# James McWalter

> James McWalter is the Irish co-founder and CEO of Paces, a Brooklyn-based company providing AI software and services for power and renewable infrastructure development. His career spans financial data, startup operations and climate podcasting; he co-founded Paces with Charles Bai in 2022 and is an advocate for using AI to accelerate the construction of physical infrastructure.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Paces
- **Organizations:** Paces, Carbotnic, Build, Repeat., America Needs This, Respondent, Hello Vera, FactSet, Hale, Miscellany Theatre Productions, Y Combinator
- **Nationality:** Irish
- **Education:** BA in Philosophy and Psychology, University of Galway (then National University of Ireland, Galway), MLitt in Philosophy, University of St Andrews, Summer 2022 accelerator batch (not an academic degree), Y Combinator
- **Known for:** Co-founded Paces, a Y Combinator Summer 2022 company., Led Paces through its announced $11 million Series A in July 2024., Co-authored Fast, scalable, clean, and cheap enough, the December 2024 Offgrid AI report.

## Career timeline

- **1997** — His family farm in Ireland converted to organic agriculture, as he recalled in a 2025 interview.
- **2003-2006** — Studied philosophy and psychology at Galway.
- **2006-2007** — Completed postgraduate philosophy studies at the University of St Andrews.
- **Before 2017** — Worked at FactSet selling financial data and portfolio analytics; also co-founded Hale.
- **2017-2018** — Director of Business Development at Hello Vera; described himself as employee number one.
- **2018-2020** — Director of Operations at Respondent, a market research marketplace.
- **2020** — Began hosting the climate-focused podcast Carbotnic.
- **2021** — Publicly discussed WolfDe, a venture focused on decarbonizing food supply chains.
- **2022** — Co-founded Paces with Charles Bai and participated in Y Combinator Summer 2022.
- **2024** — Paces announced an $11 million Series A on July 24, led by Navitas Capital.
- **2024** — Co-authored the December Offgrid AI report with colleagues from Paces, Scale Microgrids and Stripe.
- **2026** — Published his updated one-person power-development-company essay and co-hosted America Needs This with Kyle Treige.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Paces, a Y Combinator Summer 2022 company.
- Led Paces through its announced $11 million Series A in July 2024.
- Co-authored Fast, scalable, clean, and cheap enough, the December 2024 Offgrid AI report.
- Built a public body of interviews through Carbotnic and Build, Repeat.
- Paces was selected to showcase at the July 2026 Permitting Innovators Expo, according to its press room.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — An October 7 Build, Repeat. episode features his Climate Week conversation with Redwood Materials energy storage executive Claire McConnell.
- **2026-09** — Co-hosted the first live America Needs This recording in New York with Kyle Treige; Core reported the event on October 1.
- **2026-07** — Paces announced selection for the Permitting Innovators Expo.
- **2026-02** — Published The rise of the AI-native power developer in Data Center Dynamics on February 21.
- **2026-01** — Published an updated foreword to The one-person, billion-dollar power development company on January 28, explaining that its original version was written in September 2025.

## Links

- Website: https://www.jamesmcwalter.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmcwalter/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/james_mcwalter
- GitHub: https://github.com/jmcwjmcw
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewinevagabond/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/james-mcwalter
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-25