycles, but artificial barriers like tariffs across arbitrary geographic boundaries disrupt these natural efficiencies.

Beyond Sustainability: Resilience and Independence

Perhaps my most important message at Colorado Climate Week was that we need to reframe how we talk about circularity. While sustainability remains critical, we can also make compelling arguments for circular economy based on supply chain resilience and energy/materials independence – concerns that resonate across the political spectrum.

Our Biggest Climate Challenge

When asked about our biggest climate challenge today, my answer was simple: being artificially constrained by the status quo. Too often, we limit our thinking to incremental improvements of existing systems rather than reimagining what’s possible.

As an example, took the opportunity to highlight Syzygy Plasmonics, an innovative company (and fellow spin-out from Rice University!) producing hydrogen and ammonia using light rather than electricity to energize chemical reactions – a perfect example of the kind of transformative thinking we need.

Looking Forward: The Future of Circular Economy

The Colorado Climate Week panel, which I shared with Henry Ines of Chainparency abd Sudeshna Mohanty of RMI, and moderated by Gordon Ho of Cooley LLP, demonstrated that circular economy innovations aren’t just environmental necessities – they’re becoming business imperatives.

As we continue to scale up Galvorn production exponentially, we’re excited about expanding beyond our current focus on conductive applications into structural applications, creating even more opportunities to replace traditional materials with circular alternatives.

Connecting the Circular Dots

What circular economy innovations are you most excited about? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

For more insights on climatetech entrepreneurship, check out my recent article on lessons learned from four climatetech entrepreneurs or read about DexMat’s epic progress during a challenging year.

This post is based on my participation in the “Full Circle: Transforming Waste into Worth” panel at Colorado Climate Week on March 25, 2025, at INDUSTRY RiNo.

First principles will lead us to a future beyond steel

In a “full circle” moment, I’m elated to share that, five years after founding Third Derivative (D3), and two and a half years after stepping away from leading it to join DexMat as CEO, DexMat is now joining D3’s inaugural Industrial Innovation Cohort focused on decarbonizing steel.

In the intervening two and a half years, I have invested in many D3 portfolio companies and mentored many more, and now I am honored to be participating in a very new way. Congratulations to the other cohort members, who, as I know firsthand, were selected from hundreds of incredibly worthy climatetech ventures.

The challenges our fellow startups are tackling are of paramount importance, as the steel industry alone contributes 7-9% of global emissions. The problem is massive, but the good news is that there are many solutions to solving it. The many members of this cohort are a testament to that. Shoutout to the other members of our steel cohort: Binding Solutions Limited, Greenore, Helios, Hertha Metals, Inc., and SUN METALON. Like DexMat, the solutions they are bringing to market are not simply making legacy materials “greener,” but as D3 notes in their announcement, their portfolio theses come down to three categories:

  1. Can we make less material? Reduce materials demand by substitution, recycling, upcycling, and increasing supply chain and material use efficiency.
  2. Can we make better materials? Reducing emissions in existing processes through direct electrification, materials and feedstock innovations, and process efficiency. 
  3. Can we make new materials? Disruptive technologies and novel processes to fundamentally change how materials are produced, with low or zero emissions.

The key challenge in fulfilling these theses is not constraining tomorrow’s solutions to the problems created by yesterday’s technologies.  Centering decarbonization on the perpetuation of steel, a millennia-old technology, artificially reduces our solution space to treating symptoms rather than the underlying disease. “Green” steel production uses green hydrogen (or other clean or renewable energy sources) to reduce CO2 emissions. However, we must also find new and better alternatives.  Here’s my take on the limitations of “green” steel and why we need to use first principles to expand our solution space to include steel alternatives. 

“Green” steel is at a fundamental disadvantage for several techno-economic reasons, including:

#1 Steel production is an energy intensive process—and clean energy is a limited resource. Even if you’re only using clean energy to produce steel, you still need a lot of energy. The IEA finds that a transition to “green” steel production increases the sector’s electricity demand by 60%.

