Where does Nakul Mandan work?

Nakul Mandan is Venture Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners and Board director at Building Connected and Board director at Gainsight and Board Member at Delphix.

What check size does Nakul Mandan write?

Nakul Mandan typically writes checks of $1M – $5M.

What boards does Nakul Mandan sit on?

Nakul Mandan holds tracked board seats at FortressIQ, Multiverse Group.

Where did Nakul Mandan go to school?

Nakul Mandan studied at Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (B.Tech.); Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (MBA).

What has Nakul Mandan written?

Nakul Mandan has 1 tracked post on nakulmandan.com, including "Unlearn Everything Now!".

Nakul Mandan

Investor

Venture Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners · Partner at Audacious · Board director at Building Connected · Board director at Gainsight · Board Member at Delphix

Writes $1M – $5M checks

Find your path to Nakul

774 people in our graph share verified history with Nakul — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.

Danny RimerunlockedNakul: together at Multiverse (2019–2026)

Nakul: together at Multiverse

×3Nakul: together at Deutsche Bank

×4Nakul: together at Battery Ventures

About

Nakul Mandan is the founder of Audacious Ventures, an early stage venture firm focused on backing ambitious product founders going after very large markets. Before starting Audacious, he was a Partner at Lightspeed and earlier spent time at Battery Ventures, where over the past decade he led or was involved in investments across AI, enterprise software, marketplaces, and fintech. He centers his approach on two ingredients he sees as decisive — large markets and A+ teams — and works closely with portfolio founders on recruiting top talent. He also hosts a podcast, Knuckle Up with Nakul, where he interviews founders about how they build outlier companies. In 2024 he announced Audacious 2.0, a $150M second fund for seed stage founders.

Contact· published on Nakul's own website

n•••@audacious.coreveal

Invests in

AI & Machine LearningClimate TechCloud ComputingCrypto & Web3Developer ToolsEdTechEnterprise SoftwareFintechFuture of WorkMarketplacesSaaS

Beyond investing

Founded: Founded Audacious Ventures, an early stage VC firm.
More: Hosts a podcast called Knuckle Up with Nakul, interviewing founders about how they build outlier companies.

From Nakul's own website — common ground for a warm intro.

Board director at Building Connected

Intro paths

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In turn, Nakul can intro founders to Building Connected's investors below.

Building Connected's investors · 11

Bee PartnersLafayette · $300K – $500K checks Blumberg CapitalMiami · $500K – $5M checks · since 2025 Brick Mortar VenturesSan Francisco Crosslink CapitalSan Francisco · $1M – $9M checks Euclid Venture PartnersSan Francisco · $2M checks · since 2018 Gradient VenturesSan Francisco · $100K – $10M checks · since 2025 HomebrewBurlingame · $100K – $500K checks Lightspeed Venture PartnersMenlo Park · $1.7M – $87M checks Manta Ray VenturesLondon MetaPropNew York · $100K – $1M checks MetaProp VenturesNew York

Co-founders at Building Connected

Jesse PedersenDirector

Dustin DeVanExecutive Officer, Director

Board director at Gainsight

Intro paths

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In turn, Nakul can intro founders to Gainsight's investors below.

Gainsight's investors · 12

Battery VenturesBoston · $500K – $100M checks Bessemer Venture PartnersRedwood City · $5M – $100M checks Capital InnovatorsSt. Louis · $500K – $1M checks Cisco InvestmentsSan Jose Founders Circle CapitalSan Francisco · since 2017 Golub GrowthChicago Insight PartnersNew York · $120M – $350M checks Lightspeed Venture PartnersMenlo Park · $1.7M – $87M checks Runa CapitalSofia · $500K – $5M checks Sixth StreetSan Francisco · $50M – $2.5B checks Storm VenturesPalo Alto US Venture PartnersMenlo Park · $500K – $10M checks

Co-founders at Gainsight

Nick MehtaChief Executive Officer

James EberlinDirector

Board Member at Delphix

Intro paths

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In turn, Nakul can intro founders to Delphix's investors below.

