Podcasts about starting greatness

On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we engage in a riveting conversation with Mike Maples Jr., co-founder of Floodgate and a prominent venture capitalist. This episode, which is a part of the "Creator Capitalist Conversations" miniseries, goes into the themes of entrepreneurship, personal capital, and the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI) in the ideation process. The dialogue offers a wealth of insights for aspiring entrepreneurs and seasoned business professionals alike. You're listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let's go.   Mike Maples Jr.'s Journey: From Entrepreneur to Venture Capitalist Christopher Lochhead sets the stage by introducing the miniseries "Creator Capitalist Conversations," which celebrates individuals who have carved their own paths in the business world. The episode features Mike Maples Jr., who shares his journey from a successful entrepreneur to a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley. This transition, marked by risk-taking and self-discovery, offers valuable lessons for anyone looking to forge their own path in business. Mike Maples Jr. recounts his significant career shift from being a well-respected founder and head of marketing for a successful software company in Texas to starting anew in Silicon Valley as a venture capitalist. This transition, he notes, is daunting for many, especially for someone who had already achieved a level of success and recognition. Mike's approach to risk-taking involves viewing new ventures as opportunities to explore interesting ideas rather than potential failures. This mindset allows him to gradually escalate his commitment as he gains confidence.   Mike Maples Jr. on the Importance of Self-Awareness Mike shares that the journey to discovering one's superpowers is often a gradual realization rather than a single defining moment. He emphasizes the importance of honoring one's time and using it to share one's unique gifts with the world. This perspective aligns with the Japanese concept of "ikigai," which represents the intersection of what one loves, what the world needs, what one can be paid for, and what one is good at. Mike then discusses the distinction between deep work—discovering new knowledge—and harnessing pre-existing knowledge. He notes that many high-paying jobs rely on established knowledge, which may become commoditized in the age of AI. By integrating the insights of others with his unique perspective, Mike has developed a robust intellectual framework that guides his investment decisions.   Exploring Airbnb's Seed Deck: A Case Study in Innovation Mike Maples Jr. shares an intriguing case study involving Airbnb's original seed deck from 2008. Using a software tool he developed, the "Pattern Breakers Insight Stress Test," he analyzes Airbnb's business model. This analysis reveals that everyday people would rent their private homes to strangers, creating a new category of accommodation that transcends traditional hotels. This insight is underpinned by several inflection points, including the growing comfort with online transactions and the rising consumer preference for authentic experiences. Encouraged by the insights gained from Airbnb's seed deck, Mike explores further possibilities, including creating a business model canvas, potential logo designs, and a narrative framework for Airbnb. This exploration leads him to realize that similar analytical techniques can be applied to various mental models, facilitating ideation and refinement. To hear more from Mike Maples Jr. and his thoughts on careers that withstand the test of time and tech, download and listen to this episode.   Bio Mike Maples Jr. is an entrepreneur turned venture capitalist. He's co-founder of Silicon Valley based, early-stage VC Floodgate. And the host of the popular “Starting Greatness” podcast.

Your chances of winning the lottery are horrible. Still, a lot of people play. This episode starts by revealing a few things worth knowing about playing the lottery – even though you likely won't ever win the big jackpot. https://www.wired.com/video/watch/lottery-strategy Stories of how great ideas become successful are always fascinating – particularly when those ideas are so different than anything that came before it. Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, Twitch, Twitter are all successful companies that broke a lot of rules on the road to success. They had to. Here to reveal how they and others do it is Mike Maples Jr. He is a venture capitalist who was an early investor in Twitter (he passed on Airbnb) and he knows what it takes to take an idea and make it soar. Mike is the co-founder of Floodgate, a leading seed stage fund in Silicon Valley that invested in companies like Twitter, Twitch, and others at the very beginning. Mike is host of the podcast Starting Greatness (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/starting-greatness/id1488560647) and author of the book Pattern Breakers: Why Some Start-Ups Change the Future (https://amzn.to/3W8BXlT) We've all heard of black holes. They are those places in space that have such a strong gravitational pull that nothing can escape them – not even light. What you may not know is that there are black holes in the center of every galaxy and without black holes – or at least the one in the middle of our galaxy, we may not even be here. Joining me to discuss what black holes are, what they do and why you should care is Marcus Chown. He is an award winning science writer and broadcaster, former radio astronomer at the California Institute of Technology and author of several books, including A Crack in Everything: How Black Holes Came in from the Cold and Took Cosmic Centre Stage (https://amzn.to/3W9cFUE) If you are concerned about your skin – and skin cancer, I'm sure you use sunscreen. While that's a good thing, skin cancer rates are up. The implication is that sunscreen alone isn't enough and in fact your diet may have an impact on how the sun treats your skin. Listen as I explain the details. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/08/well/eat/diet-skin-cancer-risk-melanoma.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earlier this week, I visited the offices of Floodgate Partners in Menlo Park to talk with its co-founding partner Mike Maples. As an early investor in Twitter, Twitch.tv and many other successful start-ups, Maples is one of Silicon Valley's most respected venture capitalists. He is, to borrow the title of his new book, an investor in “Pattern Breakers” - entrepreneurs whose radical innovations challenge preexisting conventions and, quite literally, change the future. But, as he explained, while pattern breakers might sometimes have to be disagreeable, that doesn't justify what he calls the “jerks “who all-too-often do a disservice to the business of building the future. Mike Maples is a co-founding Partner at Floodgate.  He has been on the Forbes Midas List eight times in the last decade and was also named a “Rising Star” by FORTUNE and profiled by Harvard Business School for his lifetime contributions to entrepreneurship. Before becoming a full-time investor, Mike was involved as a founder and operating executive at back-to-back startup IPOs, including Tivoli Systems (IPO TIVS, acquired by IBM) and Motive (IPO MOTV, acquired by Alcatel-Lucent.) Some of Mike's investments include Twitter, Twitch.tv, Clover Health, Okta, Outreach, ngmoco, Chegg, Bazaarvoice, and Demandforce. Mike is known for coining the term “Thunder Lizards,” which is a metaphor derived from Godzilla that describes the tiny number of truly exceptional companies that are wildly disruptive capitalist mutations. Mike likes to think of himself as a hunter of the “atomic eggs” that beget these companies. Mike is the host of the Starting Greatness podcast, which shares startup lessons from the super performers.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

