The sixth Venture Trailblazers event took place on Wednesday, June 27, 2024, and featured a Fireside Chat with Mike Maples Jr. (Co-founding Partner at Floodgate).

Keynote Speaker: Mike Maples Jr.

Mike Maples Jr. is a Co-founding Partner at Floodgate. He has been on the Forbes Midas List eight times in the last decade and was also named a “Rising Star” by FORTUNE and profiled by Harvard Business School for his lifetime contributions to entrepreneurship.

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.)

Some of Mike’s investments include Twitter, Twitch.tv, Clover Health, Okta, Outreach, ngmoco, Chegg, Bazaarvoice, and Demandforce.

Mike is known for coining the term “Thunder Lizards,” which is a metaphor derived from Godzilla that describes the tiny number of truly exceptional companies that are wildly disruptive capitalist mutations. Mike likes to think of himself as a hunter of the “atomic eggs” that beget these companies.

Mike is the host of the Starting Greatness podcast, which shares startup lessons from the super performers.

Watch the video replay of the event below:

Venture Trailblazers is an exclusive, invite-only event series that connects leading investors, founders, and ecosystem leaders from across the globe to discuss the latest trends in startups and venture capital.

The goal of Venture Trailblazers is to educate and connect the founders, leaders, mentors, and investors across the global Founder Institute, VC Lab, and FI Venture Networks.