#20 Mike Maples, Jr.

Mike Maples, Jr. on Forbes

Mike Maples, Jr is a Partner at Floodgate. He has been on the Forbes Midas List since 2010 and was also named one of “8 Rising Stars” by FORTUNE Magazine. Before becoming a full-time investor, Mike was involved as a founder and operating executive at back-to-back startup IPOs, including Tivoli Systems (IPO TIVS, acquired by IBM) and Motive (IPO MOTV, acquired by Alcatel-Lucent.)

The latest Tweets from Mike Maples (@m2jr). The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep. -Robert Frost. California

Five years ago, I moved to Silicon Valley and embarked on a crazy experiment. I wanted to test whether a new model of "Super Angel" investing could address a big gap in venture capital. I set my alarm clock for March 2010 and decided that I would either quit investing and declare the experiment a failure, or go "all-in" on the concept. No hedging.

Mike Maples, Jr. on Forbes

Image via CrunchBase Mike Maples, Jr. has many connections with International Business Machines (IBM). His father, Mike Maples, was an IBM executive who went on to Microsoft (MSFT). And Junior's travels as his father moved took him around the country.  And after a decade in Austin, he moved to the heart of Silicon Valley [...]

Entrepreneur and helper of start-ups

Managing Partner at FLOODGATE

Mike Maples Jr., co-founder of the venture capital firm Floodgate, explains what entrepreneurs can learn from the very few technology startups that achieve hyper-exceptional success and market disruption. The Silicon Valley veteran urges tomorrow's innovators to "only do things that have a chance to be legendary" – because it takes just as much work to do something mediocre.

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. His background spans a variety of markets including consumer technology, small business, and the enterprise, and he has led various functions in product development, marketing, business development, and corporate strategy.