Cody Simms
Education
Goldsmiths, University of London
MA, Transnational Communications & Global Media 2002-01-01 - 2003-01-01
The University of Kansas
BA, History / East Asia Languages & Culture (Mandarin Chinese) 1995-01-01 - 1999-01-01
Princeton University
Intensive Mandarin Chinese, Princeton in Beijing 1997-01-01 - 1997-01-01Work Experience
MCJ
Current
MCJ
Climate Changemakers
Current
Climate Changemakers
Levers - The Framework for Building Repeatability into Your Business
Current
Levers - The Framework for Building Repeatability into Your Business
Techstars
2013-09-01 - 2021-10-01
Techstars
StumbleUpon
2012-06-01 - 2013-09-01
StumbleUpon
Yahoo
2005-08-01 - 2012-06-01
Yahoo
University of Southern California
2007-01-01 - 2010-12-01
University of Southern California
The New York Times
2003-09-01 - 2005-08-01
The New York Times
Sprint
2001-07-01 - 2002-08-01
Sprint
NBCUniversal
1999-08-01 - 2001-08-01
NBCUniversal
Skills
Summary
Cody Simms is Managing Partner at MCJ, a venture capital firm backing founders driving the transition of energy and industry and solving the inevitable impacts of climate change. MCJ portfolio companies include Crusoe, Base Power, Heirloom, Twelve, The Nuclear Company and dozens of other leading startups driving clean energy abundance, infrastructure resilience, and new industrialism. Cody is also the host of the firm’s podcast, Inevitable. He is co-founder of Climate Changemakers, a climate action non-profit, and co-author of the Amazon-bestselling book Levers: The Framework for Building Repeatability into Your Business (leversbook.com). Cody previously served as Senior Vice President of Climate & Sustainability at Techstars and as an investing Partner in Techstars' institutional venture funds. Cody joined Techstars in 2013 as the first Techstars Managing Director in Los Angeles while establishing the Disney Accelerator powered by Techstars and co-investing with Disney in 20 startups from 2014-15. Earlier in his career, Cody held roles including Chief Product Officer at StumbleUpon, Vice President of Product Management at Yahoo, and Product Manager at The New York Times, Sprint, and NBC Internet / Snap.com. He has taught graduate programs at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and he was four time Kansas state tennis champion in high school. He studied Chinese in college and lived in both Beijing and Guangzhou in the late 1990s, including time interning at the US Consulate during President Bill Clinton’s trip to China in 1998. He got into tech in 1999 via pre-IPO Snap.com / NBC Internet after he moved to San Francisco to try to get a job using his Chinese language skills and instead accidentally fell into the dotcom boom. Cody holds an M.A. with Distinction in Transnational Communication and Global Media from Goldsmiths College, University of London, and a is a Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude graduate of the University of Kansas with a B.A. in History and East Asian Languages and Cultures.
