Insight certainty 3/5 debate potential 2/5

Maples: VCs must accept missing deals to focus on essential partnerships

Mike Maples · 20VC: Floodgate's Mike Maples on 3 Key Breakthroughs Startups Experience in Success, The Rise of Angel and Operator Funds, Multi-Stage Funds Re-Entering Seed Investing and The Insight Development Framework · May 11, 2020 · at 25:33

Mike Maples Jr., partner at seed firm Floodgate, discusses fund strategy on 20VC, contrasting scaled top-of-funnel deal coverage with a boutique, concentrated investment model.

0:00 / 0:26exact quote · 26.7s
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“And I think that the other extreme would be what I call the joy of finding greatness. And in the joy of finding greatness, you say, look, I'm going to be comfortable with the fact that I'm not going to see every great deal. I'm going to be comfortable with the fact that I'm going to miss a few. What matters is the time that I do spend, and what matters is the people that I do decide to work with. And what I should focus on is bring forward what's essential and bring forward what's great by not doing things that aren't essential or great.”

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