Pattern Breakers: How to find a breakthrough startup idea | Mike Maples, Jr. (Partner at Floodgate)

Mike Maples, Jr. is a legendary early-stage startup investor and a co-founder and partner at Floodgate. He’s made early bets on transformative companies like Twitter, Lyft, Twitch, Okta, Rappi, and Applied Intuition and is one of the pioneers of seed-stage investing as a category. He’s been on the Forbes Midas List eight times and enjoys sharing the lessons he’s learned from his years studying iconic companies. In his new book, Pattern Breakers: Why Some Start-Ups Change the Future, co-authored with Peter Ziebelman, he discusses what he’s found separates startups and founders that break through and change the world from those that don’t. After spending years reviewing the notes and decks from the thousands of startups he’s known over the past two decades, he’s uncovered three ways that breakthrough founders think and act differently. In our conversation, Mike talks about:
• The three elements of breakthrough startup ideas
• Why you need to both think and act differently
• How to avoid the “comparison trap” and “conformity trap”
• The importance of movements, storytelling, and healthy disagreeableness in startup success
• How to apply pattern-breaking principles within large companies
• Mike’s one piece of advice for founders
• Much more
Pre-order Mike’s book and get a second signed copy for free. Limited copies are available, so order ASAP: www.patternbreakers.com/lenny.
Brought to you by:
• Enterpret-Transform customer feedback into product growth: enterpret.com/lenny
• Anvil-The fastest way to build software for documents: www.useanvil.com/lenny
• Webflow-The web experience platform: webflow.com
Find the transcript and references at: www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/ho...
Where to find Mike Maples, Jr.:
• X: x.com/m2jr
• LinkedIn: / maples
• Substack: greatness.substack.com/
• Website: www.floodgate.com/
Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: / lennysan
• LinkedIn: / lennyrachitsky
In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Mike’s background
(03:10) The inspiration behind Pattern Breakers
(08:09) Uncovering startup insights
(11:37) A quick summary of Pattern Breakers
(13:52) Coming up with an idea
(15:30) Inflections
(17:03) Examples of inflections
(28:02) Insights
(36:49) The power of surprises
(47:31) Founder-future fit
(55:28) Advice for aspiring founders
(56:33) Living in the future: valid opinions
(58:32) Identifying lighthouse customers
(01:00:45) The importance of desperation in customer needs
(01:03:49) Creating movements and storytelling
(01:24:14) The role of disagreeableness in startups
(01:34:34) Applying these principles within a company
(01:40:35) Lightning round
Production and marketing by penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [e-mail].
Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

[@yebo-gogo]

Without a doubt the best podcast i have listened to, ever. He's not boasting about his achievements. Just plain, distilled insights, delivered with a great deal of humility. I'm certainly going to buy the book.

[@rufuscasey2989]

Yes I bought the book before finishing the episode! Such a great guest

[@HumanWisdom4GlobalPeace]

Great work! I spent two hours watching this story, and absorbed every points delivered by Mike. I am particularly touched by his words talking about his father, I could see tears in his eyes. "Life is a gift. The best way to show up in the world is to be your best self. There is only one you in this world, and the more that you can show up as your best self, you'll be impossible to compete with, you won't feel the need to copy other folks, you won't feel the need to compare yourself to other people.'' What a spirit! So inspiring and enlightening!

[@GameThinkingTV]

This is an AMAZING interview - Mike just keeps droppin' gold nuggets of wisdom. Thanks for posting 🙏🏽

[@alexanderfardella8709]

One of the best ones by far for an early founder - Mike seems like an absolute legend.

[@genehaba2498]

As a founder, it's about seeing what no one else can see or imagine. To think what nobody has yet thought, but sees. To build something that has never been done. This is how you attract talent and customers for life.

[@chrisn7847]

When I see a Podcast with Mike, I listen! This is the acronym I use for Mike's Inflections Framework "TARB-P": T - Technology A - Adoption R - Regulatory B - Belief P - Paradigm Shift (Not mentioned here but he speaks on it in other podcasts)

[@brian_akhtar]

heard about 7 of your podcast episodes so maybe this doesn’t mean much, but wow this was one of the best guests and podcasts i’ve ever heard. gonna listen to this 10 times over the next few days. wow

[@justinhevey5182]

Maybe the best yet, Lenny. Thank you both for an enthralling 2 hours.

[@GetAConnectGlobal]

Thanks you so much Mike for this extremely 'to the point' insights! This is the number one discussion I have heard about entrepreneurship in my last 8 years of exploration. I understood every bit of your points because you articulated them so well. I will personally try to implement every bit of it in my startup. I will also 'Do my BEST'. I also got emotional with the 'Do your BEST' story at the end. Thanks for sharing that. You are truly living that. Lenny, Thanks for inviting a legend like Mike with such an authentic presence. Many Thanks! Regards, Chanakya PS : Of course I have Pre-ordered the book.

[@ShadUgata]

Mike is incredibly good and knowledgeable. Im glad I found this❤❤❤

[@Cognition-Lane-AV11]

This is real peace of value. Can't even express how much I appreciate this...

