Nicole Priel

My Brandeis twitter crew

@E_Bruxxx @pavelprata What do you think is the most interesting second order effect of this?

@pavelprata 💯

Aerospace & defense are the hottest sectors in venture capital. And don’t get me wrong - a lot of this momentum is good. America absolutely needs more builders working on industrial capacity, autonomy, manufacturing, resilience, defense infrastructure, energy systems, and supply chain independence. But with the flood of capital also comes noise. Some founders also realized something important the last few years - defense became one of the easiest narratives to raise around. And that changes founder behavior. The market is increasingly rewarding optics early: patriotic branding, military aesthetics, social media distribution, “mission-driven” positioning, etc. But underneath, many companies still lack technical chops, manufacturing advantage, procurement wedge, operational excellence, and durable GTM. The truly contrarian opportunities exist outside the obvious hype cycle. Sectors nobody is romanticizing online.

@emilyinvc Defense tech

most venture-backed businesses are not venture-backable businesses

@tkexpress11 Totally. Prime example of innovation unlocking new markets

I think people under appreciate how much of a platform shift airpods were the removal of friction to listen to audio anywhere easily helped enable: - IG/snap stories - tiktok - the podcast era once AI wearables proliferate we're going to see new behaviors opening large opportunities

@nirzo @Base44 Now this is what AI was created for. Hallelujah!

Honestly one of the most useful things I've seen in a while, made with @Base44 SuperAgent. Forward any WhatsApp messages to organize your life. Birthday invitations. School events. Important dates. Even images. The agent extracts the details and adds everything directly into your calendar automatically. If it's related to the kids, it automatically invites whoever you set it to, no extra steps needed. It takes 5 minutes and saves you so much time. The prompt: "I'm going to send you WhatsApp messages that need to be added to the calendar. Extract the relevant information from each message (it can be text or an image) and create calendar events in my Google account. If the event is related to my kids, also invite my wife automatically." Once you start using AI this way, going back feels very manual.

@davidu Clear sign you’re a 90s kid

What do we think? Yay or nay?

@alonzuman Love this! Congrats

Some personal news: I’ve started a company. It’s called Pops, and I’m excited to share that it’s backed by YC and part of the P26 batch. Pops is what I believe to be the future of entertainment: AI-native, playful, social experiences and games anyone can create, remix, and play with their friends. Short-form software. Huge thanks to @Suhail for being an early believer and supporter, and thank you to @garrytan, @greybaker and the YC community for your incredible guidance, support and belief in me — I'm just getting started

@alono88 we keeping times

08:00 יציאה מהבית בהרצליה 08:14 חנייה במתחם בשפיים 08:20 יציאה לכיוון תל אביב 08:38 הגעה לעזריאלי ביום רגיל התענוג לוקח כמעט שעה ולא מתאפשר לי לגלול בטוויטר. נחמד לשם שינוי להיות בצד המסובסד של מדיניות אפקטיבית (החניה והשאטל בחינם).

@Melt_Dem @allisonstern So cool

i love backing other emerging managers and learning about new investment categories from them this mother's day weekend, i'm excited @allisonstern and her fund, Mother Ventures, are announcing their Fund I debut it's a RIPPER 🤑💸 long Moms! techcrunch.com/2026/05/08/mot…

@raz_kaplan התבאסתי שהם לא הציעו לי

@raz_kaplan צריכה לעשות צ׳ק אין קודם

חברת התעופה היחידה שטסה לישראל הציעה לי להישאר עוד יומיים בעיר הכי עיר בעולם, כולל מלון ו2000 דולר. עשיתם את זה פעם? אפשר להתמקח איתם?

@ItzSuds Beast

12 months after starting my fund: 30 seed investments, 10 have graduated to Series A, 21 companies are marked-up. Introduced 6 of the Series A cos to their lead Also learned I have Cursor stock because a company I invested in as an angel in Dec 2024 got bought by them 😮‍💨

@johnfelix123 This is a very underrated point

A lot of LPs wait for final close so they can see a few deals first. But that also means no QSBS treatment on anything the fund did before they showed up. Comes up less often than you’d think.

@JosephKChoi @a16z @consumerclub_ Love it

NYC consumer app founders @a16z and @consumerclub_ reserved a rooftop + open bar for a private happy hour in May (30 more spots, current attendees are 1M+ ARR or VC-funded consumer founders) reply if you'd like to join

@antoniogm Mushroom coffee?

Tried Stripe's new agentic commerce Link product, and after running so many agents to make it work, all I can say is either I'm getting zero or 37 lbs. of coffee delivered tomorrow.

Landed in LA six hours ago and already had my first peptide

Was looking for a good essay on private credit. Finally found it. oaktreecapital.com/insights/memo/…

@srcasm @thecatmiddleton Couple cool side events going on Sunday and Monday. DM me and I can share them with you

Hi Los Angeles friends, my wife (@thecatmiddleton) and I, both venture capitalists, are going to be in Los Angeles starting tomorrow afternoon, looking to gather some people for dinner, cigars or hookah, and a hang on Sunday or Monday evening. Let me know if you're up for catching up or if there's someone you'd recommend I meet while I'm there. 👋 ☀️

@davidu @_ZachGriff I think you need to give up and get a PJ

@_ZachGriff This also solves the issue with EWR United Club always being at capacity for the Polaris transcon fliers who assuredly have club access but can’t really use it.

United just quietly rebranded its premium transcon and Hawaii business-class cabins as Polaris. The big win: Polaris Lounge access is now included on these domestic routes. - EWR-LAX - EWR-SFO - EWR-HNL - ORD-HNL - ORD-OGG

@jsonnottheween @vasuman Why wouldn’t it work?

@vasuman Explored airport gym & nap pods. So much beurocracy. Trust me we talked w the ppl who tried and failed

Startup ideas: - airport gym - peptides for ai agents - pizza in SF that doesn’t suck - rl environments for giraffes