On this episode of the Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different we have a conversation with Mike Maples Jr., co-founder of Floodgate, about his new book "Pattern Breakers." We explore the concept of Pattern Breakers, non-consensus thinking, and the breakthrough sequence for startups. Mike shares some insights on the role of language in defining new patterns and the significance of early adopters. The conversation provides valuable perspectives on the mindset and strategies essential for entrepreneurial breakthroughs and category design. You're listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let's go. Mike Maples Jr on Understanding Pattern Breakers Mike Maples Jr. introduces the concept of pattern breakers as individuals or companies that disrupt the status quo by proposing radically different futures. These entities don't just imagine a different future; they live in it, tinkering with new technologies and experiencing firsthand the opportunities to break the limits of current thinking, feeling, and acting. Mike also discusses non-consensus thinking, and how is crucial it is for pattern breakers. It involves challenging widely accepted norms and beliefs to create transformative value. He emphasizes that breakthrough startups often face resistance from the present and the status quo, making it essential for founders to be disagreeable in the right situations. The Breakthrough Sequence for Startups The first step in the breakthrough sequence is achieving insight breakthroughs. Founders need to immerse themselves in the future they envision, understanding new opportunities and creating new patterns. Mike uses examples of legendary founders like Marc Andreessen and Bob Metcalfe, who were visitors from the future, to illustrate this point. Once insight breakthroughs are achieved, the next step is to achieve product-market fit. This involves building what's missing for early adopters and lighthouse customers, who play a crucial role in shaping the direction of a startup. Founders must listen to these early believers and co-create the future with them. The final step in the breakthrough sequence is driving growth. This involves creating a movement and category design, gradually moving more people to the envisioned future. Mike highlights the importance of using differentiated language to escape the comparison trap and the conformity trap, leading people into a different future. The Role of Big Companies in Creating Breakthroughs Big companies can also create breakthroughs by harnessing inflections and insights to change the future. Mike discusses different approaches big companies can take, such as sustaining innovation, organic growth, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and partnering. However, he also acknowledges the challenges and biases that come with being a successful company. One effective strategy for big companies is backcasting, where leaders stand in the future and look back to the present, envisioning how they achieved a radically different future. This approach helps companies switch their mental scaffolding from being in the present and looking forward to being in the future and looking back to the present. To hear more from Mike Maples Jr on Pattern Breakers and creating breakthroughs for your company, download and listen to this episode. Bio Mike Maples Jr. is an entrepreneur turned venture capitalist. He's co-founder of Silicon Valley based, early-stage VC Floodgate. And the host of the popular “Starting Greatness” podcast. Investments include Twitter, Lyft, Bazaarvoice, Sparefoot, Ayasdi, Xamarin, Doubledutch, Twitch.tv, Playdom, Chegg, Demandforce, Rappi, Smule, and Outreach. Link Connect with Mike Maples Jr.! Floodgate | Twitter | LinkedIn | Starting Greatness Podcast Check out Mike's new book, Pattern Breakers! Amazon Books | Porchlight Books | Starting Greatness | Patte...

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Key Takeaways  Be non-consensus, but right: Great startups identify something that is missing in the future that no one else realizes is missing Figure out what you want that you can't already get, then build it It is important for the founders of a company to truly want the thing that they are creating You must be willing to have thoughts and say things that cause investors to say, “that is the dumbest thing that I've ever heard” You can succeed with a consensus idea if you are willing to relentlessly out-execute everyone else, but it is going to be much harder than succeeding with a non-consensus idea Seek honest feedback from users and consumers instead of seeking validation from them Have a broad hypothesis, but be open to the non-obvious thing when it presents itself or when you discover it Winning is a mindset that pervades all elseErr on the side of over-persistence; people tend to give up before they really give something a shot Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgEmmett Shear was a gamer long before he helped define one of the most important new media companies at the intersection of gaming, media, and the creator economy. What can we learn from his success as a founder? (hint: it has something to do with truly listening to users.) Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike. You can also pre-order Mike's new book Pattern Breakers wherever you buy books.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Key Takeaways  Be non-consensus, but right: Great startups identify something that is missing in the future that no one else realizes is missing Figure out what you want that you can't already get, then build it It is important for the founders of a company to truly want the thing that they are creating You must be willing to have thoughts and say things that cause investors to say, “that is the dumbest thing that I've ever heard” You can succeed with a consensus idea if you are willing to relentlessly out-execute everyone else, but it is going to be much harder than succeeding with a non-consensus idea Seek honest feedback from users and consumers instead of seeking validation from them Have a broad hypothesis, but be open to the non-obvious thing when it presents itself or when you discover it Winning is a mindset that pervades all elseErr on the side of over-persistence; people tend to give up before they really give something a shot Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgEmmett Shear was a gamer long before he helped define one of the most important new media companies at the intersection of gaming, media, and the creator economy. What can we learn from his success as a founder? (hint: it has something to do with truly listening to users.) Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike. You can also pre-order Mike's new book Pattern Breakers wherever you buy books.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Key Takeaways  Be non-consensus, but right: Great startups identify something that is missing in the future that no one else realizes is missing Figure out what you want that you can't already get, then build it It is important for the founders of a company to truly want the thing that they are creating You must be willing to have thoughts and say things that cause investors to say, “that is the dumbest thing that I've ever heard” You can succeed with a consensus idea if you are willing to relentlessly out-execute everyone else, but it is going to be much harder than succeeding with a non-consensus idea Seek honest feedback from users and consumers instead of seeking validation from them Have a broad hypothesis, but be open to the non-obvious thing when it presents itself or when you discover it Winning is a mindset that pervades all elseErr on the side of over-persistence; people tend to give up before they really give something a shot Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgEmmett Shear was a gamer long before he helped define one of the most important new media companies at the intersection of gaming, media, and the creator economy. What can we learn from his success as a founder? (hint: it has something to do with truly listening to users.) Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike. You can also pre-order Mike's new book Pattern Breakers wherever you buy books.

Mike Maples, Jr. of Floodgate is back with a new season of his podcast, once called Starting Greatness, now renamed Pattern Breakers. The focus remains, but with increased ambitions. In this season intro, Mike explains his reasons for expanding the podcast's scope, what listeners can anticipate going forward, and details about a forthcoming book set to release this summer. Subscribe now so you don't miss an episode, and check out the new Pattern Breakers letter on Substack at www.patternbreakers.substack.com to read essays and receive updates about what we can learn from the rare startups that achieved outlier success. It's go time for Pattern Breakers! Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike.

Helene Servillon is a first generation Filipino-American from San Francisco that is a multi-faceted entrepreneur, operator and venture capitalist across emerging industries. She is a Founding Partner of JourneyOne Ventures, a 100% woman and minority-owned cannabis and psychedelics fund who was named a top global exec to watch in the cannabis industry by Benzinga. Outside of JourneyOne, Helene is a Senior Advisor at Bowen, a growth tech investment bank with a 20 year track record in M&A. She also spends her time advising women-led companies and entrepreneur organizations.    We discuss empowering women through an AAPI lens and the importance of creating our own space. Helene shares her Filipino heritage and the challenges of being a first-generation Filipino in San Francisco and navigating a space that is mostly white and male dominated. Join us for this insightful conversation as we dive into her incredible career and experiences.    Five golden nuggets on how to get started as an investor: Listen to Podcasts: There's a wealth of free information available through podcasts. Engage with podcasts like "20 Minute VC" by Harry Stebbing and "Starting Greatness" by Mike Maples, Jr., which interview various investors and provide insights into their investment journeys. Identify Strengths and Weaknesses: Know your strengths and weaknesses as an investor. If you have expertise in a specific sector, follow newsletters, LinkedIn profiles, and Twitter accounts of venture funds and partners who invest in that sector to stay updated on their investments and insights. Scout Programs: Some venture funds offer Scout programs, where individuals with specialized networks or industry expertise can become scouts. You can introduce potential founders to the fund, and if an investment is made, you could receive compensation and potential future profit from the company. Networking: Networking is a crucial aspect of being a successful venture capitalist investor. Attend industry events like startup tech weeks or tech events in your city to build connections and make yourself known within the startup and investing community. Pay It Forward: Always be willing to help others in the industry. If someone is kind and helpful to you, offer assistance in return. Building a reputation for being helpful and collaborative can benefit your network and reputation as an investor. Connect with Herlene: LinkedIn: Helene Servillon Twitter: @HServillon Instagram: @yahuh431   Connect with JourneyOne Social: Website: JourneyOne Ventures Newsletter: JourneyOne Ventures The Roll Up LinkedIn: JourneyOne Ventures Twitter: @JourneyOneVC Instagram: @journeyone.vc Connect with me: Email: mayly@donutprincessla.com Business Website: www.donutprincessla.com YouTube: Mayly Tao / DONUT PRINCESS LA Instagram: @donutprincessla / @maylytao Facebook: Donut Princess Los Angeles Twitter: Donut Princess LA  Tiktok: teochewdaily LinkedIn: Mayly Tao Apple Podcast: Short N' Sweet: A Donut Princess Podcast  *Help me self-publish my mom's book about her journey to America: https://gofund.me/e2569649 *Watch the Donut King Film here: thedonutkingfilm.com (also available on Apple TV, Google Play, and Amazon Prime Now)  

