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title: You Don’t Need More Money—Just A Better AI Strategy - Ep. 50 with Mike Maples
description: >-
  Mike Maples knows how AI startups can beat incumbents with billions of
  dollars. Mike—who wrote early checks to Twitter, Twitch, Okta, and Lyft, and
  now invests through Floodgate, the fund he cofounded—told me it's not about
  the smartest model, or raising the most money. Startups can win in AI with
  better strategy. AI is changing the economics of startups—both how they’re
  started and how they’re funded. A new breed of companies is emerging, and I
  invited Mike on the show to talk about how they can best strategize. Last
  year, Mike co-authored a book called Pattern Breakers, which is essentially a
  guidebook to why there’s no guidebook to building companies. I really liked
  it, and my colleague Evan Armstrong reviewed it for Every, so I was glad to
  have him on. We talk about how shifts in technology create space for smaller
  players to compete—even with AI giants like OpenAI—and how to capitalize on
  them. If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment,
  and share! Want even more? Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to
  prompting ChatGPT here:
  https://every.ck.page/ultimate-guide-to-prompting-chatgpt. It’s usually only
  for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free. To hear more from
  Dan Shipper: Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe Follow him on X:
  https://twitter.com/danshipper Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Episode start 00:02:20 -
  Introduction 00:06:02 - Innovate the business model, not just the product
  00:15:49 - How startups can compete against the likes of OpenAI 00:19:34 -
  Mike's take on DeepSeek 00:21:44 - Why the future has always belonged to the
  tinkerers 00:24:03 - How small teams today can make big money 00:28:55 - Find
  niches that incumbents can't or don't want to enter 00:45:50 - The qualities
  of the truly AI-native 00:52:28 - How AI changes the funding model for
  software companies 00:57:05 - Knowledge work is moving toward systems-level
  thinking Links to resources mentioned: Mike Maple: @m2jr The fund Mike
  confounded, Floodgate: @floodgatefund Evan’s piece reviewing Pattern Breakers:
  https://every.to/napkin-math/a-new-book-of-the-startup-bible Dan’s piece on
  the allocation economy:
  https://every.to/chain-of-thought/the-knowledge-economy-is-over-welcome-to-the-allocation-economy
canonical: >-
  https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/explore/video/you-don-t-need-more-money-just-a-better-ai-strategy-313cce6896ed
markdown: >-
  https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/video/you-don-t-need-more-money-just-a-better-ai-strategy-313cce6896ed.md
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parent: 'https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc.md'
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updated: '2026-10-24T01:09:52.493Z'
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publishedAt: '2025-03-05T15:37:43.000Z'
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# You Don’t Need More Money—Just A Better AI Strategy - Ep. 50 with Mike Maples

Mike Maples knows how AI startups can beat incumbents with billions of dollars. Mike—who wrote early checks to Twitter, Twitch, Okta, and Lyft, and now invests through Floodgate, the fund he cofounded—told me it's not about the smartest model, or raising the most money. Startups can win in AI with better strategy. AI is changing the economics of startups—both how they’re started and how they’re funded. A new breed of companies is emerging, and I invited Mike on the show to talk about how they can best strategize. Last year, Mike co-authored a book called Pattern Breakers, which is essentially a guidebook to why there’s no guidebook to building companies. I really liked it, and my colleague Evan Armstrong reviewed it for Every, so I was glad to have him on. We talk about how shifts in technology create space for smaller players to compete—even with AI giants like OpenAI—and how to capitalize on them. If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share! Want even more? Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT here: https://every.ck.page/ultimate-guide-to-prompting-chatgpt. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free. To hear more from Dan Shipper: Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/danshipper Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Episode start 00:02:20 - Introduction 00:06:02 - Innovate the business model, not just the product 00:15:49 - How startups can compete against the likes of OpenAI 00:19:34 - Mike's take on DeepSeek 00:21:44 - Why the future has always belonged to the tinkerers 00:24:03 - How small teams today can make big money 00:28:55 - Find niches that incumbents can't or don't want to enter 00:45:50 - The qualities of the truly AI-native 00:52:28 - How AI changes the funding model for software companies 00:57:05 - Knowledge work is moving toward systems-level thinking Links to resources mentioned: Mike Maple: @m2jr The fund Mike confounded, Floodgate: @floodgatefund Evan’s piece reviewing Pattern Breakers: https://every.to/napkin-math/a-new-book-of-the-startup-bible Dan’s piece on the allocation economy: https://every.to/chain-of-thought/the-knowledge-economy-is-over-welcome-to-the-allocation-economy

Canonical: https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/explore/video/you-don-t-need-more-money-just-a-better-ai-strategy-313cce6896ed · Channel: [Every](https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc.md)

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