Delphix's investors · 8

Andreessen HorowitzMenlo Park · $500K – $50M checks Greylock PartnersSan Francisco · $100K – $200M checks · since 2015 Icon VenturesPalo Alto · $6M – $12M checks Lightspeed Venture PartnersMenlo Park · $1.7M – $87M checks New York Life VenturesNew York Partners for GrowthTiburon · $1M – $50M checks Partners for Growth (PFG)The Kraft Group

Co-founders at Delphix

Jedidiah YuehFounder, Executive Chairman & CEO

Charlie ZhaCo-Founder & former CTO

Experience

Audacious VenturesFounder and Partnercurrent2020 — presentSan Francisco Bay Area
Lightspeed Venture PartnersVenture Partnercurrent2020 — present
Lightspeed Venture PartnersPartner2014 — 2020San Francisco Bay Area
People.aiBoard Member and Lead investorcurrent2016 — presentSan Francisco Bay Area
MultiverseBoard Member and Lead Investorcurrent2018 — present
GainsightBoard Observer and Investor2014 — 2020
GainsightBoard Member2013 — 2014San Francisco Bay Area
BuildingConnectedBoard Member and Investor2017 — 2018
Battery VenturesInvestor2009 — 2014San Francisco Bay Area
Blue River CapitalAssociate2006 — 2009Mumbai Area, India
Deutsche BankAnalyst2005 — 2006Mumbai Area, India

Skills & more

Venture Capital27SaaS15

From Nakul's professional profile.

Deals · 2

Multiverse GroupBoard seat

via Audacious · filed Jun 2024 · $5M raise

FortressIQBoard seat

via Audacious · filed Oct 2020 · $30M raise

Attribution from SEC filings, press coverage, and firm rosters.

Other disclosed investments

Investor

6SenseAbstractAvoca Backstory Building Connected Curious Cardinals Decagon Delphix Flint GainsightImpliedIntacctJamixLightfieldMarketoMaxima MultiversePeople.aiQuadrant Health Quadrillion Reflection AI ReflektiveSaris AISuperpeerSuppliTerminalTeziVartanaWorkOS

Sources: SEC Form D filings · curated public sources · the investor's own website.

Podcasts & interviews

featuring Nakul Mandan

How a first-time CEO is taking on Google: No process, no NPC hires, and extreme shipping velocity

Knuckle Up with Nakul

Writing

All posts ↗

Unlearn Everything Now!2026-02-16

The author argues that AI has invalidated established VC and startup benchmarks, urging investors, founders, and engineers to discard accumulated assumptions and reassess what still holds true..)

Colleagues at Lightspeed Venture Partners

Alexander Schmitt

Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners

Amber Yang

Investor at Bloomberg Beta

Anand Iyer

Investor and founder in San Francisco

Anoushka Vaswani

Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners

Antoine Moyroud

Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners

Arif Janmohamed

Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners

Banafsheh Fathieh

General Partner at Faction

Barry Eggers

Co-Founder, Lightspeed at Giant Ventures Global Llp

Network1

Bobby Lo

Angel

Investors connected to Nakul in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Nakul Mandan?: Nakul Mandan is the founder of Audacious Ventures, an early stage venture firm focused on backing ambitious product founders going after very large markets. Before starting Audacious, he was a Partner at Lightspeed and earlier spent time at Battery Ventures, where over the past decade he led or was involved in investments across AI, enterprise software, marketplaces, and fintech. He centers his approach on two ingredients he sees as decisive — large markets and A+ teams — and works closely with portfolio founders on recruiting top talent. He also hosts a podcast, Knuckle Up with Nakul, where he interviews founders about how they build outlier companies. In 2024 he announced Audacious 2.0, a $150M second fund for seed stage founders.
Where does Nakul Mandan work?: Nakul Mandan is Venture Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners and Board director at Building Connected and Board director at Gainsight and Board Member at Delphix.
What does Nakul Mandan invest in?: Nakul Mandan invests in AI & Machine Learning, Climate Tech, Cloud Computing, Crypto & Web3, Developer Tools, EdTech, Enterprise Software, Fintech, Future of Work, Marketplaces, SaaS.
What check size does Nakul Mandan write?: Nakul Mandan typically writes checks of $1M – $5M.
What boards does Nakul Mandan sit on?: Nakul Mandan holds tracked board seats at FortressIQ, Multiverse Group.
What companies has Nakul Mandan invested in?: Investments tracked here include 6Sense, Abstract, Avoca, Backstory, Building Connected, Curious Cardinals, Decagon, Delphix, Flint, FortressIQ, Gainsight, Implied, and 18 more.
Where did Nakul Mandan go to school?: Nakul Mandan studied at Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (B.Tech.); Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (MBA).
What has Nakul Mandan written?: Nakul Mandan has 1 tracked post on nakulmandan.com, including "Unlearn Everything Now!".
What podcasts and interviews feature Nakul Mandan?: Tracked appearances include "How a first-time CEO is taking on Google: No process, no NPC hires, and extreme shipping velocity".