“My whole business isn't about how often I lose but it's about the magnitude of the rightness when I win”  Mike Maples is a co-founding Partner at Floodgate.  He has been on the Forbes Midas List eight times in the last decade and was also named a “Rising Star” by FORTUNE and profiled by Harvard Business School for his lifetime contributions to entrepreneurship.  Before becoming a full-time investor, Mike was involved as a founder and operating executive at back-to-back startup IPOs, including Tivoli Systems (IPO TIVS, acquired by IBM) and Motive (IPO MOTV, acquired by Alcatel-Lucent.) Some of Mike's investments include Twitter, Twitch.tv, Clover Health, Okta, Outreach, ngmoco, Chegg, Bazaarvoice, and Demandforce. Mike is the host of the Starting Greatness podcast, which shares startup lessons from the super performers. On this episode Mike shares the mindset that has had the greatest impact on his life, what is true about the greatest startup founders and the key to unlocking greatness in investments.  Interested in having Sean DeLaney be your executive coach? CLICK HERE  Caldera Lab– Get 20% off high performance men's skincare!  – Click HERE Marketer Hire– Get $500 off your first hire! – Click HERE https://youunleashedcourse.com/ You Unleashed is an online personal development course created by Sean DeLaney after spending years working with and interviewing high achievers.The online course that helps you ‘Unleash your potential'! You Unleashed teaches you the MINDSETS, ROUTINES and BEHAVIORS you need to unleash your potential and discover what you're capable of. You know you're capable of more and want to bring out that untapped potential inside of you. We teach you how. Enroll Today!- Click Here Subscribe to my Momentum Monday Newsletter Connect with us! Whatgotyouthere TikTok YouTube Twitter Instagram   

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples When he was a little boy growing up in Sweden, Daniel Ek was obsessed with two things: the binary realm of computers and the artistry of music. As a young adult, he combined his love for both by co-founding Spotify, which became the global standard-bearer for streaming, Spotify now has more than 500 million users per month. In this episode, Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE interviews Daniel Ek to break down the importance of recognizing technology infections, securing the perfect niche to secure early product-market fit, and how creating something radically different changed the music industry while redefining consumer listening habits.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples When he was a little boy growing up in Sweden, Daniel Ek was obsessed with two things: the binary realm of computers and the artistry of music. As a young adult, he combined his love for both by co-founding Spotify, which became the global standard-bearer for streaming, Spotify now has more than 500 million users per month. In this episode, Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE interviews Daniel Ek to break down the importance of recognizing technology infections, securing the perfect niche to secure early product-market fit, and how creating something radically different changed the music industry while redefining consumer listening habits.

On this episode of Lochhead on Marketing, we have a dialogue with Mike Maples Jr. on how artificial intelligence is changing startups and venture capital. Mike Maples Jr. is the co-founder of Floodgate, one of the highest profile early stage venture capitalists. He also has a podcast called Starting Greatness, and it is one of my absolute favorites. By the end of it, we hope that you'll gain a new way to think about both technical risk for startups and market risk. And why in an AI world, you must either be radically different or radically disintermediate something. Welcome to Lochhead on Marketing. The number one charting marketing podcast for marketers, category designers, and entrepreneurs with a different mind. Mike Maples Jr. on AI We begin the discussion on the topic of challenges of making sense of the rapidly evolving field of AI. Mike also talks about the traditional funding model of startups, where the primary focus was taking out technical risk, and how the LAMP stack, which commoditized what was once expensive, made it easier to start a startup. Mike notes that the nature of the LAMP stack changed what startups were funded for. “What I like to say is that the LAMP stack was deflationary in terms of the cost of starting startup. And so what does that mean? It meant that what you were funding was different, because if Kevin Rose can start dig for $1,500, over a weekend, there's no technical risks there. I mean, he hired a contractor to do it that he didn't even know at the time.” – Mike Maples Jr. Who gets Product Market Fit first The conversation then moves on to the changing dynamics of venture capital investment. The discussion continues with the notion that technical risk and market risk are inversely related. Solving a technically difficult problem that is valuable to society will create a market; if the problem is easy to solve technically, it will all come down to who achieves product-market fit first. To add value to the business, Floodgate and YC have taken the approach of funding market risk takedown. As technology becomes more commoditized and innovations become more accessible, the person who creates something people want the quickest wins. This is why YC was so successful: it offered young people $100,000 to either take market risks or leave. He also mentions that the traditional venture capital model may not be appropriate for all businesses and that deflationary factors such as content, code, and data may change the way businesses are built. Mike Maples Jr. on AI and the future of Venture Capital Mike Maples Jr. then returns to the topic of artificial intelligence and its implications for the future of venture capital. Here, Mike emphasizes two ends of the risk spectrum: high technical risk and high market risk. On the one hand, some projects require large amounts of funding for mass computation in order to build massive models that have the potential to change humanity. On the other hand, AI is being used in a variety of fields, including content generation for marketing, customer service chatbots, and lead generation, resulting in a deflationary effect on content, code, and data. According to Mike, some businesses may not require traditional venture capital funding and should instead focus on achieving $50 million in revenue with a small team and minimal funding. There is also speculation that the current billion-dollar funds may be providing the wrong incentives to these companies. To hear more from Mike Maples Jr. and how AI can affect the future of startups and venture capital, download and listen to this episode. Bio Mike Maples Jr. is an entrepreneur turned venture capitalist. He's co-founder of Silicon Valley based, early-stage VC Floodgate. And the host of the popular “Starting Greatness” podcast. Investments include Twitter, Lyft, Bazaarvoice, Sparefoot, Ayasdi, Xamarin, Doubledutch, Twitch.tv, Playdom, Chegg, Demandforce, Rappi, Smule, and Outreach. Link

On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we have a dialogue with Mike Maples Jr. on how artificial intelligence is changing startups and venture capital. Mike Maples Jr. is the co-founder of Floodgate, one of the highest profile early stage venture capitalists. He also has a podcast called Starting Greatness, and it is one of my absolute favorites. By the end of it, we hope that you'll gain a new way to think about both technical risk for startups and market risk. And why in an AI world, you must either be radically different or radically disintermediate something. You're listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let's go. Mike Maples Jr. on AI We begin the discussion on the topic of challenges of making sense of the rapidly evolving field of AI. Mike also talks about the traditional funding model of startups, where the primary focus was taking out technical risk, and how the LAMP stack, which commoditized what was once expensive, made it easier to start a startup. Mike notes that the nature of the LAMP stack changed what startups were funded for. “What I like to say is that the LAMP stack was deflationary in terms of the cost of starting startup. And so what does that mean? It meant that what you were funding was different, because if Kevin Rose can start dig for $1,500, over a weekend, there's no technical risks there. I mean, he hired a contractor to do it that he didn't even know at the time.” – Mike Maples Jr.   Who gets Product Market Fit first The conversation then moves on to the changing dynamics of venture capital investment. The discussion continues with the notion that technical risk and market risk are inversely related. Solving a technically difficult problem that is valuable to society will create a market; if the problem is easy to solve technically, it will all come down to who achieves product-market fit first. To add value to the business, Floodgate and YC have taken the approach of funding market risk takedown. As technology becomes more commoditized and innovations become more accessible, the person who creates something people want the quickest wins. This is why YC was so successful: it offered young people $100,000 to either take market risks or leave. He also mentions that the traditional venture capital model may not be appropriate for all businesses and that deflationary factors such as content, code, and data may change the way businesses are built. Mike Maples Jr. on AI and the future of Venture Capital Mike Maples Jr. then returns to the topic of artificial intelligence and its implications for the future of venture capital. Here, Mike emphasizes two ends of the risk spectrum: high technical risk and high market risk. On the one hand, some projects require large amounts of funding for mass computation in order to build massive models that have the potential to change humanity. On the other hand, AI is being used in a variety of fields, including content generation for marketing, customer service chatbots, and lead generation, resulting in a deflationary effect on content, code, and data. According to Mike, some businesses may not require traditional venture capital funding and should instead focus on achieving $50 million in revenue with a small team and minimal funding. There is also speculation that the current billion-dollar funds may be providing the wrong incentives to these companies. To hear more from Mike Maples Jr. and how AI can affect the future of startups and venture capital, download and listen to this episode. Bio Mike Maples Jr. is an entrepreneur turned venture capitalist. He's co-founder of Silicon Valley based, early-stage VC Floodgate. And the host of the popular “Starting Greatness” podcast. Investments include Twitter, Lyft, Bazaarvoice, Sparefoot, Ayasdi, Xamarin, Doubledutch, Twitch.tv, Playdom,

