
Pattern Breakers: How to find a breakthrough startup idea | Mike Maples, Jr. (Founding Partner at Floodgate, ex-Product at Silicon Graphics)
Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth
Unlocking Breakthrough Startup Ideas Through Authentic Insight
This chapter explores the essence of discovering innovative startup concepts by aligning personal passion with market demands. It highlights the journey of Justin TV and how initial setbacks paved the way for success, providing practical strategies for aspiring founders to think outside the box and anticipate future trends.
Mike Maples, Jr. is a legendary early-stage startup investor and a co-founder and partner at Floodgate. Heâs 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. Heâs been on the Forbes Midas List eight times and enjoys sharing the lessons heâs 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 heâs found separates startups and founders that break through and change the world from those that donât. After spending years reviewing the notes and decks from the thousands of startups heâs known over the past two decades, heâs 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 âcomparison trapâ and âconformity trapâ
⢠The importance of movements, storytelling, and healthy disagreeableness in startup success
⢠How to apply pattern-breaking principles within large companies
⢠Mikeâs one piece of advice for founders
⢠Much more
Pre-order Mikeâs book here and get a second signed copy for free. Limited copies are available, so order ASAP: patternbreakers.com/lenny.
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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-find-a-great-startup-idea-mike-maples-jr
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Where to find Mike Maples, Jr.:
⢠X: https://x.com/m2jr
⢠LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maples/
⢠Substack: https://greatness.substack.com/
⢠Website: https://www.floodgate.com/
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Where to find Lenny:
⢠Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
⢠X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
⢠LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Mikeâs 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
(17:09) Examples of inflections
(28:10) Insights
(36:58) The power of surprises
(47:36) Founder-future fit
(55:33) Advice for aspiring founders
(56:41) Living in the future: valid opinions
(55:34) Case study: Maddie Hall and Living Carbon
(58:40) Identifying lighthouse customers
(01:00:53) The importance of desperation in customer needs
(01:03:57) Creating movements and storytelling
(01:24:22) The role of disagreeableness in startups
(01:34:42) Applying these principles within a company
(01:40:43) Lightning round
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Referenced:
⢠Pattern Breakers: Why Some Start-Ups Change the Future: https://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Breakers-Start-Ups-Change-Future/dp/1541704355
⢠Justin.tv: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin.tv
⢠Airbnbâs CEO says a $40 cereal box changed the course of the multibillion-dollar company: https://fortune.com/2023/04/19/airbnb-ceo-cereal-box-investors-changed-everything-billion-dollar-company/
⢠Brian Cheskyâs new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach
⢠The Unconventional Exit: How Justin Kan Sold His First Startup on eBay: https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/the-unconventional-exit-how-justin-kan-sold-his-first-startup-on-ebay-4d705afe1354
⢠Kyle Vogt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylevogt/
⢠The State of Telehealth Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9035352/
⢠The Craigslist Killers: https://www.gq.com/story/craigslist-killers
⢠The social radar: Y Combinatorâs secret weapon | Jessica Livingston (co-founder of Y Combinator, author, podcast host): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-social-radar-jessica-livingston
⢠Michael Seibel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwseibel/
⢠The Airbnb Story: How Three Ordinary Guys Disrupted an Industry, Made Billions ... and Created Plenty of Controversy: https://www.amazon.com/Airbnb-Story-Ordinary-Disrupted-Controversy/dp/0544952669
⢠Scott Cook: https://www.forbes.com/profile/scott-cook/
⢠Chegg: https://www.chegg.com/
⢠Aayush Phumbhra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aayush/
⢠Osman Rashid on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/osmanrashid/
⢠Okta: https://www.okta.com/
⢠The Man Who Makes the Future: Wired Icon Marc Andreessen: https://www.wired.com/2012/04/ff-andreessen/
⢠Peter Ludwig on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterwludwig/
⢠Qasar Younis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/qasar/
⢠Paul Allenâs website: https://paulallen.com/
⢠Louis Pasteur quote: https://www.forbes.com/quotes/6145/
⢠What was Atrium and why did it fail? https://www.failory.com/cemetery/atrium
⢠Patrick Collison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickcollison/
⢠Drew Houston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewhouston/
⢠William Gibsonâs quote: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/681-the-future-is-already-here-it-s-just-not-evenly
⢠Maddie Hall on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maddie-hall-76293135/
⢠Living Carbon: https://www.livingcarbon.com
⢠Zenefits (now Trinet): https://connect.trinet.com/
⢠Sam Altman on X: https://x.com/sama
⢠Steve Wozniak on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wozniaksteve/
⢠Horsley Bridge Partners: https://www.horsleybridge.com/
⢠David Swensen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_F._Swensen
⢠Judith Elsea on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judithelsea/
⢠7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy: https://www.amazon.com/7-Powers-Foundations-Business-Strategy/dp/0998116319
⢠Business strategy with Hamilton Helmer (author of 7 Powers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/business-strategy-with-hamilton-helmer
⢠Lyftâs Focus on Community and the Story Behind the Pink Mustache: https://techcrunch.com/2012/09/17/lyfts-focus-on-community-and-the-story-behind-the-pink-mustache/
⢠Logan Green on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/logangreen/
⢠John Zimmer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnzimmer11/
⢠Storytelling with Nancy Duarte: How to craft compelling presentations and tell a story that sticks: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/storytelling-with-nancy-duarte-how
⢠Steve Jobs Introducing the iPhone at MacWorld 2007: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7qPAY9JqE4
⢠Jonathan Livingston Seagull: https://www.amazon.com/Jonathan-Livingston-Seagull-Richard-Bach/dp/0743278909
⢠The paths to power: How to grow your influence and advance your career | Jeffrey Pfeffer (author of 7 Rules of Power, professor at Stanford GSB): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-paths-to-power-jeffrey-pfeffer
⢠Robin Roberts on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-roberts-393a934b/
⢠Skunkworks: https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/who-we-are/business-areas/aeronautics/skunkworks.html
⢠Vision, conviction, and hype: How to build 0 to 1 inside a company | Mihika Kapoor (Product at Figma): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/vision-conviction-hype-mihika-kapoor
⢠Hard-won lessons building 0 to 1 inside Atlassian | Tanguy Crusson (Head of Jira Product Discovery): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-0-to-1-inside-atlassian-tanguy-crusson
⢠Figma: https://www.figma.com/
⢠Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/
⢠Vinod Khosla: https://www.khoslaventures.com/team/vinod-khosla/
⢠Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing: https://www.amazon.com/Top-Five-Regrets-Dying-Transformed-ebook/dp/B07KNRLY1L
⢠Chase, Chance, and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty: https://www.amazon.com/Chase-Chance-Creativity-Lucky-Novelty/dp/0262511355
⢠Clay Christensenâs books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Clayton-M.-Christensen/author/B000APPD3Y
⢠Resonate: Present Visual Stories That Transform: https://www.amazon.com/Resonate-Present-Stories-Transform-Audiences/dp/0470632011
⢠Ferrari on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Ferrari-Adam-Driver/dp/B0CNDBN672
⢠Montblanc fountain pens: https://www.montblanc.com/en-us
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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.
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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
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