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Silicon Valley used to take a backseat to Washington , D.C. But now , the people cut off applied science have choose the bicycle at the highest echelons of administration . And that ’s thanks , in large part , to the Department of Government Efficiency , better bonk as DOGE .
Much reporting on DOGE has focused on its staffers ’ ties to Musk , the billionaire bestie of President Donald Trump . However , there ’s another major link : the Silicon Valley enterpriser and investors who have joined its clarion call of slashing political science disbursal .
TechCrunch has roll up a comprehensive lean of the founders and VCs who have worked with DOGE , describe through a combination of personal declarations , court record , and other reportage . Our research also reveals one antecedently unreported DOGE member , Mike Gonzalez , the former founder of an HR inauguration call TraceHQ .
And Gonzalez is far from the only Silicon Valley founder to find a new purpose in public service . Our roster of father - turned - DOGE workers spans from the conscientious objector - founder of Airbnb to a bozo who betray his inauguration for nearly $ 1 billion — only to bring together DOGE to notice a higher meaning after breaking up with his lady friend .
Then there are the VCs . This contingent include Silicon Valley behemoth Marc Andreessen — a self - distinguish “ unpaid medical intern ” at DOGE — and one human race who spent seven years working for Thiel Capital before joining the top tier of government .
Regardless of how you feel about DOGE , there ’s no dubiousness that Silicon Valley ’s influence on the Union regime is stronger than ever . To find out who is shaping that future tense , read on .
Nate Cavanaugh
Stephen Ehikian
Baris Akis
Marc Andreessen
Justin Fulcher
Joe Gebbia
Antonio Gracias
Michael Kratsios
Mike Gonzalez
Vinay Hiremath
Scott Kupor
Shaun Maguire
Brooks Morgan
Kyle Schutt
Adam Ramada
Amanda scale
Ethan Shaotran
Brad Smith
Jordan Wick
Founders
Cavanaugh is the co - founder of two startups : Brainbase , an enterprise SaaS line of work whichhe soldin 2022 , and FlowFi , whichraised $ 9 million last yearto build a marketplace of finance expert for entrepreneurs .
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He is part of a DOGE squad tax with auditing — some would say take down — the USADF and IAF , two U.S. government agencies that fund development projects in Africa , Latin America , and the Caribbean , accordingto a lawsuitfrom USADF president Ward Brehm .
Although Cavanaugh has no public story of political activities , he look to Trump backer Peter Thiel for “ a lot ” of his thinking about the cosmos and stage business , hesaidin an interview with VC business firm Differential Ventures .
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Ehikianhas sold two companiesto Salesforce : Airkit.ai in 2023 and RelateIQ in 2014 . Ehikian worked in product at Salesforce double after the acquisition of his companies , most recently servingas VP of AI products .
trump card appointed Ehikian as pretend administrator and surrogate administrator of GSAin January . This agency is the cornerstone of purchasing declaration for the federal politics .
In his function , Ehikian manage GSA ’s real estate portfolio and doles out government contract for engineering science . Hehas saidthat the GSA would terminate lease and cut consulting contracts , andhas been give the axe GSA employees .
California Senator Alex Padilla and New York Congressman Joseph Morellewrote a alphabetic character in Marchto Ehikian , opposing his work with DOGE on such issue .
Fulcher is the founding father of RingMD , a Singapore - based telehealth inauguration . Fulchermade headlinesin 2013 after the regime of Singapore fund RingMD with $ 500,000 when he was only 21 .
Despite amplify to multiple country in Asia , RingMD has since gone belly-up , according toForbes .
Fulcher , now 32 , was install by DOGE to manage reform at the Veterans Administration ( VA ) , whichcut 1,000 staffsoon after DOGE ’s arriver .
Gebbia is the billionaire cobalt - laminitis of Airbnb and Samara , a pre - fab lilliputian dwelling inauguration thatraised $ 41 millionin 2023 . He is also a personal friend of Elon Musk , who had been deliberating buying one of Samara ’s tiny homes last year , consort to Teslafilings .
At DOGE , Gebbia will workas a voluntary in the Office of Personnel Management , he confirmed in aposton X after his participation was cover byThe New York Times . “ My first project at DOGE is improving the slow and newspaper publisher - base retreat cognitive process , ” Gebbia wrote .
Gebbia is a longtimeDemocratic conferrer , but said he voted for Trump in 2024 and supports Robert F. Kennedy Jr. , the new wellness secretary .
Gonzalez ground HR inauguration TraceHQ in 2019 andsold it to Paylocityin 2023 for an undisclosed sum . Gonzalez suppose on his website that he startle his career as a Facebook intersection manager and worked at Zenefits with David Sacks when he was chief operating officer there , all before set up his own company .
