Ex-Meta CTO Says It's a Great Time to Build a Hard Tech Company
Former Meta CTO Mike Schroepfer argues that current market conditions are favorable for founding hard tech companies, citing advancements in AI, climate tech, and manufacturing as key drivers. He believes the need for deep-tech infrastructure and long-term investment horizons creates a unique opportunity for startups in these capital-intensive sectors.
Background
Mike Schroepfer (formerly Meta's CTO for over a decade) argues that the current downturn is the ideal moment to start a "hard tech" company — businesses focused on physical infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, energy, or deep engineering (as opposed to pure software). His new venture firm, Gigascale Capital, invests in these capital-intensive, long-development-cycle startups. The logic: during boom times, talent and capital chase quick software returns; in a downturn, the best engineers and scientists are available, and patient capital can build durable moats that software companies lack. Hard tech includes things like fusion reactors, battery recycling, carbon removal, or semiconductor fabrication — areas that are expensive to start but hard for competitors to copy once they work.