September 02, 2019

Ep 33: Jim McDermott, Managing Partner at Rusheen Capital Management, LLC

48 minutes

Today’s guest is Jim McDermott, Managing Director of Rusheen Capital Management, LLC.

Rusheen Capital Management is a Santa Monica, CA-based private equity firm that invests in growth-stage companies in the carbon capture and utilization, low-carbon energy and water sustainability sectors. Prior to co-founding RCM, Jim has started, invested in and run numerous companies. These include: US Renewables Group (Founder & Managing Partner), Stamps.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:STMP – Founder), Spoke Software, Inc. (Founder & CEO), Archive, Inc. (Founder & CEO – sold to Cyclone Commerce), NanoH2O, Inc. (Founder & Board Member – sold to LG Chemical), SolarReserve (Founder & Board Member), Fulcrum Bioenergy, Inc. (Founder & Board Member), Common Assets (Founder & Board Member – sold to NASDAQ:SCTY), SET Technology (Board Member) and OH Energy, Inc. (Founder & Board Member). Jim holds a BA in Philosophy from Colorado College and an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA.

In this episode we discuss:

Jim’s transition from dot com entrepreneur (back) to energy/climate

Formation and operation of US renewables group

Some examples of companies Jim has backed

His views on impact capital and how it returns relative to a more mercenary approach

Importance and necessity of carbon removal

Role of the big hydrocarbon companies looking backward and forward

Importance of policies like the 45Q tax credit

The emergence of the carbon-to-value economy

Some of the most exciting innovations to keep an eye on

What Jim would do with $100B if he could put it to work to maximize impact in the climate fight

Jim’s advice to people trying to find a way to help

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

Jim McDermott Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesacmcdermott/

US Renewables Group: https://usregroup.com/

Fulcrum BioEnergy: http://fulcrum-bioenergy.com/

Bret Kugelmass: https://www.myclimatejourney.co/episodes/bret-kugelmass

45Q tax credit: https://www.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/CATF_FactSheet_45QCarbonCaptureIncentives.pdf

Carbon Engineering: https://carbonengineering.com/

Renewable portfolio standard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_portfolio_standard

Oil depletion allowance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_depletion_allowance

Low carbon fuel standard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-carbon_fuel_standard

Electrolysis: https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-production-electrolysis

Photocatalyst and hydrogen production: https://phys.org/news/2017-05-photocatalyst-hydrogen-production-efficient.html

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

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