Episodes
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When Josh Reeves, Tomer London and Edward Kim founded Gusto in 2012, roughly 40 percent of the employers in the United States were still doing their payroll by hand. Thousands of small business owners spent their time reading up on various federal and local tax codes or buried in late-night paperwork, drained of the energy to truly chase their dreams. In this episode, Mike Maples, Jr. of Floodgate speaks with Reeves about how Gusto identified pain points for small business founders everywhere, what it took to turn payroll from a grind into a tool that freed entrepreneurs to focus on what truly matters, and what he’s learned as the CEO of a revolutionary $9.5B software company.Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com
for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike.
Mike's new book Pattern Breakers is available now wherever you buy
books. -
Most startups stick to traditional methods of getting their message out. Pattern Breakers, however, don't follow the old rules of marketing. Instead they ignite a movement where they ultimately rise to the top, uncontested, while others later scramble for the leftovers. In this Breakthrough Lesson, Mike Maples Jr. of Floodgate examines three lessons learned from the recent viral breakout of the educational technology company Mentava, and why true Pattern Breakers don’t depend on the media or outside voices to shape their narrative. Instead, they speak for themselves, directly and boldly, telling the world their story in their own words. Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com
for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike.
Mike's new book Pattern Breakers is available now wherever you buy
books. -
Missing episodes?
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The team behind the educational technology company Mentava is a small one, but its product idea is extremely ambitious: An app that teaches two year-olds to read at a second grade level. The idea is the brainchild of founder Niels Hoven, a father of four committed to accelerating K-12 education and helping high-achieving kids reach their true potential. In this episode, Mike Maples, Jr. of Floodgate speaks with Hoven about the origins of Mentava, how one very online critic gave the company an unexpected sales boost, and why Hoven has found himself engaged in a much bigger story about the shared and growing frustration with the cult of lower standards in education.Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com
for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike.
Mike's new book Pattern Breakers is available now wherever you buy
books. -
Few startup founders follow a path to success like Daphne Koller, a polymath whose academic career in machine learning, computer vision, and computational biology make her a force far beyond the business arena. Koller left her academic career at Stanford in 2012 to co-found Coursera, the world’s largest platform for massive open online courses (MOOCs). After building the company into a global phenomenon she left Coursera in 2016 to become chief computing officer at Calico, and in 2018 she founded insitro, a drug discovery startup. In this episode, Mike Maples, Jr. of Floodgate talks with Koller about the origins of Coursera and the challenges the company faced in its early days, as well as its lasting impact for learners worldwide. She also discusses what she sees in the future for insitro and why she believes so strongly in machine learning-driven drug discovery and development.
Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike.
Mike's new book Pattern Breakers is available now wherever you buy books.
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On this special episode of Pattern Breakers, host Mike Maples Jr. of Floodgate joins LinkedIn founder and legendary investor Reid Hoffman for a conversation on Hoffman’s podcast Masters of Scale, where iconic business leaders share lessons and strategies that have helped them grow the world's most fascinating companies. Mike discusses the insights he’s gathered from decades of investing, inflection theory, what the latest AI sea change means for the future of business, and ideas from his new national bestselling book, Pattern Breakers.
This episode originally aired on the Masters of Scale podcast.
Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike.
Mike's new book Pattern Breakers is available now wherever you buy books.
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Today is a huge day for Pattern Breakers, the book.
Co-written with Peter Zeibelman of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Pattern Breakers has been dubbed “the most important start-up book of the last ten years” by legendary entrepreneur and co-creator of the Lean Startup movement Steve Blank. Pattern Breakers draws from decades of experience in entrepreneurship and venture capital from its co-authors to offer a radical set of new ideas for how entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate leaders can dominate the future.
Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike.
Mike's new book Pattern Breakers is available now wherever you buy books.