VC displace hasjoinedthe Trump administration as its crypto and AI tsar . Gonzalez was working on the finance squad when they worked together at Zenefits .
Gonzalez ’s LinkedIn visibility antecedently mention that he joined DOGE full - clip sooner this month as a “ Senior consultant ” at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management . soon after TechCrunch reached out to Gonzalez for gossip , the cite of DOGE was withdraw from his LinkedIn profile .
Gonzalez has not enunciate what he ’s doing at OPM . But in February he wrote apost on LinkedInlamenting the state and process of the Union budget .
Hiremath is the cobalt - beginner of video transcription startup Loom , which wassold to Atlassian in 2023for$975 million .
concord to ablog poston his personal site title “ I am rich and have no idea what to do with my life , ” Hiremath says that after breaking up with his lady friend , he decided to “ objectify ” his emotions by climbing a mountain in the Himalayas . After that , he decided to process for DOGE .
His stint at DOGE lasted about a calendar month and involved earn one C of recruiting calls . Hiremath wrote that he was added to Signal group black market by DOGE and “ immediately put to body of work . ”
Hiremath praise DOGE ’s piece of work as “ extremely of import , ” but suppose he quit the job as he needed to concentrate on himself . He call off architectural plan to move to Washington , D.C. and went to Hawaii instead , his post state .
Morgan is the carbon monoxide gas - founder and former CEO of an Austin - based edtech startup called Podium Education , a press releasefrom last year show , although he is not currently listed as a drawing card on the company’swebsite .
His societal media presence is extremely minimal but he has reportedly been require in edtech for well over a decade , previously work for a long - since acquired company that offer a Facebook app for schools .
Morgan is say to be involved in DOGE ’s efforts at the Education Department , particularly around endeavour to augment — perhaps replace — some of the prole there with AI , TheNew York Times report .
Schutt is listedby Crunchbaseas a co - founder of a Virginia - based software company called KAMM , which nation records say has been motionless as of late November 2024 .
Schutt has also worked on WinRed , WIRED reports , a for - net profit fundraising sitethat saysit ’s helped conjure up $ 1.8 billion for Republican party candidates since 2023 . He also serve as the CTO atonline fundraising weapons platform REVV , also used by the Republican party .
He is a member of DOGE and is now on stave at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency , concord to an intimate staff directoryviewed by Politico . He was antecedently at the GSA . Heis said to have accessto FEMA system and to have work for a company scream Outburst Data which hosts several Musk - related sites , and hosts portion of the DOGE website .
Shaotran was antecedently the founder of Energize.ai , though its website no longer loads . He also developed several iPhone apps , including a Donald Trump - themed running secret plan called “ Donald Dash . ”
In 2024 , Shaotrantold Business Insiderthat he was a 22 - year - old Harvard reckoner scientific discipline student working solo on his startup , which offered an AI programing help and had down a $ 100,000 grant from OpenAI .
Shaotran was one ofa number of DOGE workersnamed in a suit by Union employees that sought to preclude DOGE workers from accessing Union records , although he was not a suspect .
Shaotran reportedly has a work GSA email address and requested admittance to a decade ’s worth of GSA datum . Shaotran also has access to email systems at the Department of Education and entree to the department ’s back - end website , NBC reported .
Smith is a longtime healthcare enterpriser who co - founded the palliative care troupe Aspire Health ( later acquired by Anthem ) and co - founded CareBridge , which provide at - home service to Medicaid patients ( and issaid to have struck a dealwith Elevance Health to deal for $ 2.7 billion ) .
He also co - found healthcare VC firm Russell Street Ventures and served as chief executive officer of Main Street Health , which offers primary care service of process to those in rural areas .
Smith led the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation during President Trump ’s first terminal figure . He is said to be one of the leader of DOGE , alongside tight Musk friend Steve Davis .
As ABC News reported , Smithhas been an advocatefor privatise aspects of Medicaid and Medicare . At DOGE , Smith has quest access code to thepayment systems at Medicare , consort to The New York Times .
Wick is theco - beginner of Y Combinator startup Intercept . He also worked as an engineer at Alphabet ’s ego - drive automobile company Waymo , he enjoin a podcastin 2024 .
He is among the DOGE staffer granted extensive access to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ’s data , consort toa lawsuitfrom former USAID contractor which names him ( but not as a defendant ) .
Wickgraduatedfrom MIT with a degree in computer science in 2019 and also has a master ’s stage from there , allot to anarchived versionof his website . He alsoworkedat YC - backed logistics startup Flexport .
Venture Capitalists
Akis is a co - founder and president of Silicon Valley VC firmHuman Capital .
He reportedly leave query into the Treasury Department ’s payments systems , The New York Timesreported . He wasalso namedin a lawsuit about DOGE ’s legality , although not as a suspect .
