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Cody Simms
Partner at MCJ Collective and Co-Founder of Climate Tech Organizations
Cody Simms is a Managing Partner at MCJ Collective, a venture capital firm based in Los Angeles that focuses on supporting technology startups aimed at addressing climate change and the energy transition. He co-hosts the "My Climate Journey" podcast and is a co-founder of Climate Changemakers, a non-profit organization dedicated to climate action. Additionally, he is a co-author of the Amazon-bestselling book Levers: The Framework for Building Repeatability into Your Business.
Simms has a diverse background in both technology and sustainability. Before joining MCJ Collective, he served as Senior Vice President of Climate & Sustainability at Techstars, where he was also an investing partner in their venture funds. His earlier career includes product leadership roles at notable companies such as Yahoo, StumbleUpon, and The New York Times. He holds a B.A. in History and East Asian Languages and Cultures from the University of Kansas and an M.A. in Transnational Communication and Global Media from Goldsmiths College, University of London.123
Highlights
Going into the conversation in Houston with Vicki Hollub at Oxy, I didn't know what to expect. I had never met with an oil and gas CEO before. I didn't know exactly what opinions she had with respect to climate change. I didn't know how she thought about the energy transition and the role of oil and gas in our future energy mix (spoiler quote from her from the episode: "So the energy transition is, in my view, not a transition away from oil and gas. It's a transition to a lower carbon world. So, that leaves open all technologies. That leaves open even a path for oil and gas to continue to be produced as long as it can become carbon-neutral.") I did know that Oxy is doing a lot in direct air capture and is arguably the early market leader in that space, but I wasn't sure how she thought about those efforts as it relates to their oil business or the carbon markets.
We covered all of this and more. I did not expect to hear some of what she shared, and I feel like I have more homework to do to fully understand the implications of their plan. But regardless, it was a packed discussion.
I hope you enjoy it and learn something from it, as I did.