Pirate Lochhead is sailing the seven seas this week, so we're dropping a legendary conversation that he had recently with Mike Maples Jr. and Ann Miura on the Starting Greatness Podcast. They discuss the recent SVB bank run that lead to a variety of situations and accusations by “experts” on social media. They also discuss what lessons a Founder can learn by studying the cause and effect of such crisis and circumstances. Welcome to Lochhead on Marketing. The number one charting marketing podcast for marketers, category designers, and entrepreneurs with a different mind. How a crisis can make us better Mike opens up the discussion by stating that while crisis is something we do not wish to happen on anyone, it can be a valuable source of information and introspection on what Founders can improve upon within their own companies and organizations. No one saw it coming Ann Miura shares that the SVB bank run has caught her completely unawares, as did most of the companies in Silicon Valley. Even those who had their teams monitoring SVB activities only caught wind of the situation a day or two before it happened, and by then it was already too late even for them. The Difference between the Public and the Founders Ann also observed that while people on social media and the news media are shouting doomsday scenarios and blaming each other over the situation, the Founders that she was working with at Floodgate had their head down and was busy finding ways to mitigate the situation, and looking at possible scenarios to move forward, should the SVB run not get resolved in the near future. It showed a stark contrast on how the mind of a Founder operates in crisis situations, and it should be something that a lot of business leaders should emulate if they themselves suffer through a sudden situation that needed their immediate focus and levelheadedness. To hear more from Mike Maples Jr. Ann Miura, and the Pirate Lochhead himself, download and listen to this episode. Check out more Starting Greatness episodes! Bio Christopher Lochhead is a #1 Apple podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger. He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur. Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist. In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion. He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Check out Starting Greatness Episode Page & Show NotesRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgStartup founders dealt with uncertainty, stress and trauma in the wake of the run on Silicon Valley Bank, but the most important lessons from this crisis never showed up in social media. In this lesson of greatness, Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE calls on the actions of a variety of founders who showed incredible courage and competence to showcase three crucial lessons for founders for how to deal with another potential crisis: Scenario planning, financial agility, and crisis communication.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Check out Starting Greatness Episode Page & Show NotesRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgStartup founders dealt with uncertainty, stress and trauma in the wake of the run on Silicon Valley Bank, but the most important lessons from this crisis never showed up in social media. In this lesson of greatness, Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE calls on the actions of a variety of founders who showed incredible courage and competence to showcase three crucial lessons for founders for how to deal with another potential crisis: Scenario planning, financial agility, and crisis communication.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples: Read the notes at at podcastnotes.org. Don't forget to subscribe for free to our newsletter, the top 10 ideas of the week, every Monday --------- Startup founders dealt with uncertainty, stress and trauma in the wake of the run on Silicon Valley Bank, but the most important lessons from this crisis never showed up in social media. In this lesson of greatness, Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE calls on the actions of a variety of founders who showed incredible courage and competence to showcase three crucial lessons for founders for how to deal with another potential crisis: Scenario planning, financial agility, and crisis communication.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Check out Starting Greatness Episode Page & Show NotesRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgStartup founders dealt with uncertainty, stress and trauma in the wake of the run on Silicon Valley Bank, but the most important lessons from this crisis never showed up in social media. In this lesson of greatness, Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE calls on the actions of a variety of founders who showed incredible courage and competence to showcase three crucial lessons for founders for how to deal with another potential crisis: Scenario planning, financial agility, and crisis communication.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Boom Supersonic is the first entrepreneurial commercial airliner startup in a century The airliner industry has been taken over by financial types starting in the 1970s, which is one of the reasons why innovation has stalled Don't dismiss the thing that you actually want to create for the thing you think you're good at because what you are good at can change with the right motivation and effort “We're just taking a 787, making it long and skinny, changing the wing shape, and putting in more engines.” – Blake Scholl Very special companies, typically founder-led, are the only companies willing to cannibalize their current business to build for the future  A technically-credible founder, effective storytelling, meaningful partnerships, and top-tier talent are required for a company to succeed Half of Boom Supersonic's seed money came from investors that Blake knew from his previous company, and the other half came from investors that were passionate about aviation but thought he was crazy for trying to do thisWhen in fundraising mode, accomplish milestones that are actually progress, but also ones that look like progress Tangible, visible, relatable progress is essential for being able to fundraise  Avoid the Bystander Effect, which describes how the more people that are watching a problem, the less likely it is that any one of those people will do something about it Falling victim to the Bystander Effect prevents society's most important and obvious problems from being solvedRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgMore than fifty years after the first Concorde took flight, consumer air travel is actually SLOWER. Blake Scholl and his team at Boom Supersonic are out to reverse this stagnation and change how we think about commercial aviation. In this episode, Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE interviews Scholl to learn more about the history of American aviation, the origins of Boom Supersonic and the challenges it faces now, and how tech founders are exploring unfamiliar spaces with great success.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples: Read the notes at at podcastnotes.org. Don't forget to subscribe for free to our newsletter, the top 10 ideas of the week, every Monday --------- More than fifty years after the first Concorde took flight, consumer air travel is actually SLOWER. Blake Scholl and his team at Boom Supersonic are out to reverse this stagnation and change how we think about commercial aviation. In this episode, Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE interviews Scholl to learn more about the history of American aviation, the origins of Boom Supersonic and the challenges it faces now, and how tech founders are exploring unfamiliar spaces with great success.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Boom Supersonic is the first entrepreneurial commercial airliner startup in a century The airliner industry has been taken over by financial types starting in the 1970s, which is one of the reasons why innovation has stalled Don't dismiss the thing that you actually want to create for the thing you think you're good at because what you are good at can change with the right motivation and effort “We're just taking a 787, making it long and skinny, changing the wing shape, and putting in more engines.” – Blake Scholl Very special companies, typically founder-led, are the only companies willing to cannibalize their current business to build for the future  A technically-credible founder, effective storytelling, meaningful partnerships, and top-tier talent are required for a company to succeed Half of Boom Supersonic's seed money came from investors that Blake knew from his previous company, and the other half came from investors that were passionate about aviation but thought he was crazy for trying to do thisWhen in fundraising mode, accomplish milestones that are actually progress, but also ones that look like progress Tangible, visible, relatable progress is essential for being able to fundraise  Avoid the Bystander Effect, which describes how the more people that are watching a problem, the less likely it is that any one of those people will do something about it Falling victim to the Bystander Effect prevents society's most important and obvious problems from being solvedRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgMore than fifty years after the first Concorde took flight, consumer air travel is actually SLOWER. Blake Scholl and his team at Boom Supersonic are out to reverse this stagnation and change how we think about commercial aviation. In this episode, Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE interviews Scholl to learn more about the history of American aviation, the origins of Boom Supersonic and the challenges it faces now, and how tech founders are exploring unfamiliar spaces with great success.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Boom Supersonic is the first entrepreneurial commercial airliner startup in a century The airliner industry has been taken over by financial types starting in the 1970s, which is one of the reasons why innovation has stalled Don't dismiss the thing that you actually want to create for the thing you think you're good at because what you are good at can change with the right motivation and effort “We're just taking a 787, making it long and skinny, changing the wing shape, and putting in more engines.” – Blake Scholl Very special companies, typically founder-led, are the only companies willing to cannibalize their current business to build for the future  A technically-credible founder, effective storytelling, meaningful partnerships, and top-tier talent are required for a company to succeed Half of Boom Supersonic's seed money came from investors that Blake knew from his previous company, and the other half came from investors that were passionate about aviation but thought he was crazy for trying to do thisWhen in fundraising mode, accomplish milestones that are actually progress, but also ones that look like progress Tangible, visible, relatable progress is essential for being able to fundraise  Avoid the Bystander Effect, which describes how the more people that are watching a problem, the less likely it is that any one of those people will do something about it Falling victim to the Bystander Effect prevents society's most important and obvious problems from being solvedRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgMore than fifty years after the first Concorde took flight, consumer air travel is actually SLOWER. Blake Scholl and his team at Boom Supersonic are out to reverse this stagnation and change how we think about commercial aviation. In this episode, Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE interviews Scholl to learn more about the history of American aviation, the origins of Boom Supersonic and the challenges it faces now, and how tech founders are exploring unfamiliar spaces with great success.

