Ann Miura-Ko is co-founding partner at FLOODGATE, an early-stage venture capital firm. As the child of a NASA rocket scientist Ann grew up, literally, surrounded by emerging technologies in California’s Silicon Valley. And as a young champion debater (she placed first in the National Tournament of Champions and second in the State of California whilst at high school), Ann forged a considerable skill set which has since helped her complete a PhD at Stanford (a place where she now a lecturer in entrepreneurship), serve on the Yale Corporation Investment Committee, as well as become a well-known and celebrated pioneer investor in the AI space. In 2017 she made her Forbes Midas List debut at number 77 among the world’s top venture capitalists for investments which include: Lyft, Ayasdi, Xamarin, Refinery29, JoyRun, TaskRabbit (recently acquired by Ikea), and Modcloth. She was also named “the most powerful woman in startups” by Forbes. This far-reaching discussion with Ann touches on a number of valuable career topics, including: - How to get over your fear in pursuit of a goal - Managing and maximising your luck - The power and potential of persuasion when debating effectively - How to welcome 360 degree criticism - How to ‘dial-up’ optimism and find new opportunities - How tapping into your childhood curiosity is the key to success The key values of successful entrepreneurship including: - Hacking value as opposed to hacking growth - Truth seeking to achieve successful customer development - Seeking out the underdog/misfit And don’t miss Ann’s three key career pointers – skills which which she says once mastered, will come back to support you time and time again: - Figuring out how to speak up - Focusing on your ability to learn - Effective storytelling Follow Ann on Twitter: https://twitter.com/annimaniac Check out more about FLOODGATE: http://floodgate.com/ Thanks to our patrons for this episode: Anna Caroline who coaches leaders in Berlin: http://truthcircles.com/ Caoimhe Keogan http://twitter.com/caoimhekeogan Johannes Kleske http://johanneskleske.com Emma Rae Harris If you want to help us create The Role Models Podcast in the future, become a patron and chip in $1, $3, $5, or $10 per episode. Read more about the different tiers and rewards on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rolemodels