Gabriel Hammond built Alerian, which created the first real-time MLP index and later the first MLP ETF, and after selling his firms he went back to school to earn a Masters in Psychology from Harvard—an unusual combination that shows up in how he evaluates founders, focusing on their motivation, sacrifices, and ability to tell their story rather than just the numbers. He's known for looking past polished self-promotion to find people who are genuinely excellent at what they do, and his own path reflects that same grit: after founding Alerian, he spent three years sleeping on the floor of a 300-square-foot Hell's Kitchen apartment because he couldn't afford to replace a broken bed.