Floodgate

About

Floodgate is a Silicon Valley venture capital firm specializing in pre-seed and seed-stage investments ¹. The firm was founded in 2006 by Mike Maples Jr. under the name Maples Investments ². Ann Miura-Ko joined as co-founding partner in 2008 ². The firm rebranded to Floodgate Fund in March 2010 ².

Floodgate is headquartered at 506 Santa Cruz Avenue, Suite 200, Menlo Park, California ¹. The firm describes itself as “Your First True Believers” and positions its role as being “co-conspirators” with founders rather than passive investors ³.

Floodgate is widely credited as a pioneer of the micro-VC model, built on the thesis that “$500,000 is the new $5 million” ²⁴. When Ann Miura-Ko co-founded the firm during the 2008 financial crisis, she recognized that founders were giving up 50% of their companies for $5M and believed there was a better way ⁴.

The firm has raised eight funds with approximately $500 million in total assets under management as of 2022 ²:

Note: Sources disagree on Fund I size. The Mike Maples investor profile on HBS cites $15M ⁵; Grokipedia cites $10M ². Both figures are included for transparency.

Floodgate’s portfolio collectively exceeds $100 billion in valuation ³. The firm has produced 7 unicorns, 6 IPOs (including Okta, Lyft, Chegg, BigCommerce, Bazaarvoice, and Clover Health), and over 82 acquisitions across approximately 248 total investments ²⁹.

The current partnership includes four partners: Mike Maples Jr. and Ann Miura-Ko (co-founders), Iris Choi, and Mike Heller ¹⁰. Heller’s addition marked the first time in over a decade that Floodgate added a new partner ¹¹. The firm also employs a CFO (Lori Simotas), Director of Operations (Lisa Del Ben), and two associates (Sam Beskind and Helen Moore) ¹⁰. Former partner Arjun Chopra served from approximately 2015 to 2025 ¹².

Stated Thesis

(Self-reported: These represent what Floodgate says publicly about its approach. See Inferred Thesis for analysis of actual investment behavior.)

Floodgate publicly articulates its investment thesis around several core concepts:

• “Your First True Believers”: The firm aims to be “the absolute best partner to the top 0.1% Prime Movers before the rest of the world believes — before product/market fit, before traction, and before there’s a parade to get in front of” ³⁴.

• Thunder Lizards: Floodgate’s signature framework describes the rare, transformative companies they seek. Ann Miura-Ko explains: “We invest in thunder lizards — those fifteen companies that want to crawl across the pacific ocean and take over Tokyo and eat buildings and trains and generally disrupt markets” ¹³. The term is derived from Godzilla and represents wildly disruptive companies ⁶.

• Pattern Breakers: The firm seeks founders who propose fundamentally new approaches rather than incremental improvements. Mike Maples articulates: “My job is to invest in pattern breakers… find the people who propose a new way” ¹⁴.

• Inflections and Insights: The investment framework rests on two pillars — inflections (external shifts in technology or society that create conditions for radical change) and insights (a founder’s unique understanding of how to harness an inflection) ¹⁵.

• Prime Movers and Value Stack: Floodgate believes winning founders will “pull more levers than just the product lever,” building across the entire value stack including Proprietary Power, Product Power, Business Model Power, Company Power, and Category Power ³.

• Co-conspirators, not just investors: The firm describes its role as actively partnering with founders: “surrounding founders with necessary resources and talent, maintaining honest conversations, especially during difficult periods, eliminating noise and distractions” ³.

• The future is designed: Floodgate contends that “breakthrough startups result from intentional design rather than chance,” stating: “The future is not random. It’s designed” ³.

Ann Miura-Ko describes her approach as: “I’m always investing in a set of people who are committed to a process of uncovering secrets” ¹⁶. She asks founders: “Why is this your life’s work?” ¹⁷.

The firm typically backs 4-6 companies annually with initial check sizes of $500K-$5M ²⁴.

