This week, Erik is joined by Mike Maples, Jr, co-founder of Floodgate, a storied seed firm that's invested in Lyft, Okta, Twitch, and Twitter, to name a few unicorn portcos. If you’re looking to improve your sourcing, tracking, and due diligence, check out: https://synaptic.com/turpentine

We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com.

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SPONSORS:

🧲 Learn why Craft, Bedrock, NEA and 100s more trust Harmonic’s data to source deals. Harmonic is the most complete startup database, finding new companies as soon as they incorporate and tracking them through IPO. Head to https://bit.ly/harmonicturpentine and make sure to mention Turpentine VC during your demo.

Synaptic unifies over one hundred real-time company performance metrics across alternative datasets like user traffic, employee data, app downloads, product reviews, and more. It’s your all-in-one source for alternative data that helps you make better investment decisions. To learn how Synaptic can improve your sourcing, tracking, and due diligence, visit https://synaptic.com/turpentine

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RECOMMENDED PODCAST:

Every week investor and writer of the popular newsletter The Diff, Byrne Hobart, and co-host Erik Torenberg discuss today’s major inflection points in technology, business, and markets – and help listeners build a diversified portfolio of trends and ideas for the future. Subscribe to “The Riff” with Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg: https://link.chtbl.com/theriff

RECOMMENDED PODCAST: LIVE PLAYERS

Join host Samo Burja and Erik Torenberg as they analyze the mindsets of today’s most intriguing business leaders, investors, and innovators through the lens of their bold actions and contrarian worldviews. You’ll come away with a deeper understanding of the development of technology, business, political power, culture and more. LIsten and subscribe everywhere you get your podcasts: https://link.chtbl.com/liveplayers.

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Join our free newsletter to get Erik's top 3 insights from each episode every week: https://turpentinevc.substack.com/

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RELATED SHOWS: If you like Turpentine VC, check out our show The Limited Partner with David Weisburd, where David talks to the investors behind the investors: https://link.chtbl.com/thelimitedpartner

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X / TWITTER:

@m2jr (Mike)

@eriktorenberg (Erik)

@floodgatefund

@TurpentineVC

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TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Episode Preview

(01:00) The biggest inflection points in Floodgate's history

(03:03) Force a choice, not a comparison

(07:16) Why didn't Floodgate scale like a16z did?

(11:28) Sponsor: Synaptic

(12:31) How to bet on people before they have a company

(15:38) On how to pull out signal from founder references

(17:38) What questions would Mike be asking fund managers as an LP?

(20:46) On how venture has evolved

(24:12) On YC and their non-consensus economics

(25:58) Will Floodgate pursue incubation?

(28:05) Frameworks for identifying good ideas

(32:35) How Mike thinks about AI

(37:59) If Mike started Floodgate today, what would be his differentiating approach?

(40:07) What kind of firms will flourish in the next 10 years?

(42:10) On firm differentiation

(47:57) Mike's take on Sam Lessin's thesis on seed investing

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This show is produced by Turpentine: a network of podcasts, newsletters, and more, covering technology, business, and culture — all from the perspective of industry insiders and experts. We’re launching new shows every week, and we’re looking for industry-leading sponsors — if you think that might be you and your company, email us at erik@turpentine.co.

Jan Yager, "Time Masters: Eleven Secrets to Greater Productivity and Life Fulfillment" (Hannacroix Craft Books, 2026)

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