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 Maples, Jr. is a co-founding Partner at Floodgate, a firm positioning itself as an early believer in breakthrough founders. Floodgate’s official profile says he has been on the Forbes Midas List eight times in the last decade and was named a Fortune Rising Star. Before investing full-time, he held founder/operator roles at Tivoli Systems and Motive Communications, both IPO companies that were later acquired. His listed investments include Twitter, Twitch, Clover Health, Okta, Outreach, Chegg, Demandforce, and Applied Intuition. Floodgate also describes his “Thunder Lizards” framing for rare disruptive startups and notes that he wrote Pattern Breakers and hosts the Pattern Breakers podcast.
Investment focus
Stage, sector, and overall fit
Stage
pre-seedseedvery early stage
Sector
AIenterpriseconsumerhealthcarefintechbreakthrough technology startups
Thesis
Very early-stage breakthrough technology startupsConsumer and B2B startupsAI, enterprise, healthcare, consumer, fintech, and other technology categories represented in Floodgate portfolio
Notable companies
Selected portfolio companies the partner has backed
TwitterTwitchClover HealthOktaOutreachCheggDemandforceApplied Intuition
How to approach
Framing and angles for outreach
Pitch framing
Best fit if the company has a non-obvious early insight that could become a category-defining breakthrough before metrics are obvious.
Personalization hooks
- 1Reference the company’s “atomic egg” or category-creation insight rather than only traction metrics.
- 2Connect the pitch to Pattern Breakers-style lessons about exceptional startups.
Recent signals
What the partner has said or done recently
Floodgate profile highlights his book and podcast, Pattern Breakers, focused on lessons from high-performing startups.
Background
Career, education, and skills
Career history
- FloodgateCo-founding PartnerPresent
- Motive (IPO MOTV, acquired by Alcatel-Lucent)Co-founder & CEOPrior
- Tivoli Systems (IPO TIVS, acquired by IBM)Co-founderPrior
Education
- Stanford UniversityBS, Engineering
- Harvard Business SchoolMBA, Business Administration
Skills
Seed InvestingCompany BuildingBoard GovernancePattern Recognition
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 Heller
Partner
Floodgate
Mike Heller is a Partner at Floodgate. His official profile highlights operating experience at Dropbox and Clearbit, plus hands-on sales and product-market-fit advisory work with seed-stage startups.
Sam Beskind
Associate
Floodgate
Floodgate associate and Mike Maples Jr. chief of staff with climate and hard-tech founder research experience.