Inferred Thesis

Based on analysis of 120 verified portfolio companies from Floodgate’s website ⁹ and cross-referenced with other sources:

Stage focus: - Overwhelmingly pre-seed and seed stage, consistent with stated focus ¹⁴ - Occasional early Series A co-investments, particularly in capital-intensive sectors (e.g., Okta with Andreessen Horowitz) ¹⁸ - The firm invested when most companies had no product or traction — Twitter before it was Twitter (when it was Odeo), Lyft when it was Zimride, Okta when it was Saasure, Twitch when it was Justin.tv ³

Sector concentration (of 120 verified investments from portfolio page ⁹): - Enterprise SaaS & software: 38 companies (32%) — including Okta, Outreach, SnapLogic, Egnyte, Pantheon, Xamarin, Workboard, MixMax, GoFormz, Zeplin, Draftbit, Fieldguide, Tesorio, Vendia, Rafay Systems, Ontic, TextIQ, Lob ⁹ - Consumer internet & social: 22 companies (18%) — including Twitter/X, Chegg, Digg, Weebly, Refinery29, Mighty Networks, Smule, IFTTT, Keepsafe, PicCollage, Jodel, Mem Labs ⁹ - AI & machine learning: 14 companies (12%) — including Hebbia, Applied Intuition, SmarterDx, Aible, Harmonic AI, Loris.ai, Emotive, Ario, Joey AI ⁹ - Marketplaces & commerce: 8 companies (7%) — including Lyft, Rappi, TaskRabbit, BigCommerce, The Zebra, AirGarage, Nooks Communication ⁹ - Fintech & financial services: 7 companies (6%) — including LTSE, Tango Card, Fieldguide, Neo.Tax, Eudia, Loyalist, Tesorio ⁹ - Healthcare & biotech: 7 companies (6%) — including Clover Health, SmarterDx, Bot MD, Counsel, Inscopix, boam ⁹ - Education: 5 companies (4%) — including Chegg, Clever, Thinkful, Aceable, Polygence ⁹ - Gaming: 4 companies (3%) — including ngmoco, N3twork, Aconite, ReadyOn ⁹ - Climate & energy: 5 companies (4%) — including Terradot, Living Carbon, OhmConnect, Last Energy, Nirvana ⁹ - Crypto & web3: 4 companies (3%) — including Messari, Starkware, Skale Labs, Shipper ⁹ - Other (real estate, logistics, media, manufacturing): 7 companies (6%) — including Hadrian, Culdesac, Blooma, Origin ⁹

Note: Some companies span multiple categories. Totals may exceed 120 due to overlap. Percentages are approximate based on primary sector classification.

Geography: - Heavily concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley ² - Some presence in other US tech hubs, notably Austin, TX (Maples’ home market from his Motive Communications days) ⁵ - Select international investments including Latin America (Rappi — Colombia), Europe (Jodel — Germany), and Asia (Shipper — Indonesia, PicCollage — Taiwan) ⁹

Typical check size: - $500K-$5M range with a $2.5M sweet spot ⁴¹⁹ - Early funds (2006-2012): smaller initial checks of $150K-$1M ² - Larger recent funds allow $500K-$5M initial checks ²⁰

Exit patterns (based on portfolio page status indicators ⁹): - 6 confirmed IPOs: Bazaarvoice, BigCommerce, Chegg, Clover Health, Lyft, Okta ²⁹ - LTSE also listed as IPO ⁹ - Numerous M&A exits including: Demandforce, Clever, Egnyte, SnapLogic, OhmConnect, Refinery29, Weebly, ngmoco, Thinkful, Tango Card, Xamarin, Workboard, Inscopix, Nooks Communication ⁹

Co-investor patterns: - Strong syndicate relationships with later-stage firms including Andreessen Horowitz (co-invested in Okta), Benchmark, and Sequoia, who often lead follow-on rounds ¹⁸²¹

Notable patterns: - Strong affinity for companies initially dismissed or misunderstood — Twitter was seen as trivial, Lyft faced regulatory skepticism ²¹ - High pivot rate: approximately 80% of Floodgate’s exit profits came from companies that executed major pivots (including Twitter, Twitch, and Chegg) ²² - The firm invests time upfront ideating with founders before they launch a formal fundraising process, then offers terms early ⁹ - Disproportionate success in enterprise software relative to consumer, despite investing in both — Okta alone generated massive returns ¹⁸ - Growing AI portfolio in recent years (Hebbia, Applied Intuition, SmarterDx, Harmonic AI, Counsel), suggesting a strategic shift toward AI-native companies ⁹ - The stated thesis around “thunder lizards” and “pattern breaking” appears broadly consistent with portfolio behavior — many portfolio companies (Twitter, Lyft, Okta) were initially dismissed by other investors before becoming category-defining ²¹

