Mike Maples
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Summary

By William Channer | 8 Dec 2011 | Length: 25 mins

Mike explains why only a few select ideas are worth pursuing. He reveals what he personally looks for in a startup and why founders should focus on spotting waves.

Mike Maples

Focus on Spotting Industry Waves

Advice

Big waves are driven by discontinuous technology changes. The key is to find a discontinuous technology change and time it just right. For example, in social networking, Tribe and Friendster were a little too early. Facebook and LinkedIn were just right. Twitter happened a little later. After that, it became very very difficult to build a social property of consequence. The key thing to remember is that when everyone starts talking about the wave, it’s too late.

Bio
Mike Maples, Jr. is the managing partner of FLOODGATE, and was recently named as one of "8 Rising VC Stars" by Fortune Magazine for his investments in business and consumer technology companies. Before becoming a full-time investor, Mike was an entrepreneur and operating executive who worked in a variety of senior management roles in high-growth companies.

Facts

Born : Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, March 15, 1968
Education : Stanford, Engineering. Harvard, MBA
Favorite Film : The Outlaw Josie Wales
Favorite Gadget : iPhone
Favorite Meal : Kuperman's BBQ in Llano, Texas
Favorite Music : Too many to list
Favorite Place : Stanford Campus
Favorite Software : Adobe Photoshop and Apple Motion
First Job : Product Manager, Silicon Graphics
Role Model : The Founding Fathers of the USA...best startup team of all-time.

Web

LinkedIn :

maples

Twitter :

m2jr