The Future Is About Abundance
Mike Maples on this episode of the Legends & Losers Podcast.
The economy was predicated on the notion of scarcity, but this is shifting. What is the new capitalism paradigm we’re transitioning into? How do Moore’s Law and Metcalfe’s Law play into this? What is missing in our conversation about small business and entrepreneurship?
On this episode, Floodgate’s Mike Maples, Jr. talks about mission clarity, the crisis in entrepreneurship and future of capitalism.
Takeaways
- Most of us think the economy is what it is because it’s the only economy we’ve ever lived in.
- A network capitalist can coordinate resources they don’t own because they are all networked.
- Most of the criticisms of capitalism are examples where capitalism was interfered with.
At the start of the show, Mike shared on why the moon landing encompasses greatness and hot teams. We also discussed how the country could do more for veterans, and how technology can help create prosperity for everyone. Mike also gave us an interesting piece of history, “from 1820–2000 the standard of living of humankind went up thirteen-fold.”
We also talked about the advantages of being a network capitalist. Mike went on to share on people’s attitudes towards innovation, “when you’re talking about the innovation of the future, the burden of proof is always on the guy who is pro-innovation, it should be on the person who is being negative.”
Towards the end of the show we discussed how we can operate in the prosperity that tech jobs create.
Mike also shared on:
- Moore’s Law and Metcalfe’s Law
- Why great founders are a lot like surfers
- How we’ve over-regulated small business to death
- How we’re shifting from managerial capitalism to network capitalism
- How networks are reimagining labor and the employee social contract
Capitalism is shifting from the traditional corporations to networks. Value in the future is going to be a function of the reach, value and breadth of the networks you curate and manage. Venture capital was designed to back disruptive, exponentially growing companies, but capitalism is often suppressed by over-regulation. We need to find ways to bring the prosperity of tech jobs to more people. Our economy would be more vibrant, and there’d be much more broad prosperity for everybody.
Guest Bio
Mike Maples Jr has been on the Forbes Midas List since 2010 and was also named one of “8 Rising Stars” by FORTUNE Magazine. Before becoming a full-time investor, Mike was involved as a founder and operating executive at back-to-back startup IPOs, including Tivoli Systems (IPO TIVS, acquired by IBM) and Motive (IPO MOTV, acquired by Alcatel-Lucent.) Some of Mike’s investments include Twitter, Twitch.tv, ngmoco, Weebly, Chegg, Bazaarvoice, Spiceworks, Okta, and Demandforce. Go to FloodGate.com for more information.
