Floodgate

Floodgate's investment thesis explicitly requires founders to articulate a non-obvious, contrarian belief about the future that their company is built to realize. As described on the firm's website, the partnership screens for a "breakthrough insight" — a unique market thesis that most people either reject or don't yet understand. This forms the foundation of their seed-stage conviction model.

Investment decisions are led by Co-Founding Partners Mike Maples Jr. and Ann Miura-Ko, who have steered the firm since its founding. The partnership operates through a lean structure, concentrating authority within this small, senior group. Other team members, including Partners Iris Choi and Mike Heller, support origination and portfolio work.

Floodgate sources through the personal networks of its Co-Founding Partners, who have been embedded in the Silicon Valley seed ecosystem since before the rise of Y Combinator and modern accelerators. The firm's public positioning around being a founder's "first true believers" and its historical role in backing Lyft and Okta as an initial check writer attract entrepreneurs seeking an early-stage partner with category-creation credentials.

Floodgate's known investment activity, as reflected in its public materials, centers exclusively on direct investments into pre-seed and seed-stage technology companies. There is no public evidence that the firm acts as a limited partner in other venture funds or pursues a fund-of-funds strategy.

Floodgate deliberately limits itself to the earliest stages of company formation, primarily targeting pre-seed and seed rounds. The firm defines its role as writing a startup's first institutional check, occasionally participating in follow-on financings for breakout portfolio companies but never leading growth-stage rounds as a primary strategy.