On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we talk about the idea of startup capital, how to have an exponential career, and maybe even a new way to think about the future with our guest, Mike Maples, Jr. Mike Maples, Jr. is the co-founder of Floodgate Capital. Floodgate has led early-stage investments in companies like Twitter, Lyft, and much more. His podcast, Starting Greatness, is truly one of the greatest business podcasts there is. That said, let's get into the discussion of how to think about the future. From Value Creators to Rent Seekers Mike Maples, Jr. dives into the idea of the industries and business leader's mindset and drive for creating new ideas or the lack thereof. At the time when the animating forces behind industrial economy was mass production, mass distribution, and eventually mass computation, the focus in new technology and ideas revolved around improving performance. Over time, it evolved into developing networks, whether physical or via software, and value was derived on how vast your network reached. Fast forward to recent years, in which Mike started noticing that there was a disconnect with most of the ideas from the founder of a company, to its current inheritors. A lot of them are starting to focus on creating a status quo, rather than moving forward. As a result, a lot of people in business make money through financial engineering rather than things that improve productivity. “They've transition from being value creators to rent seekers. And they've started to become more interested in preserving their institutional power than in fulfilling their mission to their constituents.” – Mike Maples, Jr. Mike Maples, Jr. on Nurturing an Economy that Rewards Productivity According to Mike, the issue nowadays is that people make money from the market without creating new ideas, and are incentivized to do it in the current financial economy. In order to become a successful society, we need to incentivize productive behaviors to move forward. “So hedge fund guy borrows money close to 0%, and then buys IBM stock or loans at IBM so they can buy back their own stock. And since they know they're gonna do that they front run it. And so Okay, did any jobs get created in that? No. Did any new products get created in that? No. But people who played financial engineering games did well. And what you want is an economy that is not financialized. You want an economy that rewards productivity gains, because fundamentally all abundance and standard of living advancement comes from people being more productive.” – Mike Maples, Jr. Engaging in fakery and keeping this charade of an economy will just lead to a cycle of economic bubbles and bursts in the future. Startup Capitalism If the current system won't lend itself to shifting back to a productive economy, then the third option is to exit. Though it was not as feasible before as it is now, Bitcoin and other non-Fiat currencies have given us the chance to break free and start over, without being tied down by Fiat economies. That said, Mike has been playing around the idea of a Startup Capitalism. As with most startups, they focus on creating a different future than just following the current flow of things. Which is why startups are born from the pursuit of new ideas, and could be the drive to a more productive economy that Mike wanted. And you don't necessarily need to start a new company to create a startup. It could be born inside a bigger one, much like the iPhone inside Apple. “At the very least, you get to exercise the option of doing things in a different way. “– Mike Maples, Jr. To hear more from Mike Maples, Jr. and his ideas on how to Rethink the Future, download and listen to this episode. Bio Mike Maples, Jr. is the Co-Founder and Partner at Floodgate, the host of the Starting Greatness podcast and a Co-conspirator with awesome Startup Founders. Links Connect with Mike! Website: Floodgate |Twitter: @m2jr | LinkedIn: in/Ma...

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE welcomes back go-to-market expert and Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer Mark Leslie for the second of their two-part interview, this time focusing on the role and responsibilities of a CEO and a deep dive into Leslie's Compass, an essential set of heuristics for every startup founder. Leslie also discusses the value of founders focusing on a five-year plan for their startup, why it's challenging to make meaningful change inside a large company, and why every founder should understand the relationship between their sales and marketing departments.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE welcomes back go-to-market expert and Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer Mark Leslie for the second of their two-part interview, this time focusing on the role and responsibilities of a CEO and a deep dive into Leslie's Compass, an essential set of heuristics for every startup founder. Leslie also discusses the value of founders focusing on a five-year plan for their startup, why it's challenging to make meaningful change inside a large company, and why every founder should understand the relationship between their sales and marketing departments.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples During the 1990s, Mark co-founded Veritas Systems, which he piloted from nothing to 6,000 employees and $1.5B in revenue in a decade. Now a lecturer in management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Leslie is one of the foremost experts in go-to-market strategy in Silicon Valley, and in the first of this two-part series with Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE, Leslie discusses what strategies he used to make Veritas a runaway success, and the origins for the Sales Learning Curve.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples During the 1990s, Mark co-founded Veritas Systems, which he piloted from nothing to 6,000 employees and $1.5B in revenue in a decade. Now a lecturer in management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Leslie is one of the foremost experts in go-to-market strategy in Silicon Valley, and in the first of this two-part series with Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE, Leslie discusses what strategies he used to make Veritas a runaway success, and the origins for the Sales Learning Curve.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Check out Starting Greatness Episode Page & Show NotesRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgTim Westergren maxed out 11 credit cards, racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, and was rejected 348 times for a second round of funding for his revolutionary idea for a music streaming platform. But like any true artist, Westergren remained committed to his vision of creating an aesthetically more beautiful future with Pandora, and now the company boasts more than 6 million monthly subscribers. Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE interviews Westergren to discuss the company's humble beginnings, why it took an act of Congress to keep the company alive, and why both men believe the best founders are artists who can sell their vision.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Check out Starting Greatness Episode Page & Show NotesRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgTim Westergren maxed out 11 credit cards, racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, and was rejected 348 times for a second round of funding for his revolutionary idea for a music streaming platform. But like any true artist, Westergren remained committed to his vision of creating an aesthetically more beautiful future with Pandora, and now the company boasts more than 6 million monthly subscribers. Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE interviews Westergren to discuss the company's humble beginnings, why it took an act of Congress to keep the company alive, and why both men believe the best founders are artists who can sell their vision.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Check out Starting Greatness Episode Page & Show NotesRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgTim Westergren maxed out 11 credit cards, racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, and was rejected 348 times for a second round of funding for his revolutionary idea for a music streaming platform. But like any true artist, Westergren remained committed to his vision of creating an aesthetically more beautiful future with Pandora, and now the company boasts more than 6 million monthly subscribers. Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE interviews Westergren to discuss the company's humble beginnings, why it took an act of Congress to keep the company alive, and why both men believe the best founders are artists who can sell their vision.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Check out Starting Greatness Episode Page & Show NotesRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgYour startup will face multiple WFIO moments on the path to greatness...COUNT ON IT. But that doesn't mean you should let these moments get inside your head. In this lesson of greatness, Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE discusses how every startup team MUST be prepared to take the initiative in the crucible of the WFIO moments they will inevitably face. The bright side? You can use these horrible situations as defining moments to show everyone that your startup is destined to defeat the impossible.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Check out Starting Greatness Episode Page & Show NotesRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgYour startup will face multiple WFIO moments on the path to greatness...COUNT ON IT. But that doesn't mean you should let these moments get inside your head. In this lesson of greatness, Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE discusses how every startup team MUST be prepared to take the initiative in the crucible of the WFIO moments they will inevitably face. The bright side? You can use these horrible situations as defining moments to show everyone that your startup is destined to defeat the impossible.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Check out Starting Greatness Episode Page & Show NotesRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgYour startup will face multiple WFIO moments on the path to greatness...COUNT ON IT. But that doesn't mean you should let these moments get inside your head. In this lesson of greatness, Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE discusses how every startup team MUST be prepared to take the initiative in the crucible of the WFIO moments they will inevitably face. The bright side? You can use these horrible situations as defining moments to show everyone that your startup is destined to defeat the impossible.