Global demand for energy already outpaces the supply of clean energy (and that supply is not readily available everywhere). Allocating clean energy to the production of an inferior material is irresponsible; that clean energy has better decarbonization ROI in other sectors.

#2 Clean hydrogen is expensive. Much of the focus on “green” steel is predicated upon using clean hydrogen sources. Hydrogen is energy dense, which seems a fitting match for energy-intense steel production.

However, clean hydrogen production is expensive and would require significant subsidies to be economic for steel. Bloomberg NEF predicts that any clean hydrogen projects operating by 2030 will have production costs between $3 and $5 per kilogram, at a minimum. 

From the perspective of steel plants, clean hydrogen needs to be cost-competitive with natural gas. This would require clean hydrogen to sell at about $2.50 below production or import cost. Scaled globally, “finance ministries of the world would need to slap no less than $2.3 trillion dollars on the table [to hit stated clean hydrogen supply targets], and do it in time to build the projects before 2030.”

To put that in perspective, for $2.3 trillion dollars, DexMat could build enough Galvorn production capacity to displace all global steel production globally! The economics of clean hydrogen for “greening” steel production simply don’t pencil out.

#3 There isn’t enough clean hydrogen. According to Bloomberg, just under $280 billion has been committed to fund clean hydrogen around the world. In this article, Michael Liebreich estimates that investors will disburse just $200 billion of that amount in time to produce clean hydrogen by 2030. He also estimates that the production of low-carbon hydrogen in 2030 would be no greater than 15 million tons.

15 million tons of hydrogen can supply about 450 terawatt hours of electricity. According to the IEA, “greening” global steel production would require more than 1900 terawatt hours of electricity today, and likely more by 2030. At 15 million tons of production capacity, clean hydrogen could only power a fraction of that demand.

#4 It is extremely expensive to retrofit existing steel plants. Converting existing coking-coal based plants requires billions of dollars of investment. On top of this capex, these retrofitted plants then incur “hundreds of millions more per year in higher running costs.” 

According to RMI, as of 2019 all the steel mills from all the companies currently investing in or committing to zero-carbon technology only represented 8% of global steel production. There have been many decarbonization targets set and commitments made, but actions speak louder than words; greater capex and greater opex limits the speed and scale of “green” steel deployment.

“Green” steel is also at a disadvantage from a broader environmental and performance impact:

#1 “Green” steel does not avoid the environmental impacts of mining, which include deforestation, noxious air pollution, and toxic liquid waste. It only addresses CO2 emissions.

#2 Steel, green or not, is no longer the highest performing material on the market. The metal is heavy, brittle, susceptible to corrosion, and can fail with fluctuations in temperature.

This is why, for many applications, alternative materials have already displaced steel based on performance. For example, carbon fiber has displaced steel (and aluminum) in automobiles, aircraft, and bicycles, as well as in power transmission line cores. The lightweight, super strong, and non-corrosive material is also seeing growing adoption in building and construction.

Carbon fiber is problematic in other ways—slow/expensive to produce, and even dirtier than steel—but it has demonstrated that markets and applications are ready to upgrade from steel to materials with superior properties.

There can be no energy transition without a materials transition.

Whether you’re concerned about the economics or the climate impact, it’s hard to justify “green” steel over alternative materials. 

Materials like Galvorn are inevitable. Over the arc of human history, materials with better properties and lower costs that enable new applications and generate less waste inevitably hit an inflection point and displace their legacy incumbents at global scale—so much so that we even name eras of human civilizations after them.

Whether Galvorn hits that inflection point in centuries, like steel, decades, like plastics, or years has gigaton-scale climate implications. Accelerating our path to that inflection point is where we think the D3 ecosystem will be catalytic for DexMat’s progress.

As I have said since the earliest days of D3: together, and only together, will we build the sustainable, prosperous, equitable future. I am both grateful and excited to be back together with my D3 and RMI colleagues, and together for the first time with these other amazing startups in the Industrial Innovation Cohort. Let’s go!