Maple Investments

The talk by Mike Maples was a sharing session about pursuing your career and life as a whole. As an entrepreneur, it is important to pursue your own passion in your own unique way rather than following the  ways of other people around you. 

Mike shared about his past experiences and challenges on starting his own company, Motive Inc, and provided some personal insights  Prior to this, he worked in Silicon Graphics for two years.

Some intriguing points

1. $500,000 is the new $5 million

2. “The Candy Game” : Passion should not be compromised by short term incentives 

3. “Follow your passion” : Given a chance, one should pursue one’s passion. Many people yearn for this position.

4. Don’t let this happen to you..

-Trading equity and experience for short term cash

-Taking jobs that let you postpone living your life

-Playing career “hop-scotch”: “hop scotch” here refers to one taking the wrong “hop” (moves) initially and ending up far away from one’s goals if not corrected in time.       

-Taking “off-strategy” summer jobs: “off-strategy” refers 

- Finding mentors.