Mike Maples, Jr

Marc Andreessen calls him "the best AI CEO nobody knows about." Elad Gil calls his company "the most successful, most quiet company in AI." Qasar Younis (@qasar) is the co-founder and CEO of Applied Intuition—which brings AI to vehicles, like tractors, planes, submarines, mining rigs, cars, and more. The company is valued at over $15B, making ~$1B in ARR, with 18 of the top 20 global automakers (and the U.S. Department of Defense) as customers. And @Qasar's story is wild: Born on a farm in Pakistan. Emigrated to the U.S. at age 5. Grew up in Detroit managing engine lines at GM. Harvard MBA. Became COO of @Y Combinator (during the era that funded OpenAI, Cruise, DoorDash, and Coinbase). Then left to start Applied Intuition in 2017. As Qasar shared, "not many people run a $15B+ physical AI company with revenue and free cash flow. And by not many, I think literally zero other people." In a rare and in-depth interview, we discuss: 🔸 The counterintuitive reason he's stayed quiet and built in private 🔸 Why reading old books and cleaning your own office makes you a better founder 🔸 How to build a culture where the best idea wins, not the loudest voice 🔸 Why the best companies show traction early—and what to do if yours doesn't 🔸 How physical AI will transform farming, mining, and construction before it ever reaches your home Listen now 👇 youtu.be/_rcniEb9bLw

Boom is developing the aircraft and energy systems to make high-speed global flight possible again. Through Robinhood Ventures Fund I, we're working to expand access to ambitious private companies taking on challenges like this. youtube.com/watch?v=DbvUrW…

Today is launch day. 🚀🚀🚀 We find ourselves in a time with much fear/anxiety about careers. I hope this book can be a positive antidote. The permission, motivation, and methodology to do what you truly love. a.co/d/02q0aD2N

Excited to publish @WeThe_Builders E15 with Mike Maples (@m2jr), cofounder of @floodgatefund, 8x @Forbes Midas List investor and author of Pattern Breakers. I first found Mike when I came across his podcast with @osmanrashid, (Cofounder of @Chegg) about 6 years ago. I have since admired Mike’s philosophy on startups and investing. Mike is an early investor in category defining companies like @X, @okta, Chegg, @Twitch, @CloverHealth and @AppliedInt to name a few. I hosted a dinner on the topic of technological stagnation about 3 years ago with Mike and a few other investors and founders, this was pre-ChatGPT, before defense or dual-use investing went mainstream and before reindustrialization became a national agenda for the US. We look back at what has changed in the last few years and if we are making progress at a better rate in the world of atoms than before. In one way, Mike has seeded the reindustrialization movement by investing in @2112Power, Cofounder of @HadrianInc (which was the only investment he made in 2021) and key orchestrator of the marquee @reindsummit Conference in Detroit which is leading the way on building a platform for policymakers, startups, capital allocators and manufacturers on bringing back the most critical industries through advanced technology adoption. In this episode, Mike talks about how startups have to build a radically different future and through great storytelling bring their customers, investors and employees to their version of the future which they are already convinced of. I also asked him about the origin stories of investing in and finding Twitter, @digg and @lyft. We also discuss how @floodgatefund differentiated itself in 2015 when they were a decade into seed investing and again in 2025 two decades into seed investing. Floodgate has a concentrated investing strategy and having been around for 20 years, they are unique in the sense that they were not tempted to go raise a mega fund and maintain a fund size of around $150m and do only seed. I really enjoyed spending a couple of hours with Mike, I hope y’all enjoy this one. One of my favorite quotes from the episode among gems Mike dropped: Even being different worse is better sometimes than being better at the same (thing). - Mike Maples Jr. Special thanks to @NFX for hosting us for this episode.

TIME’s new cover: In a deeply divided nation, a new coalition is forming around one belief: AI is moving too fast. Inside the stories of nine Americans, across ideologies and professions, determined to slow down the technology reshaping daily life time.com/7377579/ai-dat…