Akis is the second link to DOGE from Human Capital . The VC business firm ’s former header of talent , Amanda Scales , isnow head of staffat the brawny Office of Personnel Management , the federal government ’s HR department .
Andreessen is the carbon monoxide gas - founder of prominent VC firm Andreessen Horowitz . He famouslybacked Trumpfor president in 2024 , despitepreviously endorsingHillary Clinton in 2016 .
Andreessen discover himself as an “ volunteer interne ” for DOGEin a podcast with the Hoover Institution earlierthis year , reportedly help recruit for DOGE ’s former hires , theFT cover .
In the Hoover Institution podcast , Andreessen described former a16z negociate mate Scott Kupor — and incoming OPM straits — as “ very ordinate ” with DOGE ’s commission .
Gracias is the beginner and CEO of Valor Equity Partners , anda longtime close associate of Elon Musk . Valor has empower in a who ’s who of buzzy inauguration ( let in Anduril , Dataminr , Eight Sleep , and Reddit ) but is particularly recognise for backing Musk companies like SpaceX , Neuralink , SolarCity , The Boring Company , and Tesla .
Gracias is well lie with as a Tesla board member from 2007 to 2021 , on the board prior to its IPO as well aswhen Tesla bought the Musk - command fellowship SolarCity for $ 2.6 billion .
Ona February episodeof the VC All - In Podcast , Gracias say that he was working with DOGE . “ I ’m not there full - clip , ” he said . “ I ’m in and out a small minute and try out to help where I can . ” He also note that DOGE had 80 - plus full - time the great unwashed at that time .
He is ostensibly now working with DOGE ’s efforts at the Social Security Administration , The New York Timesreported , and is one of nine DOGE companion there . Other Valor employees are also part of the Social Security crowd , the NYT reports .
Until late , Michael Kratsios do as manage director atScale AI , the data labeling inauguration thatbegan put to work with the Pentagonlast yr to quiz and pass judgment AI tools for the armed services .
From 2010 to 2017 , Kratsios ferment for Thiel Capital , the office that manages VC Peter Thiel ’s many investments , per his LinkedIn ; Thiel was one of Trump ’s early backer in 2016 . Kratsiosalso servedas CTO of the U.S. during Trump ’s first administration .
Kratsios help lead endeavor to staff DOGE in late 2024 by conducting audience of prospective faculty , Bloomberg reported .
He isTrump ’s pickto head the Office of Science and Technology Policy . During hisconfirmation hearing , Kratsios reply to questions about aggregate firings of Union workers by saying he conceive it ’s sensible for the current administration to pass judgment current talent .
Kupor is a managing pardner at VC house Andreessen Horowitz , and was a16z ’s first employee . He swear out on the boards of a number of a16z investments . He is also a former president of the National Venture Capital Association — the VC industry ’s lobbying organization .
Trump announce in December 2024 that he beak Kuporto process as thedirectorof the Office of Personnel Management . The same day , Kuporconfirmedthat he was help DOGE .
As the Union government ’s HR section , the OPM has become ground zero for DOGE ’s missionary station to slash the federal hands . DOGE workers are using OPM ’s data and computer system to obtain selective information about federal workers across agencies , according toa CNN report card .
Maguire is a partner at Sequoia Capital and formerly co - base cyber business firm Expanse , which wassold to Palo Alto Networks for $ 800 millionin 2020 .
Maguire hasreportedlyhelped cover potential candidates for DOGE . He ’s afrequentandvocalsupporter of DOGE on X.
Maguire is an frank supporter of President Trump , andannouncedthat he donated $ 300,000 to his drive last summertime .
Ramada was previously a managing director at SpringTide Capital , where he was part of a $ 12 million deal to fund theprobiotic drink company ZBiotics . His firmalso enthrone in a SpaceXsupplier last class .
He was identify as a fellow member of DOGE ina temporary restraining orderafter the American Federation of Teachers seek to block DOGE ’s access to inner information . The restraining purchase order was laterdeniedby a federal justice .
In asigned resolution , Ramada said he started working for DOGE in January , assigned to audit contracts and programs at the Department of Education for waste , such as federal student loans . President Trump , a critic of the Department of Education , recently signedan executive social club to start its closure very presently .
Inanother announcement , Ramada , who is also listedas a GSA employee , said he was assigned to the Labor Department , too , to “ meliorate its selective information technology and datum system organization . ”
ordered series worked for two and half age at Silicon Valley VC firm Human Capital , advise the house ’s portfolio company on talent and HR , according to her her LinkedIn visibility . Her genus Bos at Human Capital , its co - founder Baris Akis , served as a DOGE advisor .
Scales is now chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management , the federal government ’s brawny human resource section , according toan OPM memorandum .
shell previously worked on talent at Uber before bring together Human Capital , according to her LinkedIn .
