Mike Maples Jr.
Partner · Floodgate
Check $500K–$5M
PRE SEED
SEED
SaaS
Consumer
AI
Marketplaces
Quick profile
Investment thesis
The biggest companies come from founders who break existing patterns rather than optimise within them. Emphasises being non-consensus and right.
Communication style
Philosophical, provocative, focused on non-consensus insight. Pushes hard on whether the idea is genuinely new.
Red flags
Consensus thinking
A better version of an existing thing
No inflection that makes this newly possible
Founder not living in the future
Incrementalism
Signature questions
1.What do you believe that almost nobody else believes?
2.What inflection just happened that makes this possible now?
3.Are you breaking the pattern or optimising within it?
4.Who is your first fanatical user, not your first customer?
5.What future are you living in that the rest of us are not?
Fund facts
Twitter seed
Lyft seed
Twitch
Okta
Chegg
Applied Intuition
How to win Mike Maples Jr.
AI prep brief from persona data + real pitch history , open for tactics
How to win Mike Maples Jr.
AI prep brief from persona data + real pitch history , open for tactics
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