Nakul Mandan looks for founders capable of improbable outcomes, judging them on IQ, outsized ambition, grit, urgency, and the ability to recruit believers before the story is obvious—and he sees building an elite team as the founder's top job once product-market fit is found. His own path, arriving in the US in 2009 and making partner at Lightspeed within about six years, shapes his belief that hunger and determination matter more than pedigree or experience.