Think Like a Mountaineer: Lessons in Speed, Safety and Scaling with Crusoe

The startup building OpenAI and Oracle's 1.2 GW data center campus

It’s not often that a startup raises more than $1 billion, inks deals with Oracle and OpenAI to build a 1.2 GW data center campus, and unveils North America’s largest microgrid powered by large-scale solar and second-life EV batteries, all in the same year.

But Crusoe has done just that. We reconnected with CEO Chase Lochmiller, whose last appearance on the MCJ podcast in 2021 centered on Crusoe’s mission to capture flared natural gas for bitcoin mining. Since then, the company has evolved into a global leader in sustainable AI infrastructure. It has grown arguably faster in the past year than most companies do in a decade.

Chase’s years of alpine climbing, including summiting Mount Everest, offered him a mental model for preparation and disciplined risk-taking, one he now applies to Crusoe’s rapid buildout.

The ‘mountaineer mindset’ is simple: it’s the idea that reaching the summit is only half the journey. The same can be said for startups, where raising capital isn’t the end goal; it’s what you do next that determines survival and long-term impact. Below are a few proven principles to build by using Crusoe’s ‘mountaineer mindset.’

#1: Preparation is everything

In mountaineering and in billion-dollar infrastructure, success is determined long before the climb begins. You don’t just show up at base camp and start climbing. You plan every route and contingency. That’s how Crusoe approaches infrastructure.

Chase talks about front-loading design, modeling, and scenario testing so that when it’s time to execute, the team can move fast because the groundwork is already complete. There’s a clear line between moving fast recklessly and moving fast because you’ve prepared meticulously. Crusoe’s ability to build data centers at a record pace stems from doing the hard, often invisible work up front. They spent time challenging every traditional data-center assumption, preparing for every contingency, and approaching each project with the same discipline mountaineers bring to an expedition.

#2: Move light and fast, but safely

In mountaineering, traveling “light and fast” isn’t reckless but strategic. The less you’re waiting around on a mountain, the less exposure you have to shifting weather, avalanches, or fatigue. As Chase puts it, “Oftentimes, speed is actually a mechanism to be safe in mountains.” Crusoe builds infrastructure the same way.

By vertically integrating everything—from land and power development to data center design, construction, and GPU clusters—Crusoe removes the dependency bottlenecks that traditionally slow projects down. When one company controls the full stack, there are fewer handoffs, fewer miscommunications, and far more accountability.

This is the mindset that enabled Crusoe to break ground on its 1.2 GW Abilene campus and deliver its first 200 MW building in just 11 months.

#3: Let curiosity be your compass

On a mountain, curiosity pushes climbers to explore new routes instead of relying on the ones everyone else has taken. At Crusoe, that same instinct keeps the company from settling into industry convention.

Chase describes curiosity as one of Crusoe’s most important cultural traits. It’s what led the team from capturing flared gas to reimagining how AI infrastructure should be built. Instead of copying hyperscaler playbooks, Crusoe questioned every assumption, including siting data centers where energy is abundant rather than where real estate is cheap and designing modular systems that scale with power availability instead of forcing the grid to adapt to them.

This willingness to ask “why not?” is Crusoe’s competitive edge. It’s why they’re able to build faster, cleaner, and closer to the energy resources that will define the next era of compute.

#4: Safety culture scales trust

In the mountains, ambition means nothing without discipline. Chase summed it up simply:

“Getting up is optional, getting down is mandatory.”

Speed only works when the team shares a common understanding of risk and the responsibility that comes with moving fast around heavy equipment, high-voltage systems, and complex logistics.

Crusoe’s safety culture is fundamental to how the company operates. Thousands of employees and contractors follow the same playbook, speak the same language, and hold each other to the same standard. That consistency builds trust inside the organization and with external partners who need to know that Crusoe can execute big projects.

It’s the rope-team mentality applied to industrial infrastructure; move together, move deliberately, and move only as fast as the whole system can move safely. That’s a big part of why institutional partners like Brookfield and Blue Owl are willing to back Crusoe’s expansion into new regions and new energy markets.

Putting it all together

Chase’s mountaineering mindset isn’t really about Everest. It’s about how to build under pressure. At Crusoe, that means doing the unglamorous prep that enables speed, staying curious enough to question every assumption, and building a safety culture strong enough to support GW-scale ambition. These principles apply far beyond data centers or AI. Whether you’re constructing climate infrastructure or building an early prototype, the same themes hold: prepare deeply, move with intention, and create the trust your team needs to push higher.

For more, watch the conversation below or listen to the full episode wherever you get podcasts.

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🎥 The Lean Back

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🎙️ Inevitable Podcast

⚛️ Carrie von Muench, COO and Co-Founder of Pacific Fusion, shares how the company is translating recent fusion breakthroughs into a modular, pulser-driven system designed for net gain. Pacific Fusion’s approach can be mass-manufactured and built on domestic supply chains. Listen to the episode here.

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👩‍💻 Climate Jobs

Check out the Job Openings space in the MCJ Collective Member Hub or the MCJ Job Board for more.

🎉 We reached a new milestone of 100 successful hires in the MCJ portfolio! If you’re exploring roles in climate and energy startups, don’t overlook VC firms. They’re deeply plugged into founders, see hiring needs early, and often help match talent to open roles. If you’d like introductions across MCJ’s portfolio, fill out our talent form here.

• Senior Product Manager, Platform at Arcadia (Remote)

• Growth Operations Engineer at Base Power (Austin, TX)

• Senior Systems Software Engineer at Crusoe (San Francisco, CA)

• Chief of Staff or Finance & Admin Manager at Clean Crop Tech (Holyoke, MA)

• Product Designer at Euclide (Remote)

• Global Supply Manager at Heirloom (Brisbane, CA)

• Frontend Engineer at Light (Austin, TX)

• Content Specialist at MCJ (Remote, Part-Time)

• Head of Business Systems at The Nuclear Company (Columbia, SC)

• Enterprise Account Executive at Overstory (Remote)

• Senior Inventory Specialist at Pacific Fusion (Albuquerque, NM)

• Head of Communications at Zanskar (Salt Lake City, UT)

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