The Man Who Taught Me How to Invest
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“Holding a grudge is a symptom of not knowing how you want to spend the gift of the day.”
– Mike Maples, Jr.
Mike Maples, Jr. (@m2jr) is the man who taught me how to invest. He’s one of my favorite people and a personal mentor.
He is a partner at Floodgate, a venture capital firm that specializes in micro-cap investments in startups. He has been on the Forbes Midas List since 2010 and named one of Fortune magazine’s “8 Rising VC Stars.” Before becoming a full-time investor, Mike was inolved as a founder and operating executive at back-to-back starup IPOs, including Tivoli Systems (acquired by IBM) and Motive (acquired by Alcatel-Lucent). Some of Mike’s investments include Twitter, Twitch.tv. ngmoco, Weebly, Chegg, Bazaar-voice, Spiceworks, Okta, and Demandforce.
Enjoy!
The Man Who Taught Me How to Invest
https://rss.art19.com/episodes/a37b219c-ddc8-412e-a344-3aae64dee746.mp3
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Want to hear a conversation with a mentor from Tribe of Mentors? Listen to this episode with Tim Urban, in which we discuss the future, how to deal with procrastination, AI, and much much more. Listen to it here (stream below or right-click to download):
Managing Procrastination, Predicting the Future, and Finding Happiness - Tim Urbanhttps://rss.art19.com/episodes/f2d4392d-c8c5-4a41-9f18-392532e29098.mp3
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QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
Scroll below for links and show notes…
Selected Links from the Episode
Connect with Mike Maples, Jr.:
Castro Theatre
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss
Mike Maples Talks Venture Capital And Thunder Lizards by Michael Arrington, Tech Crunch
Hobee’s Stanford
Kepler’s Books
You Can’t Always Get What You Want by The Rolling Stones
Digg
Dutch Goose
Sequoia
The Real History Of Twitter by Nicholas Carlson, Business Insider
SXSW Interactive Festival
The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries
How We Built the First Real Self-Driving Car (Really) by Kyle Vogt, Medium
Moore’s Law
Metcalfe’s Law
SpaceX Launches and Lands its First Used Rocket for NASA
Mike Maples, Jr. and Ron Conway speak at Stanford University
Finding Billion Dollar Secrets by Mike Maples, Jr., Austin Startups
Dune by Frank Herbert
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
The Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing by Bronnie Ware
On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and David Kessler
The Coming of Managerial Capitalism: The United States, Harvard Business School
The Quiet Master of Cryptocurrency — Nick Szabo, The Tim Ferriss Show
The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom by Yochai Benkler
The Way Things Work: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Technology by C. van Amerongen
Fishes of the World by Joseph S. Nelson, Terry C. Grande, and Mark V. H. Wilson
Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha by Tara Brach
Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It by Kamal Ravikant
Mental Toughness Training for Sports: Achieving Athletic Excellence by James E. Loehr
Metta Meditation, Metta Institute
Show Notes
Introduction. [05:30]
How we did market research back in the day. [10:15]
When he first hit the scene, Mike had trouble getting hired as a venture capitalist. [13:17]
How did Mike connect with our mutual friend Kevin Rose? [16:19]
Sometimes great introductions make up for lackluster investments. [18:03]
Mike’s not a man who holds many grudges. Here’s why. [23:09]
What happened when Mike invested in podcasting platform Odeo, and how its failure led to an opportunity to invest in Twitter. [25:30]
Rehearsing my SXSW talk in front of three chihuahuas. [34:51]
Overcoming technical difficulties when it came time to give the real talk. [35:49]
What Mike considers one of the most fun things about being an investor in contrast to being a founder. [36:34]
Without children of my own, some might wonder why I often ask guests for their parenting advice. Mike’s responses are one reason. [38:39]
What does Mike say to bolster the morale of entrepreneurs who are going through a rough patch? [41:48]
Why Mike thinks he might be “the worst person to talk to depressed people.” [46:35]
How Mike helped me act simple. [47:59]
One investment that seemed like a bad idea at the time but paid off very well, and how investment decisions happen at Floodgate. [52:28]
How does Mike know when to persist, quit, pivot, or double down with an idea? [56:53]
Mike explains how investment is like surfing. [1:00:19]
Early encouragement and advice about first principles thinking. [1:03:00]
What does Mike really think about the concept of social proof? [1:04:21]
Good first principles in action. [1:04:28]
The lessons Mike hopes to drive home for entrepreneurial students at Stanford. [1:07:25]
How does Mike recommend people find their unique gift, and what blocks that quest? [1:11:02]
I’ve recently moved to Austin. Where else might I have ended up? [1:14:16]
What books does Mike recommend and gift the most? [1:15:31]
Thoughts on death, grief, and grieving. [1:17:41]
What emerging technologies does Mike believe are most promising for anti-authoritarian disruption? [1:19:53]
Why Mike isn’t afraid that cryptocurrency adoption will disrupt venture capitalism. [1:26:16]
Mike’s view of the government’s role and how cryptocurrency helps separate politics from economics. [1:29:10]
Early traits that made Mike successful. [1:30:30]
Why did Mike’s dad tell him not to have heroes? [1:34:54]
What would Mike put on his billboard? [1:36:26]
Mike’s take on Jim Rohn’s famous, “you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” [1:38:35]
Powerful new truths I’ve come to realize. [1:40:25]
On applying loving-kindness meditation. [1:44:52]
What is Mike’s 60-second idea to change the world? [1:45:47]
Parting thoughts. [1:46:31]
People Mentioned
Bill Campbell
Kevin Rose
Jay Allison
Ron Conway
Peter C. Wendell
Garrett Camp
Evan Williams
Tim O’Reilly
Jeff Huber
Hugh Forrest
Tony Robbins
Logan Green
John Zimmer
Oprah
Liz Maples
John Boyd
Eric Ries
Steve Blank
Kyle Vogt
Ryan Walsh
Arjun Chopra
Ann Miura-Ko
Marc Andreessen
Reid Hoffman
Elon Musk
Thomas Keller
Elvis Presley
Albert Einstein
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Peter Thiel
Bronnie Ware
Terry Laughlin
Matt Mullenweg
Julie Allegro
Naval Ravikant
John D. Rockefeller
J.P. Morgan
Andrew Carnegie
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Vinny Lingham
Jamie Dimon
Mike Maples, Sr.
Bill Gates
Ronald Reagan
Jim Rohn
Drew Houston
Richard Feynman
Ben Franklin
Tara Brach
Kamal Ravikant
Jim Loehr
