Soham Maniar

GTM and Ops @Nominal_io ||

[Javier Molina @JavierMolinaSW]

10/10 company, 11/10 once you realize who you get to work with every day.

[Javier Molina @JavierMolinaSW]

When you moved to LA but you get a little Texas back in your life. A fellow Texan (and Nomineer) smoking ribs and brisket in the @Nominal_io parking lot.
Texan approved bbq!

[John Kim @0xjohnkim]

We’re changing the way companies are valued. It’s not about money - it’s about talent.

@paraformtalent launched its Talent Density Index, the first quantifiable ranking of which companies are attracting and producing the most talented teams.

We already dropped the top 15. Here are 16 - 50.

See the full list and our methodology here: https://t.co/CW7TQ4NLU1

[Bilal Zuberi // Red Glass Ventures @bznotes]

Woohoo @AppliedInt and @Nominal_io!

[Cameron McCord @CameronLMcCord]

Connecting the Dots ⟢

Check out two of my favorite people, @brycestrauss and @JavierMolinaSW, sharing perspective on the journey that led Javier to @Nominal_io.

Javier is a world class revenue leader and we are lucky to have him on the Nominal team - he was built for this moment: when an entire hardware industry collides with modern software and AI. A market being born overnight.

Watch more here: https://t.co/IKNSWfgWr8

[Alfred Lin @Alfred_Lin]

A modernized government is a strong government. Congrats to Nominal on being chosen to help the Air Force Test Center do just that.

[Nominal @Nominal_io]

STTR Phase I to Phase III IDIQ in two years. The @AFTestCenter just awarded Nominal a $53M sole-source IDIQ to bring test data interoperability across Arnold, Eglin, and Edwards.

[TBPN @tbpn]

Varda's @zebulgar says the $1–2 trillion SpaceX IPO is about to flood the space industry with capital, attention, and talent moving into next-gen applications as people rotate out of their positions:

"I like to think of space like a highway: when you first only had a handful of cars there, everybody had to bring their own gas tank. Once you get thousands of cars up there, you can start to invest in a gas station."

"There are layers of infrastructure, and as you build up each layer - reusable rockets, space factories, gas stations, ground stations - now you can start building application layers on top of those."

"I think one day you'll see Founders Fund lead a round in a lunar ice mining operation."

"I would bet that in the next five years, we lead a ~$10M financing round into a lunar ice mining operation."

[Nominal @Nominal_io]

You can't vibe code an airplane.

Co-founders @CameronLMcCord and @jrshoch sat down with @Alfred_Lin and @sonyatweetybird at @sequoia to go deep on what it takes to bring AI to hardware development.

In software development, AI works because the feedback loop is tight. Write, test, ship, iterate. Seconds, not months. Hardware doesn't work that way. Physics gets a vote. A test campaign takes weeks. A failure costs millions. There is no rollback on a rocket engine.

So the teams actually winning with AI in hardware aren't starting with models. They're starting with test. Structured data. Full traceability. Every run contextualized, every result queryable, every decision auditable.

That's the unlock. Not AI as a novelty. AI that reasons across your entire test history, surfaces anomalies at scale, and identifies which test priorities actually move the needle.

🔗 Full conversation in the replies.

[etn. @etnshow]

Care package received @Nominal_io

[Austin Robinson @AustinMRobinson]

We @nominal_io just announced our $80M fundraise to put us at a $1B valuation.

When talking about how we wanted to share this news, our co-founder @brycestrauss had an idea: what if we made a real catalog. In the style of an 80's or 90's mechanical engineering catalog.

From there, Vol. 1 of the Nominal Product Catalog was born.

[Cameron McCord @CameronLMcCord]

Thank you to @Lux_Capital for believing in me, and in Nominal, before others understood. We work hard every day to make that a great decision.

I consider myself part of the Lux family: I'm proud to watch them grow and am energized by the early bets they've placed in companies redefining the physical world. At Nominal, we're lucky to call many of these hardware organizations customers, and there are more that will be soon.

In many ways, the Lux schoolhouse was where some of the earliest theses of Nominal were first pressure-tested. When @brycestrauss and I met with Josh in Lux's New York office in 2022 and pitched him on our idea to help engineers test hardware like software, the vision and ambition was clear, but the details uncertain, and we knew the entrepreneurial journey would be winding. He told us he believed we'd figure it out and he'd bet on us to succeed if we were building literally anything – even "an ice cream shop." 3.5 years and a $B company later, I look back and smile at that conversation. Here's to many more years of partnership – thanks for believing in us.

