Mike Maples: Three Frameworks to Evaluate Startups and Founders | E1242

Mike Maples is one of the OG seed investors of the last two decades. As a co-founding Partner at Floodgate, Mike has been on the Forbes Midas List eight times in the last decade. Some of Mike’s investments include Twitter, Twitch.tv, Clover Health, Okta, Outreach, Chegg, Demandforce, and Applied Intuition.
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Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro
(00:57) Is a Sub-$100M Seed Fund Viable Today?
(05:39) Why Lose Asymmetric Information When Picking Winners?
(11:13) Should Every Check Be a Potential Fund Returner?
(17:42) Mike’s View on Inception Rounds in AI?
(23:43 On Mike’s Best Deals
(27:12) Deciding the Right Time to Sell
(29:50) Is Asset Pricing Efficient Amid AI Hype?
(32:38) How Psychology Shifts When You’re Profitable
(36:56) Structured Salary Liquidity or Case-by-Case
(37:55) Any Regrets on Passing Airbnb?
(40:37) How Mike Identifies Hidden Insights?
(45:34) Biggest Weakness in Analyzing Founders
(49:21) Are Growth Investors Misjudging the Efficiency of Capital?
(51:56) Is Success Possible Without Product-Market Fit?
(54:39) 2024 Review
(01:00:06) Predictions for 2025
(01:08:54) Quick-Fire Round
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In Today’s Episode with Mike Maples We Discuss:

Does Seed Even Make Sense as an Asset Class?
Fund Size and Strategy: How to Do a 10x Fund?
The Power Law in Venture Capital
Follow-On Investments: Are they BS?
Finding Inefficiencies in the Market
Exit Strategies and Liquidity Events: When to Sell?
How Floodgate Lost Billions Missing Airbnb and Pinterest
3 Frameworks for Evaluating Startups
Case Studies: Zoom and Okta
How to Truly Analyse Product-Market Fit
Challenges with Overfunding Startups
2024 in Review: Company and Fund of the Year
Predictions for 2025
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