#66 Tom Chi: The Capitalist Case for Cleaning Up Industry

I sit down with Tom Chi, founder and general partner of At One Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage, deep tech companies focused on cleaning up industry. Tom is an engineer by training and was a founding member of Google X team, where he helped lead early work on self-driving cars and augmented reality.

In this episode, we dig into why centralized production is so fragile, why climate solutions only scale when they deliver superior economics, how AI and robotics may decentralize production, and why the future depends on reconnecting wealth creation with real value creation.

Enjoy.

Recording date: May 27, 2026

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

01:55 Concept Of Distributed Sophistication

07:02 Fragility Of Centralized Production Systems

13:19 Venture Capital’s Role In Deep Tech

18:37 Deep Tech Unit Economics

25:06 Deep Tech Investment Timelines

31:03 Outdated Production Systems

34:36 Investors Piling Into Industrial Tech

41:38 Creating More Independent Business Ownership

48:57 AI And Warfare

52:55 Wealth Creation vs. Value Creation

56:14 Story Behind AtOne Ventures

01:00:31 Vertical Integration

01:03:25 Middlemen’s Role In The Real Economy

01:08:51 Tom’s Book: Climate Capital

01:09:49 Rapid Fire

Follow Jordan on X:

* https://x.com/jrwolfe

Connect with Tom Chi:

* At One Ventures: https://www.atoneventures.com/

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thegoodtomchi/

* Book - Climate Capital: https://www.atoneventures.com/insights/our-climate-playbook-is-broken--and-entrepreneurs-are-the-only-ones-who-can-fix-it

* Buy The Book Here: https://www.amazon.com/Climate-Capital-Investing-Regenerative-Future/dp/1394351240

Remember to go direct!

Jordan

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