To @wolfejosh, @peterjhebert, @Farshchi, Shaq, @graceisford, and many more.

[Molly O’Shea @MollySOShea]

BREAKING: Nominal Hits $1B Valuation — Founders Fund Preempts $80M B-2 Acceleration Round

Just 10 months after @Nominal_io's $75M Series B led by Sequoia's Alfred Lin

CEO Cameron McCord & Trae Stephens (Founders Fund + Anduril) join Sourcery to discuss:

- $155M raised in 10 months, nearly $200M total funding
- Early validation at Anduril
- 4 of the 5 largest defense primes are now customers
- Reducing major hardware test campaigns by 50–60% (which can cost ~$3M per day)
- Strategy: platform expansion, potential M&A, and aggressive hiring
- Anduril LORE

All systems Nominal.

@CameronLMcCord @traestephens @Alfred_Lin

𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒
(00:00) Trae Stephens & Cameron McCord
(01:11) Nominal raises $80M from Founders Fund
(03:32) Why Founders Fund made the investment
(05:22) Palantir, FF, Anduril: Trae is a "Slashie"
(07:14) Nominal: the GitHub for hardware testing
(12:33) Why Sequoia believed Nominal’s TAM was much bigger
(15:36) Inside Nominal’s growing defense customer base
(17:32) Why government hardware testing still relies on Excel and MATLAB
(22:22) Cutting hardware testing time by up to 60%
(26:55) How AI changes hardware development
(37:22) Why the government is backing new defense tech companies
(33:35) Nominal's sales strategy
(45:44) Competing with legacy software giants
(46:24) Recruiting top engineers
(50:56) Early Anduril LORE: Stories from the desert

[Cameron McCord @CameronLMcCord]

Ambition is timeless. Tools are not.

Today we are announcing an $80M acceleration round at a $1B valuation led by @foundersfund, with participation from @sequoia @generalcatalyst @Lux_Capital @RedGlass @lightspeedvp Avenir, and @Haystack.

In the last year, we grew revenue 7x, added some of the world’s most serious hardware enterprises, and built over twice the new product surface area than in our prior two years combined.

The most ambitious and fastest-moving hardware teams choose Nominal, from aerospace to energy, and automotive to defense, because it helps them learn faster and scale more efficiently. Our mission is to bring that advantage to every team building in the physical world. For those not yet using Nominal, we hope to have the opportunity to earn your trust and work hard for you and your company soon.

All systems Nominal. 🚀

Thank you @business and @EdLudlow for sharing out story. And @traestephens and @zebulgar for doubling down.

Read more about our announcement here: https://t.co/xxjndTBMdw

[Javier Molina @JavierMolinaSW]

Couldn’t be more excited for what is in front of us at @Nominal_io 🚀

[Nominal @Nominal_io]

Ambition is timeless. Tools are not.

Today @nominal_io is announcing an $80M fundraise at a $1B valuation, led by @traestephens and @zebulgar at @foundersfund.

Since our Series B 10 months ago: 7x revenue growth. 2x team growth.

Hardware engineers are stuck between 1980s-era tools and .com software built to be replaced. We're fixing the data supply chain so the industrial sector can adopt AI and enter the next era of ambition.

We’re also releasing Volume 1 of the Nominal Product Catalog: "Tools for Progress."

https://t.co/tdpswqw0ek

We're grateful for continued participation from @sequoia, @generalcatalyst, @Lux_Capital, @lightspeedvp, @redglassvc, @avenirgrowth, and @haystackvc.

All Systems Nominal.

[Bloomberg @business]

Peter Thiel's Founders Fund is backing an $80 million funding for a manufacturing startup called Nominal https://t.co/RYhVeUUJFA

[Ed Ludlow @EdLudlow]

Software that helps hardware companies in the defense, space, energy and automotive industries streamline their manufacturing processes.

Nominal's @CameronLMcCord and FF's @traestephens join us on the show today.

[Cameron McCord @CameronLMcCord]

Pay attention to this one. Big congrats to @AdamWarmoth and the Chariot team! 🚀

[Javier Molina @JavierMolinaSW]

Let’s go @brycestrauss! Exciting times at @Nominal_io partnering with @PrattMillerMS! Watching here at the LA office 🏎️