Portfolio

This table includes 72 of approximately 248 total Floodgate investments (~29%). Years are approximate, primarily based on company founding dates when investment year is not publicly confirmed. Floodgate reports 7 unicorns and 6+ IPOs in the portfolio ². The full portfolio is available at floodgate.com/companies ⁹.

In Their Own Words

“We invest in thunder lizards — those fifteen companies that want to crawl across the pacific ocean and take over Tokyo and eat buildings and trains and generally disrupt markets. We are looking literally for Godzilla.” — Ann Miura-Ko, Startup Grind ¹³

“The future is not random. It’s designed.” — Floodgate, Beliefs page ³

“Putting your belief in someone who has nothing proven is really the essence of venture capital.” — Ann Miura-Ko, Deseret News interview, May 2021 ²⁵

“You don’t become a better investor by figuring out all the ways something can go wrong. You become a better investor by figuring out how something can go right.” — Ann Miura-Ko, Deseret News interview, May 2021 ²⁵

“I’m always investing in a set of people who are committed to a process of uncovering secrets.” — Ann Miura-Ko, 20VC: The Lyft Memo ¹⁶

“A great VC cares deeply about the company they’re partnering with; they’re a co-conspirator, not just an investor.” — Ann Miura-Ko, Path to Conviction interview ¹⁶

“Is this a team I want to be co-conspirators with for 10 years?” — Ann Miura-Ko, Path to Conviction interview ¹⁶

“I’m not an investor that has universal appeal. I’m a bit of a maniacal truth-teller.” — Ann Miura-Ko, Turpentine VC interview ¹⁶

“We invest in a company that I hope will have a legacy 30, 40, 50 years from now.” — Ann Miura-Ko, Lean Startup Co. interview ¹⁷

“We’re at the headwaters of change.” — Ann Miura-Ko, describing Floodgate’s positioning, Lean Startup Co. interview ¹⁷

“In every decision we make at Floodgate, I’m always trying to think about the opposite side of an argument.” — Ann Miura-Ko, Deseret News interview, May 2021 ²⁵

“It’s in these early stages you feel like you’re taking on the world together but only if first you believe.” — Iris Choi, Partner, Floodgate website ²⁶

“AI will dramatically shift how organizations (and the world) operate.” — Mike Heller, Partner, Floodgate website ²⁷

“You can’t achieve outsized results in life by doing things that others do — you have to do radically different things.” — Mike Maples Jr., Venture Almanac ²¹

“80% of our profits had come from what’s called pivots.” — Mike Maples Jr., Thought Economics interview, referencing Twitch, Twitter, and Chegg ²²

“My job is to invest in pattern breakers… find the people who propose a new way.” — Mike Maples Jr. ¹⁴

What Founders Say

“Mike Maples is an amazing VC and partner to Sharethrough. I wouldn’t be where I am now without Mike’s support and mentorship. If you ever have the opportunity to meet him, take it. I guarantee you will learn something profound.” — Dan Greenberg, CEO of Sharethrough ¹⁹

Tim Ferriss has called Mike Maples “the man who taught me how to invest” and described him as “one of my favorite people and a personal mentor,” dedicating an entire episode of The Tim Ferriss Show (Episode #286) to Maples’ investing approach ²⁹. (Note: Ferriss is not a portfolio founder but a prominent figure in the startup ecosystem.)

No additional independently sourced founder testimonials about working with Floodgate were found despite dedicated searching. The Computer History Museum piece on TaskRabbit features Ann Miura-Ko’s perspective on the investment ²⁴, and Ann Miura-Ko has spoken about the Lyft co-founders ²⁸, but these are investor-about-founder quotes rather than founder testimonials.

Sources