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There is no single path to becoming the founder of a pattern-breaking startup. For Maddie Hall, her journey began with a crucial choice: to brainstorm startup ideas or to spend time with people already shaping the future. She chose the latter, following Sam Altman at OpenAI as his Chief of Staff. This experience, along with the connections and knowledge she gained, inspired her to co-found Living Carbon. Her startup offers "supertrees" that grow faster, produce harder wood, and absorb more carbon from the atmosphere. In this episode, Mike Maples, Jr. of Floodgate talks with Hall about her career path and how her decisions led her to start Living Carbon, where she is driven by the urgency of addressing the climate crisis.
Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike.
Mike's new book Pattern Breakers is available now wherever you buy books.
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Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike.
Mike's new book Pattern Breakers is available now wherever you buy books.
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If pattern breaker was a term in the dictionary, you just might find an image of Justin Kan. From his attempts as a teenager to send a camera to outer space, to selling his first company on Ebay, to strapping a camera to his head to play the starring role on Justin.tv, Kan has always been a man with uncommon ideas and the ability to convince people to follow his lead. On this episode, Mike Maples, Jr. of Floodgate speaks with Kan about the runaway success of Twitch, but also his fear of scarcity, chasing extrinsic goals, and what he learned from his setbacks at Atrium, where he served as founding CEO.
Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike.
Mike's new book Pattern Breakers is available now wherever you buy books.
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In the early days of a start-up, the superbuilder can be as important to greatness as the start-up leader, and they’re often not the same person. But what are the traits of a great superbuilder, and why do they play such a crucial role in the zero to one phase of a company? In this Breakthrough Lesson, Mike Maples, Jr of Floodgate discusses the success of superbuilder Kyle Vogt and how his ingenuity saved Justin.tv, as well as how superbuilders help a startup tackle adversity and attract greatness to the team.
Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike.
Mike's new book Pattern Breakers is available now wherever you buy books.
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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.Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com
for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike.
Mike's new book Pattern Breakers is available now wherever you buy
books. -
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.Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com
for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike.
Mike's new book Pattern Breakers is available now wherever you buy
books. -
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.)Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com
for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike.
Mike's new book Pattern Breakers is available now wherever you buy
books. -
In the early days of a startup, finding product-market fit is paramount. Once you have it, failure is almost impossible. Without it, you can do everything else right, and still fail. In this Breakthrough Lesson, Mike Maples, Jr of Floodgate discusses three heuristics for maximizing the odds of success: Find the right North Star, offer a Delta 4 experience, and don’t fool yourself.Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com
for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike.
Mike's new book Pattern Breakers is available now wherever you buy
books. -
Michael Seibel didn’t set out to become a legendary startup founder. As a young man, his sights were set on politics, dreaming of a future on the Supreme Court. But his friendship with fellow Yale classmate Justin Kan led to a fortuitous cross-country trip to California that changed everything. In this episode, Mike Maples, Jr. of Floodgate talks with Seibel about the creation of Justin.tv and Twitch, and the wisdom he shares with aspiring founders as a partner and managing director at Y Combinator.Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com
for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike.
Mike's new book Pattern Breakers is available now wherever you buy
books. -
Mike Maples, Jr. of Floodgate is back with a new season of his podcast, once called Starting Greatness, now renamed Pattern Breakers. The focus remains, but with increased ambitions. In this season intro, Mike explains his reasons for expanding the podcast's scope, what listeners can anticipate going forward, and details about a forthcoming book set to release this summer. Subscribe now so you don’t miss an episode, and check out the new Pattern Breakers letter on Substack at www.patternbreakers.substack.com to read essays and receive updates about what we can learn from the rare startups that achieved outlier success. It’s go time for Pattern Breakers!Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com
for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike.
Mike's new book Pattern Breakers is available now wherever you buy
books. -
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.Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com
for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike.
Mike's new book Pattern Breakers is available now wherever you buy
books. -
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.Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com
for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike.
Mike's new book Pattern Breakers is available now wherever you buy
books. -
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.Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com
for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike.
Mike's new book Pattern Breakers is available now wherever you buy
books. -
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.Check out the new Pattern Breakers Blog at patternbreakers.substack.com
for even more Pattern Breaking content from Mike.
Mike's new book Pattern Breakers is available now wherever you buy
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