80 episodes

Host Mike Maples Jr from venture capital firm FLOODGATE offers lessons from the startup super performers—BEFORE they were successful—featuring interviews with some of Silicon Valley’s most legendary entrepreneurs and thought leaders, including Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, Nextdoor co-founder Sarah Leary, Instagram founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Kreiger, and more.

Starting Greatness Floodgate

    • Business
    • 4.9 • 367 Ratings

Host Mike Maples Jr from venture capital firm FLOODGATE offers lessons from the startup super performers—BEFORE they were successful—featuring interviews with some of Silicon Valley’s most legendary entrepreneurs and thought leaders, including Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, Nextdoor co-founder Sarah Leary, Instagram founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Kreiger, and more.

    Lessons of Greatness: Nail Your Niche

    Lessons of Greatness: Nail Your Niche

    Founders are naturally drawn to the tantalizing potential of their product reaching a vast market, but the route to victory starts with nailing a niche before going for the broader opportunity. In this lesson of greatness, Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE calls on the lessons of Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek to examine how this is done: Identify a stronghold where you can dominate, deliver a Delta 4 experience, and do everything possible to create unfair advantages in your favor.

    • 9 min
    Daniel Ek: How Spotify Revolutionized The Music Business

    Daniel Ek: How Spotify Revolutionized The Music Business

    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.

    • 47 min
    Lessons of Greatness: Crisis Reveals Greatness

    Lessons of Greatness: Crisis Reveals Greatness

    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.

    • 9 min
    Untold lessons from the SVB bank run

    Untold lessons from the SVB bank run

    The recent run on Silicon Valley Bank led to a variety of accusations, recriminations and finger-pointing on social media, but how can FOUNDERS actually learn from the crisis? And what lessons can we learn from the founders who crushed it under tough circumstances? In this episode, Mike Maples, Jr welcomes FLOODGATE co-founder Ann Miura-Ko on the show to discuss these topics. Mike and Ann also speak with SmarterDx CEO Michael Gao about how he handled a wild weekend for his company, and legendary marketing guru Christopher Lochhead stops by to discuss the best strategies for crisis communications.

    • 32 min
    Lessons of Greatness: Refuse Mediocrity

    Lessons of Greatness: Refuse Mediocrity

    When we REFUSE to accept mediocrity, we can start building greatness. But how can you avoid the pitfalls of learned helplessness and help your company break through the arbitrary limits that impede progress? In this lesson of greatness, Mike Maples, Jr of FLOODGATE calls on the lessons of Boom Supersonic founder Blake Scholl to examine three tips to help founders develop startups that change the future: Embrace the belief you can make radical change, find a big problem that speaks to your soul, and then get maniacally focused on the details.

    • 11 min
    Blake Scholl: How Boom Supersonic Took Flight

    Blake Scholl: How Boom Supersonic Took Flight

    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.

    • 40 min

Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5
367 Ratings

367 Ratings

NoteMonster ,

Amazing

It’s like getting a startup MBA. Extremely well done. Extremely insightful.

Nokike ,

Amazing Podcast

In my view, Mike is the foremost thinker on the qualities that define exceptional entrepreneurship and enable companies to reach billion-dollar scale. This podcast is the best one out there to teach entrepreneurs and investors what it takes to build or invest in one of those companies. The guests are outstanding, and the topics are cogent, practical, and valuable. The podcast is outstanding.

Align Infrastructure ,

Mike Maples’ Podcast: First And Only Podcast Recommendation

I’ve never provided feedback before re any podcast.

But, I want to thank Mike Maples and his team on doing an extraordinary job with his podcast and I highly recommend it to any entrepreneur.

I listen to nearly all of his podcasts and I find them to be the best of the very best.

Thanks again Michael,
Jay Jacobs

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