Episode notes
What are the traits of a great founder, or a great founding team? People tend to answer with general traits like tenacity, adaptability, or attention to users. But Founder-Future Fit can play an equally vital role and it varies from startup to startup. In this Breakthrough Lesson, Mike Maples Jr. of Floodgate describes the concept of Founder-Future Fit. He explains how it propelled Justin Kan's success with Justintv and Twitch; and how its absence made his later journey with Atrium much tougher.
Podcast
Pattern Breakers
Floodgate · Business · English
Host Mike Maples Jr. from venture capital firm Floodgate offers lessons from the rare startup super performers — BEFORE they were successful. Pattern Breakers features interviews with some of Silicon Valley’s most legendary entrepreneurs and thought leaders, including Netscape co-founder Marc Andree
More from Pattern Breakers All episodes →
-
E94 · 23 Sep 2024 · 35 min
Niels Hoven: Teaching Two Year-Olds to Read Like Second Graders
The team behind the educational technology company Mentava is a small one, but its product idea is extremely ambitious: An app that teaches two year-olds to read at a second grade level. The idea is the brainchild of founder Niels Hoven, a father of four committed to accelerating K-12 education and helping high-achieving kids reach their true potential. In this episode, Mike Maples, Jr. of Floodgate speaks with Hoven about the origins of Mentava, how one very online critic gave the company an unexpected sales boost, and why Hoven has found himself engaged in a much bigger story about the…
-
E93 · 5 Aug 2024 · 44 min
Daphne Koller: Changing Lives With Coursera
-
E92 · 29 Jul 2024 · 37 min
Pattern Breakers: Which Startups Change the Future?
-
E91 · 9 Jul 2024 · 40 min
A Sneak Peek at Pattern Breakers
-
E90 · 1 Jul 2024 · 40 min
Maddie Hall: A Different Path to the Future
-
E88 · 10 Jun 2024 · 42 min
Justin Kan: Pattern Breaker Personified
-
E87 · 3 Jun 2024 · 11 min
Breakthrough Lessons: The Value of a Superbuilder
-
E86 · 27 May 2024 · 39 min
Kyle Vogt: A Problem Solver With A Purpose
Kyle Vogt has always been fascinated with designing robots and machines. From his youngest days, he retrofitted his father's car to drive itself along the highways of his home state of Kansas. Later, he dropped out of MIT and became a wildly successful startup founder, playing a crucial role in the development of Justin.tv and Twitch. With Cruise Automation, he returned to his roots, making robotaxis a reality rather than science fiction. In this episode, Mike Maples, Jr. of Floodgate speaks with Vogt about his career and the lessons learned from a lifetime of solving problems.
-
E85 · 20 May 2024 · 12 min
Breakthrough Lessons: Learning to Savor Surprises
The ability to notice and savor surprises is a key overlooked skill of the greatest founders. It allows you to narrow in on the types of capabilities that will lead to breakthroughs. In this Breakthrough Lesson, Mike Maples, Jr of Floodgate calls on the lessons learned by Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear to discuss why founders should seek surprises instead of validation, and how positive surprises can be a key source of greatness.
-
E84 · 13 May 2024 · 39 min
Emmett Shear: How Twitch Changed Media by Merging it with Gaming
Emmett 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.)
Take it with you
The Melo app keeps playing with the screen off, works in the car and on your watch, wakes you to your station, and browses the whole catalogue offline. Free, no ads, no account.
