Pattern Breakers Floodgate

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.

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.

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.

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.)