[@britainjacobson]

Truly a great episode - I've appreciated Mike's perspectives and approach to communication for awhile, super fun to listen to the newest iteration!

[@rupesh-qq5rl]

Inflection, Insights, Founders future Fit. Absolutely loved the way Mike had explained. As always thanks Lenny for bringing the best in the world through your podcasts and Newsletters. Ordered my first copy of the book through your link. Looking forward to read, learn and scale our startup to a Unicorn

[@adamkasprowicz]

Mike's idea that, as a startup founder, you HAVE to live in the future to create a strong movement behind you is GENIUS! It totally explains why people who start yet another content generation startup, for example, will fail. Not because the product is bad or the founder lacks technical knowledge, but because you will fail as a founder if you build at the edge of the present, just like 1,000 other founders. This means you will have to compete with them from day one, in a new market that has no customers yet. And the cost of running an AI startup is crazy high. Why not start with zero competition? That's possible only when you live in the future and, for the first two years, nobody pays attention to your idea because it seems silly. If you frequently hear that your idea is stupid, many times it's because people just don't see the connection between the present and your idea of the future. If the connection requires just one step, smart people will catch it. If there are three steps before the connection happens, you need a REALLY strong story and you NEED to be a great storyteller.

[@dheenadayalan5873]

This is the BEST podcast I've listened to so far. Lenny: I agree with Mike. You HAVE created a movement in the product and entrepreneurial community. Mike: A huge thanks. I can't express the gratitude I feel for learning from your wisdom.

[@DanielAvrella]

This is just pure gold, thanks for sharing your knowledge in such a direct and simple manner, Mike. And thanks for making this available, Lenny. Absolutely amazing! This will be on repeat for the next... month?!

[@villanuevaphoto-eb6mi]

What a likeable human being. Thanks for sharing!

[@annieng1172]

Great interview. Mike has very wise and profound insights. I also love the way he conveys the ideas. Thanks Lenny! Another great episode.

[@krishnacohen]

This is a great podcast. 🙏

[@Lee-qj4hk]

01:14:09 "Taxis suck in San Francisco" - I recall ordering a taxi in France. It was after midnight and we were far from a major road. We ordered a taxi and when it arrived she wanted to be paid €20 just for arriving!

[@sysarcher]

I bought the book before the episode reached halfway.

[@bella0415]

This is immensely valuable, Mike is brilliant and I ordered the book 20 minutes into the episode. I can't wait to read it! Thanks so much for creating this movement Lenny

[@producedbypodcast]

Lenny, I've discovered your podcat thanks to your newsletter. Been loving both so far, keep up the great work!

[@Entrepreneur_in_progress]

Love it. Just as a business model canvas cannot get you a valid business strategy, it cannot get you a breakthrough startup idea. By the way, would love to see Ben Thompson on the Podcast talking about tech business strategy. Feels like he is one of the few who understands the driving forces, and cause-and-effect to make or break business strategy.

[@zzzggg388]

This was a great interview.

[@prostomarketing]

Lenny, thanks a lot for this episode!full of gold nuggets and inspiration

[@ipranay]

This is so insightful! Just ordered the book too. Thanks Lenny!

[@Miguel-zo1th]

This is so good, I love Mike Maples

[@trading-university.]

Superb interview and what a great guy. Took a lot of value from this, please keep up these bangers! thanks

[@Drackomass]

Going to keep coming back to this one.

[@louigiist]

This is pure gold, thank you

[@thomastraum]

So much wisdom, So well put. Life advice.

[@javajayakar]

Humble person: Mike

[@felipepaiva6561]

This is gold.

[@tinyloudredhead]

Wonderful episode. It resonated in so many ways. Thank you and cheers to fountain pens ❤(give one a try to see how beautiful, personal your writing and signature can be and how you can value handwriting moments more - it helps to slow down the thought process in profound ways)

[@luvodlulisa7883]

Amazing content.

[@parasbhanushali2400]

Thank you.

[@mp3michael]

Inflections can be powered by technical advancements but sometimes not. Sometimes it's just a novel product or business model such as Google adwords.

[@peterantonov5568]

Lenny that is a phenomenal podcast with fantastic questions from you prepared ahead of time. Mike mentioned this podcast isn't done through Zoom, what platform do you use and how do you make these interview videos to look so good and high quality? Is it the platform or extra tools?

[@LennysPodcast]

We use riverside.fm/

[@peterantonov5568]

@@LennysPodcast thank you!

[@CyY-vo3nb]

How can I get in touch with Mike?

[@rickhmason]

Mike I wouldn't feel too bad about passing on AirBnB. Fred Wilson passed on them - twice!

[@bwhit7919]

Some people need to learn how to have good startup ideas. Some people are great at coming up with ideas but struggle to build a company around them. I think the best companies have both types of people. You need Jobs and Wozniak.

[@wasiuanimashaun]

Build something you’re passionate about.

[@rusl12]

‘No one compares the cybertruck to the ford.’ Waaaaat

[@hcubill]

Michael Saylor? Red flag