Bardee is reshaping the global food system.Today we speak with a former architect turned co-founder CEO, Phoebe Gardner. She is the definition of a Wild Heart, she's ambitious, a learn it all, resilient and put simply, an incredible person and friend.Today, she will reveal why Bardee's mission is important, how Bardee transforms food waste into high quality products using insects, the stories from their first facility, what it took to raise the stakes and move to a facility 30x larger than their first one, running at incredible speed while holding herself to the highest value standards and so much more.We also speak with Nick Crocker, a general partner at Blackbird and hear about Bardee's secret insight into food waste, his investment logic when times were tough amidst COVID, Bardee's wonderful business model and what makes Phoebe a Wild Heart.See Bardee's job board here:https://bardee.com/join-bardee/

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Ben Horowitz gives a detailed timeline on Loudcloud's“IPO from Hell” and how it went from $0.35/share to being acquired for $1.65 Billion at $14.25/shareIn a near-death experience as a founder, it takes a lot of humility and resiliency to make the best choice out of all the horrible choices“If you have the will and the idea, [being a founder] is the best thing you can do with your life” – Ben HorowitzRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgStartups are romanticized AFTER they win. But it takes extraordinary grit to have what it TAKES to win. Ben Horowitz, the co-founder of Andreessen-Horowitz, is the perfect guest to tell it like it is, as he has for many years in his books "the Hard Thing About Hard Things" and "What You Do Is Who You Are." Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE interviews Ben to discuss the ups and downs of dealing with "the struggle," and why the best startup leaders are often the ones who simply refused to quit.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Ben Horowitz gives a detailed timeline on Loudcloud's“IPO from Hell” and how it went from $0.35/share to being acquired for $1.65 Billion at $14.25/shareIn a near-death experience as a founder, it takes a lot of humility and resiliency to make the best choice out of all the horrible choices“If you have the will and the idea, [being a founder] is the best thing you can do with your life” – Ben HorowitzRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgStartups are romanticized AFTER they win. But it takes extraordinary grit to have what it TAKES to win. Ben Horowitz, the co-founder of Andreessen-Horowitz, is the perfect guest to tell it like it is, as he has for many years in his books "the Hard Thing About Hard Things" and "What You Do Is Who You Are." Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE interviews Ben to discuss the ups and downs of dealing with "the struggle," and why the best startup leaders are often the ones who simply refused to quit.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Moderna prioritizes platform over product. For so long, big pharma has created products with analog solutions. Moderna's mRNA technology platform is designed to fork and compound on its base knowledgeto create unique and effective therapeutics quickly.“Golden eggs (drugs) are coming out of the goose (mRNA platform)”– Stephane BancelModerna is not a one drug company – If you can make one drug work safely, you can make many. There is an object-oriented style to this innovation, comparing it to the software world (re-use the knowledge base to other therapeutics).New protein functions are discovered every day. Moderna can not comprehend what kind or how many drug solutions they will have next because the biology of those drugs are not known yetThere are true exponential possibilities for therapeutics through the mRNA platform“Once you understand molecular biology, you start to understand the human body like never before in history”– Stephane BancelStephane Bancel joined Moderna because he saw a 5% chance that their mRNA technology could change the world of medicine forever“We as a species, if we work together, we can do amazing things. I hope this serves as an example of the risks you can take to make the world a better place” – Stephane BancelThe power of entrepreneurship is to invent the future, break the consensus of what can and can not be doneRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgWhat's it like to run a startup that has achieved its goal of impacting humanity at a time of desperate need? Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel joins Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE to discuss the power of taking offensive risks to seize unlikely futures with massive upside, sometimes with the result of changing the odds of life itself. For founders seeking greatness, the conversation also teases out many of the enduring lessons of how we can increase the odds of creating massive breakthroughs.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Moderna prioritizes platform over product. For so long, big pharma has created products with analog solutions. Moderna's mRNA technology platform is designed to fork and compound on its base knowledgeto create unique and effective therapeutics quickly.“Golden eggs (drugs) are coming out of the goose (mRNA platform)”– Stephane BancelModerna is not a one drug company – If you can make one drug work safely, you can make many. There is an object-oriented style to this innovation, comparing it to the software world (re-use the knowledge base to other therapeutics).New protein functions are discovered every day. Moderna can not comprehend what kind or how many drug solutions they will have next because the biology of those drugs are not known yetThere are true exponential possibilities for therapeutics through the mRNA platform“Once you understand molecular biology, you start to understand the human body like never before in history”– Stephane BancelStephane Bancel joined Moderna because he saw a 5% chance that their mRNA technology could change the world of medicine forever“We as a species, if we work together, we can do amazing things. I hope this serves as an example of the risks you can take to make the world a better place” – Stephane BancelThe power of entrepreneurship is to invent the future, break the consensus of what can and can not be doneRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgWhat's it like to run a startup that has achieved its goal of impacting humanity at a time of desperate need? Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel joins Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE to discuss the power of taking offensive risks to seize unlikely futures with massive upside, sometimes with the result of changing the odds of life itself. For founders seeking greatness, the conversation also teases out many of the enduring lessons of how we can increase the odds of creating massive breakthroughs.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Business products designed around values consistent with ‘play' rather than ‘work' lead to increased efficiency and productivitythroughthe benefits of gamificationand targeting human motivationGamification creates an emotional connection to your work and the design can lead you to an increased capacity for flow states“Emotions are the foundation of our memory”– Rahul VohraYour emotions can dictate how successful you are in your workGames need good goals, so does your work: goals need to be concrete, achievable, and rewardingProducts designed this way specifically target the intrinsic motivations of humans“Flow is not what you're doing, it's how you feel when you're doing it”– Rahul VohraProducts need rapid and robust controls and platforms, the extreme ease/efficient use in a product can make it feel more like a gameFive key components of flow:Know what to do nextKnow how to do itFree from distractionsGet clear and immediate feedbackMust feel a balance of challenge and skillStart-up advice: “Think as long-term as you possibly can. The most valuable companies are the ones that last the longest. Think big, know from day one what your multi-billion dollar story is going to be” – Rahul VohraIf you're going to put in the effort, you might as well put effort towards the biggest idea possibleRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgRahul Vohra of Superhuman has adopted some of the most cutting-edge approaches to making a business product people *want* to use, rather than have to use. In this episode, Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE talks to Rahul about how any startup founder can apply the principles of game design to their products, and why this is becoming increasingly important in a world where users (rather than IT) increasingly decide which products win.