Ann Miura-Ko
Co-founding Partner
Floodgate
Ann Miura-Ko is a co-founding Partner at Floodgate, a repeat Forbes Midas List investor, and a Stanford entrepreneurship lecturer known for backing highly technical early-stage companies.
Bio
Professional summary
Mike Heller is a Partner at Floodgate. His official Floodgate profile says he helped define an early product-led-sales motion at Dropbox and later joined Clearbit as its first business hire, leading sales, post-sales, and partnerships during a period of major revenue growth before Clearbit’s exit to HubSpot. More recently, he built a consulting practice helping more than 30 seed-stage startups adapt sales best practices for their paths to product-market fit. Public profiles describe Floodgate as a pre-seed and seed investor and associate Heller with AI application-layer companies and distribution advantages.
Investment focus
Stage, sector, and overall fit
Stage
Pre-seedSeed
Sector
AI applicationsB2B softwareProduct-led growthGo-to-market infrastructure
Thesis
Pre-seed and seed startupsProduct-market fitProduct-led sales and early GTMCreative distribution advantages
Notable companies
Selected portfolio companies the partner has backed
DropboxClearbit
How to approach
Framing and angles for outreach
Pitch framing
Lead with why the startup has a non-obvious distribution advantage and how early sales or product-led adoption can create momentum before the market is obvious. He appears especially relevant for pre-seed or seed founders who need help turning early customer pull into a repeatable go-to-market motion.
Personalization hooks
- 1Reference his Dropbox product-led-sales background if the company has bottom-up adoption.
- 2Mention Clearbit if the company has a data, GTM, or B2B sales motion angle.
- 3Frame the pitch around product-market fit and early repeatability rather than only vision.
- 4Call out any creative distribution advantage, such as API embedding, founder-led audience, or bottoms-up usage.
Recent signals
What the partner has said or done recently
Official profile highlights his Dropbox product-led-sales experience and Clearbit business leadership before its exit to HubSpot.
Official profile says he advised more than 30 seed-stage startups on sales best practices and product-market-fit paths.
Public investor profiles describe his focus as pre-seed and seed companies, especially AI application-layer startups with distribution advantages.
Other partners at Floodgate
4 more profiles
Iris Choi
Partner
Floodgate
Iris Choi is a Partner at Floodgate who works with portfolio companies on corporate relationships, business development, and financings.
Mike Maples, Jr.
Co-founding Partner
Floodgate
Mike Maples, Jr. is a co-founding Partner at Floodgate and an early-stage investor known for backing category-defining startups including Twitter, Twitch, Okta, Chegg, Demandforce, Applied Intuition, Clover Health, and Outreach.
Sam Beskind
Associate
Floodgate
Floodgate associate and Mike Maples Jr. chief of staff with climate and hard-tech founder research experience.