Doc. DP-2026 · Rev. C · Sep 2026
Daniela Perlein

I'm a tech founder1 and investor based in Los Angeles.2

Raised across Latin America, I now live in L.A., at the edge of Griffith Park. I build and back companies working on genuinely hard things. If it involves atoms,3 I'm probably interested.

Currentlyas of this morning

Advising & investing

Through Felt Industries, I work with founders building in robotics, heavy industry, defense autonomy, and more.

Building something new

Developing a couple of moonshot ideas I hope to share more about soon.

What I've builtfounder, first
01goTennaCo-founder · Acquired

Co-founded the company behind the world's most advanced short-burst mobile mesh networking — connectivity independent of cellular, Wi-Fi, or satellite. Deployed by 350+ government agencies. Backed by Founders Fund; acquired by Forterra.

02JuiceboxCo-founder · Open source

Co-founded an open-source project for secure, PIN-based distributed key management. Used by X, Phantom, and others.

03#FeelTheBernFounder · Civic tech

Founded a national volunteer project to expand voters' access to information on core societal issues through the lens of a grassroots candidate's record.

Books I return to

A reading list, of sorts.

Apeirogon
ApeirogonColum McCannA thousand fragments that somehow form one devastating whole. Structurally ambitious, bitterly relevant.
How to Love Your Daughter
How to Love Your DaughterHila BlumQuiet and absolutely brutal. The gap between what a woman believes she's doing and what she's actually doing.
The Sellout
The SelloutPaul BeattyThe funniest book ever written is also one of the smartest. Desperately hope Paul Beatty graces us with another novel someday.
The Counterlife
The CounterlifePhilip RothEvery chapter dismantles the one before it. Epitome of unreliable narrator.
Democracy
DemocracyJoan DidionDidion doing what only Didion can — telling you a story while showing you all the reasons stories can't be told.
Temporada de huracanes
Temporada de huracanesFernanda MelchorA single unbroken wave of language that drags you through the darkest depths of rural Mexico. I read it in one sitting.
Disgrace
DisgraceJ.M. CoetzeeShort, merciless, impossible to shake.
Pale Fire
Pale FireVladimir NabokovA novel disguised as a poem disguised as literary criticism. Nabokov showing off, deservedly.
Regarding the Pain of Others
Regarding the Pain of OthersSusan SontagWhat it means to look and not see.
Conquest of the Useless
Conquest of the UselessWerner HerzogHerzog's jungle diary from the Fitzcarraldo shoot. Hallucinatory, obsessive, deeply weird. Love his brain.
La ronde de nuit
La ronde de nuitPatrick ModianoParis, memory, fog. Modiano writes like someone trying to remember a dream — and the dream is Vichy France.
Are You My Mother?
Are You My Mother?Alison BechdelBechdel maps her relationship with her mother through psychoanalysis.
Toward a Psychology of Awakening
Toward a Psychology of AwakeningJohn WelwoodWhere Western psychology meets Buddhist practice, without the usual hand-waving. Genuinely useful.
No Bad Parts
No Bad PartsRichard D. SchwartzThe IFS framework explained by its creator. Shifted how I relate to the parts of myself I'd rather not look at.
Post Office
Post OfficeCharles BukowskiFilthy, funny, weirdly tender. The anti-work novel before anyone called it that.
The Association of Small Bombs
The Association of Small BombsKaran MahajanA novel about terrorism that's really about aftermath — how a single explosion ripples through ordinary lives for years.
The Sympathizer
The SympathizerViet Thanh NguyenOnly book that's ever made me laugh out loud AND cry (of sadness).
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
The Rise and Fall of the Third ReichWilliam L. Shirer1,200 pages of journalism from someone who was actually there. The definitive record. Uncanny and necessary.