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Business products designed around values consistent with ‘play' rather than ‘work' lead to increased efficiency and productivitythroughthe benefits of gamificationand targeting human motivationGamification creates an emotional connection to your work and the design can lead you to an increased capacity for flow states“Emotions are the foundation of our memory”– Rahul VohraYour emotions can dictate how successful you are in your workGames need good goals, so does your work: goals need to be concrete, achievable, and rewardingProducts designed this way specifically target the intrinsic motivations of humans“Flow is not what you're doing, it's how you feel when you're doing it”– Rahul VohraProducts need rapid and robust controls and platforms, the extreme ease/efficient use in a product can make it feel more like a gameFive key components of flow:Know what to do nextKnow how to do itFree from distractionsGet clear and immediate feedbackMust feel a balance of challenge and skillStart-up advice: “Think as long-term as you possibly can. The most valuable companies are the ones that last the longest. Think big, know from day one what your multi-billion dollar story is going to be” – Rahul VohraIf you're going to put in the effort, you might as well put effort towards the biggest idea possibleRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgRahul Vohra of Superhuman has adopted some of the most cutting-edge approaches to making a business product people *want* to use, rather than have to use. In this episode, Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE talks to Rahul about how any startup founder can apply the principles of game design to their products, and why this is becoming increasingly important in a world where users (rather than IT) increasingly decide which products win.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways The creation and maintenance of your start-up's foundational team is critical for successIf there is a conflict around responsibilities, you have the wrong founding teamThe greatest start-ups have a valuable mission and have a team that enjoys working togetherInbound recruiting processes are much more valuable to hiring talented and long-term employeesCloudflare utilizes a blog to consistently communicate the company's current problems, processes, technology, and goals to the public. Then, potential candidates come to them.Understand if your employees value title hierarchy or product success, these different environments can benefit or hinder start-up growthThis article outlines Andreessen's & Zuckerberg's differing opinions on the topicGrowth solves a lot of problems – opens exponential opportunity to scale, hire talented people, etc.Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgIt takes a lot of effort to build a breakthrough product. It's perhaps even rarer to design a company that endures. In this interview, Mike Maples Jr of Floodgate interviews Matthew Prince and Michelle Zatlyn of Cloudflare to highlight what we can learn about how to get a startup's foundation right, along with recruiting, hiring, and company design.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways The creation and maintenance of your start-up's foundational team is critical for successIf there is a conflict around responsibilities, you have the wrong founding teamThe greatest start-ups have a valuable mission and have a team that enjoys working togetherInbound recruiting processes are much more valuable to hiring talented and long-term employeesCloudflare utilizes a blog to consistently communicate the company's current problems, processes, technology, and goals to the public. Then, potential candidates come to them.Understand if your employees value title hierarchy or product success, these different environments can benefit or hinder start-up growthThis article outlines Andreessen's & Zuckerberg's differing opinions on the topicGrowth solves a lot of problems – opens exponential opportunity to scale, hire talented people, etc.Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgIt takes a lot of effort to build a breakthrough product. It's perhaps even rarer to design a company that endures. In this interview, Mike Maples Jr of Floodgate interviews Matthew Prince and Michelle Zatlyn of Cloudflare to highlight what we can learn about how to get a startup's foundation right, along with recruiting, hiring, and company design.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways The creation and maintenance of your start-up's foundational team is critical for successIf there is a conflict around responsibilities, you have the wrong founding teamThe greatest start-ups have a valuable mission and have a team that enjoys working togetherInbound recruiting processes are much more valuable to hiring talented and long-term employeesCloudflare utilizes a blog to consistently communicate the company's current problems, processes, technology, and goals to the public. Then, potential candidates come to them.Understand if your employees value title hierarchy or product success, these different environments can benefit or hinder start-up growthThis article outlines Andreessen's & Zuckerberg's differing opinions on the topicGrowth solves a lot of problems – opens exponential opportunity to scale, hire talented people, etc.Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgIt takes a lot of effort to build a breakthrough product. It's perhaps even rarer to design a company that endures. In this interview, Mike Maples Jr of Floodgate interviews Matthew Prince and Michelle Zatlyn of Cloudflare to highlight what we can learn about how to get a startup's foundation right, along with recruiting, hiring, and company design.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways “Try and fail but don't fail to try” – Vinod Khosla“Risk is real but fear is a choice” – Mike MaplesIf you're going to fail, you want to fail early. So, tackle the biggest risk first. If you solve the biggest risk, that's great news. But if you don't, it's probably a good idea to pivot.Risk is an asymmetric bet: If you fail, you'll lose a little bit. But if you succeed, you'll gain a lot. One of the most important graphs in a startup is money spent vs amount of risk removed. The more money that has been invested, the less riskier the company should be.When it comes to hiring exceptional people, you should never have a budgetHiring the right person is much more important than how much you pay for themRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgVinod Khosla is a Silicon Valley legend, having achieved greatness as a founder with Sun Microsystems and as one of the best venture capitalists of all time. In this episode, Mike Maples, Jr of Floodgate talks to Vinod about why it's wrong for breakthrough builders to play it safe and how to turn the odds in your favor when setting out to build a massive breakthrough.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways “Try and fail but don't fail to try” – Vinod Khosla“Risk is real but fear is a choice” – Mike MaplesIf you're going to fail, you want to fail early. So, tackle the biggest risk first. If you solve the biggest risk, that's great news. But if you don't, it's probably a good idea to pivot.Risk is an asymmetric bet: If you fail, you'll lose a little bit. But if you succeed, you'll gain a lot. One of the most important graphs in a startup is money spent vs amount of risk removed. The more money that has been invested, the less riskier the company should be.When it comes to hiring exceptional people, you should never have a budgetHiring the right person is much more important than how much you pay for themRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgVinod Khosla is a Silicon Valley legend, having achieved greatness as a founder with Sun Microsystems and as one of the best venture capitalists of all time. In this episode, Mike Maples, Jr of Floodgate talks to Vinod about why it's wrong for breakthrough builders to play it safe and how to turn the odds in your favor when setting out to build a massive breakthrough.

BioMike is a co-founding Partner at Floodgate, a venture firm in the bay area. Some of Mike's investments include Twitter, Twitch.tv, Lyft, Clover Health, Okta, and Chegg. Before founding Floodgate Mike was founder and operating executive at back-to-back startup IPOs, including Tivoli Systems and Motive. Mike is the host of the Starting Greatness podcast, which shares startup lessons from the super performers.Times1:10 - Intro to Mike2:10 - Centralization vs decentralization13:40 - Metcalfe's law & deploying capital based on it17:10 - How does network capitalism and decentralization connect?21:40 - Federalism & Austin23:25 - Nihilism vs A Time to Build28:40 - How do you get people to believe in progress?36:00 - Impact of culture39:40 - Technology & institutions43:00 - Nation states vs micro-sovereignties (like bitcoin)46:40 - Mike's framework for companies of Beer Slammer vs Wine Sipper applied to ideas58:10 - Choices, agency, & optimism1:00:10 -  Mayor Francis Suarez1:03:00 - Mike's closing wisdomLinksMike's podcastMike's twitternarrativemonopoly.com

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways 3 traits of legendary startups:Extraordinary teamsBreakthrough products that change the futureCreating a new categoryBreakthrough startup founders are time travelers who discover a secret to a radically different future and they must come back to the present and convince early believers to embrace their secret and co-create that new future with them4 Steps to designing a category:1) Identify your founding insights and use them to identify your difference. 2) Create your category design blueprint3) Define your provocative point of view4) Mobilize your movementRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgStartups change the future so they MUST be different, rather than better. Christopher Lochhead shows us how category designers realize that different is believable from a startup, but better is not. Any powerful startup idea pre-supposes an exponentially different future, which means your startup MUST change the way the people think about the future rather than incrementally improve on the products they already use. Different forces a choice rather than a comparison. And different sticks, while better gets lost in the noise. In this lesson of greatness, we cover the specific steps involved in applying category design to your startup.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways  Any breakthrough worth pursuing has a high chance of failureBy definition, greatness requires the willingness to risk failure3Advantages of Taking Huge RisksTaking bigger risks is a competitive advantage such most people avoid big risks, thus there will be less competitionSince there's a high chance a risky idea will fail, on the chance that it does succeed, the payoff will be massiveEven if your idea fails, if you take a risk no one else has taken, you will learn things that no one else has learnedTake on the biggest risk first, if you succeed, you'll generate massive value because you're pursuing the same goal but now with massively better oddsIf you can't solve the biggest problem, then you can always pivot into doing something elseRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgMost people think that risk should be avoided. But Vinod Khosla teaches us otherwise...Risk is something people *take* when they create breakthroughs. This lesson of greatness talks about the key frameworks for why this is the case as well as how to take risks intelligently to tilt the odds in your favor.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways  Any breakthrough worth pursuing has a high chance of failureBy definition, greatness requires the willingness to risk failure3Advantages of Taking Huge RisksTaking bigger risks is a competitive advantage such most people avoid big risks, thus there will be less competitionSince there's a high chance a risky idea will fail, on the chance that it does succeed, the payoff will be massiveEven if your idea fails, if you take a risk no one else has taken, you will learn things that no one else has learnedTake on the biggest risk first, if you succeed, you'll generate massive value because you're pursuing the same goal but now with massively better oddsIf you can't solve the biggest problem, then you can always pivot into doing something elseRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgMost people think that risk should be avoided. But Vinod Khosla teaches us otherwise...Risk is something people *take* when they create breakthroughs. This lesson of greatness talks about the key frameworks for why this is the case as well as how to take risks intelligently to tilt the odds in your favor.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways 3 traits of legendary startups:Extraordinary teamsBreakthrough products that change the futureCreating a new categoryBreakthrough startup founders are time travelers who discover a secret to a radically different future and they must come back to the present and convince early believers to embrace their secret and co-create that new future with them4 Steps to designing a category:1) Identify your founding insights and use them to identify your difference. 2) Create your category design blueprint3) Define your provocative point of view4) Mobilize your movementRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgStartups change the future so they MUST be different, rather than better. Christopher Lochhead shows us how category designers realize that different is believable from a startup, but better is not. Any powerful startup idea pre-supposes an exponentially different future, which means your startup MUST change the way the people think about the future rather than incrementally improve on the products they already use. Different forces a choice rather than a comparison. And different sticks, while better gets lost in the noise. In this lesson of greatness, we cover the specific steps involved in applying category design to your startup.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways 3 traits of legendary startups:Extraordinary teamsBreakthrough products that change the futureCreating a new categoryBreakthrough startup founders are time travelers who discover a secret to a radically different future and they must come back to the present and convince early believers to embrace their secret and co-create that new future with them4 Steps to designing a category:1) Identify your founding insights and use them to identify your difference. 2) Create your category design blueprint3) Define your provocative point of view4) Mobilize your movementRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgStartups change the future so they MUST be different, rather than better. Christopher Lochhead shows us how category designers realize that different is believable from a startup, but better is not. Any powerful startup idea pre-supposes an exponentially different future, which means your startup MUST change the way the people think about the future rather than incrementally improve on the products they already use. Different forces a choice rather than a comparison. And different sticks, while better gets lost in the noise. In this lesson of greatness, we cover the specific steps involved in applying category design to your startup.

Starting Greatness with Mike Maples Podcast Notes Key Takeaways  Any breakthrough worth pursuing has a high chance of failureBy definition, greatness requires the willingness to risk failure3Advantages of Taking Huge RisksTaking bigger risks is a competitive advantage such most people avoid big risks, thus there will be less competitionSince there's a high chance a risky idea will fail, on the chance that it does succeed, the payoff will be massiveEven if your idea fails, if you take a risk no one else has taken, you will learn things that no one else has learnedTake on the biggest risk first, if you succeed, you'll generate massive value because you're pursuing the same goal but now with massively better oddsIf you can't solve the biggest problem, then you can always pivot into doing something elseRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgMost people think that risk should be avoided. But Vinod Khosla teaches us otherwise...Risk is something people *take* when they create breakthroughs. This lesson of greatness talks about the key frameworks for why this is the case as well as how to take risks intelligently to tilt the odds in your favor.

Welcome to a special episode of Lochhead of Marketing. What you’re about to hear are the thoughts of one of the smartest people in Silicon Valley on Category Design. He is the entrepreneur turned venture capitalist Mike Maples, Jr. Mike Maples, Jr. Is the co-founder of Floodgate Capital. Floodgate has led early-stage investments in companies like Twitter, Lyft, and much more. Recently, I had the pleasure of showing up as a guest on Mike’s podcast. Usually after the guest podcast, he does a shorter episode where he synthesizes what he thinks he has learned from the guest. Today’s episode is just that. Listen to Mike Maples, Jr. as he shares his thoughts on category design for entrepreneurs. With that said, let’s get into it. Being a Legendary Entrepreneur “Why do I, as an entrepreneur, want to begin category design at the beginning? Because you want to be 80 percent of a multi-billion dollar market that you created, that you design. And that makes you almost impossible to catch.” - Christopher Lochhead Mike starts off by quoting a quote from the episode. This quote pretty much sums up why someone aiming to be a legend should do category design right from the onset. Legendary companies are born from extraordinary startups building breakthrough products that change the future. Though you don’t always have to start from scratch. Few entrepreneurs and businesses realize that there's a third lever to pull on the path to greatness: creating a category to add to the confusion. Category Design vs Branding Mike is aware that a lot of people are still not clear as to what Category Design is. Some confuse it with branding; some marketing ploy that can help your product resonate without actually changing the product. “Category design could be confused with getting the right marketing slogan or the right three letter acronym like CRM or ERP or some other type of message that will hopefully resonate. Or we make the mistake of believing it's a message you use to describe your business after you've achieved product market fit. But it's far more than that.” - Mike Maples, Jr. Traditional Marketing vs Breakthrough Startup Mike gives a brief explanation of how Traditional Marketing works. Simply put, they are more concerned on fighting for market share of their current category. Think marketing battles between Pepsi and Coke. Conventional Startups tend to think along the same lines. Whereas Breakthrough Startups try to create new categories to dominate in, making sure that they are the Kings of the Category before anyone else grabs a share of the market. In a world of marketing slogans blaring at you left and right, having your own category lets you avoid the need to seek attention to compete. All you have to do is to show people that your new category is worth it, and the market will do the rest. “All of us, including your future customers, employees and any potential believers, live in a very confusing and noisy world. Your startup won't have a chance to get people to remember much about you and why you matter. So you have to be really clear on what you want people to know about you and only you, why it matters and why they should join your cause. The way to do this is not to talk about jargon, buzz words, or what Christopher Lochhead calls why my carbondigulator is better. Category design is about avoiding the comparison game. It's not about being the best, it's about being the only one in the category.” - Mike Maples, jr. To hear more from Mike Maples, Jr. and his insights on category design for entrepreneurs, download and listen to this episode. Bio Mike Maples, Jr. is the Co-Founder and Partner at Floodgate, the host of the Starting Greatness podcast and a Co-conspirator with awesome Startup Founders. Links Connect with Mike! Twitter: @m2jr LinkedIn: in/Maples Podcast: Starting Greatness Website: Floodgate We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners.

Mike Maples is a co-founding Partner at Floodgate, a VC firm that has invested in companies like Lyft, Twitch, and Twitter. He has been on the Forbes Midas List eight times in the last decade and profiled by Harvard Business School for his lifetime contributions to entrepreneurship. Mike is also the host of the Starting Greatness podcast, which shares startup lessons from super performers like Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman. In this episode, you’ll learn how to scale your business to 7-figures and beyond. https://okdork.com/podcast/197 Use this link to get 10% off at checkout on AppSumo: https://appsumo.com/?coupon=noah10&code=noah10

Matt shares several such pivotal moments in an episode full of stories and insight from the growth of Automattic, and of his own journey and leadership evolution, with Mike Maples Jr., host of the Starting Greatness podcast.More Subscribe to Distributed at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, or wherever you like to listen.