Silicon Valley used to take a backseat to Washington, D.C. However now, the individuals disrupting expertise have taken the wheel on the highest echelons of presidency. And that’s thanks, largely, to the Division of Authorities Effectivity, higher referred to as DOGE.
A lot reporting on DOGE has targeted on its staffers’ ties to Musk, the billionaire bestie of President Donald Trump. Nonetheless, there’s one other main nexus: the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and buyers who’ve joined its clarion name of slashing authorities spending.
TechCrunch has compiled a complete checklist of the founders and VCs who’ve labored with DOGE, recognized by a mixture of private declarations, courtroom information, and different reporting. Our analysis additionally reveals one beforehand unreported DOGE member, Mike Gonzalez, the previous founding father of an HR startup known as TraceHQ.
And Gonzalez is much from the one Silicon Valley founder to discover a new function in public service. Our roster of founders-turned-DOGE employees spans from the co-founder of Airbnb to a man who offered his startup for practically $1 billion — solely to affix DOGE to discover a increased which means after breaking apart together with his girlfriend.
Then there are the VCs. This contingent consists of Silicon Valley titan Marc Andreessen — a self-described “unpaid intern” at DOGE — and one man who spent seven years working for Thiel Capital earlier than becoming a member of the highest ranges of presidency.
No matter how you are feeling about DOGE, there’s no query that Silicon Valley’s affect on the federal authorities is stronger than ever. To seek out out who’s shaping that future, learn on.
Founders
Nate Cavanaugh
Cavanaugh is the co-founder of two startups: Brainbase, an enterprise SaaS enterprise which he sold in 2022, and FlowFi, which raised $9 million final 12 months to construct a market of finance specialists for entrepreneurs.
He’s a part of a DOGE workforce tasked with auditing — some would say dismantling — the USADF and IAF, two U.S. authorities companies that fund growth initiatives in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, in accordance to a lawsuit from USADF president Ward Brehm.
Though Cavanaugh has no public historical past of political actions, he appears to Trump backer Peter Thiel for “quite a bit” of his desirous about the world and enterprise, he said in an interview with VC agency Differential Ventures.
Stephen Ehikian
Ehikian has sold two companies to Salesforce: Airkit.ai in 2023 and RelateIQ in 2014. Ehikian labored in product at Salesforce twice after the acquisition of his corporations, most recently serving as VP of AI merchandise.
Trump appointed Ehikian as performing administrator and deputy administrator of GSA in January. This company is the cornerstone of buying contracts for the federal authorities.
In his function, Ehikian manages GSA’s actual property portfolio and doles out authorities contracts for expertise. He has said that the GSA would terminate leases and reduce consulting contracts, and has been firing GSA employees.
California Senator Alex Padilla and New York Congressman Joseph Morelle wrote a letter in March to Ehikian, opposing his work with DOGE on such issues.
Justin Fulcher
Fulcher is the founding father of RingMD, a Singapore-based telehealth startup. Fulcher made headlines in 2013 after the federal government of Singapore funded RingMD with $500,000 when he was solely 21.
Regardless of increasing to a number of nations in Asia, RingMD has since gone bankrupt, according to Forbes.
Fulcher, now 32, was put in by DOGE to supervise reforms on the Veterans Administration (VA), which cut 1,000 staff quickly after DOGE’s arrival.
Joe Gebbia
Gebbia is the billionaire co-founder of Airbnb and Samara, a pre-fab tiny dwelling startup that raised $41 million in 2023. He’s additionally a private good friend of Elon Musk, who had been deliberating shopping for one in all Samara’s tiny properties final 12 months, in accordance with Tesla filings.
At DOGE, Gebbia will work as a volunteer within the Workplace of Personnel Administration, he confirmed in a post on X after his involvement was reported by The New York Times. “My first challenge at DOGE is bettering the sluggish and paper-based retirement course of,” Gebbia wrote.
Gebbia is a longtime Democratic donor, however mentioned he voted for Trump in 2024 and helps Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the brand new well being secretary.
Mike Gonzalez
Gonzalez based HR startup TraceHQ in 2019 and sold it to Paylocity in 2023 for an undisclosed sum. Gonzalez says on his web site that he began his profession as a Fb product supervisor and labored at Zenefits with David Sacks when he was CEO there, all earlier than launching his personal firm.
VC Sacks has joined the Trump administration as its crypto and AI czar. Gonzalez was engaged on the finance workforce once they labored collectively at Zenefits.
Gonzalez’s LinkedIn profile beforehand talked about that he joined DOGE full-time earlier this month as a “Senior Advisor” on the U.S. Workplace of Personnel Administration. Shortly after TechCrunch reached out to Gonzalez for remark, the point out of DOGE was faraway from his LinkedIn profile.
Gonzalez has not mentioned what he’s doing at OPM. However in February he wrote a post on LinkedIn lamenting the state and technique of the federal finances.
Vinay Hiremath
Hiremath is the co-founder of video recording startup Loom, which was offered to Atlassian in 2023 for $975 million.
In keeping with a blog post on his private web site titled “I’m wealthy and don’t know what to do with my life,” Hiremath says that after breaking apart together with his girlfriend, he determined to “externalize” his feelings by climbing a mountain within the Himalayas. After that, he determined to work for DOGE.
His stint at DOGE lasted a few month and concerned making lots of of recruiting calls. Hiremath wrote that he was added to Sign teams run by DOGE and “instantly put to work.”
Hiremath praised DOGE’s work as “extraordinarily essential,” however mentioned he stop the job as he wanted to deal with himself. He known as off plans to maneuver to Washington, D.C. and went to Hawaii as an alternative, his put up states.
Brooks Morgan
Morgan is the co-founder and former CEO of an Austin-based edtech startup known as Podium Schooling, a press release from final 12 months reveals, though he’s not presently listed as a pacesetter on the corporate’s website.
His social media presence is extraordinarily minimal however he has reportedly been concerned in edtech for properly over a decade, beforehand working for a long-since acquired firm that supplied a Fb app for faculties.
Morgan is alleged to be concerned in DOGE’s efforts on the Schooling Division, particularly round efforts to reinforce — maybe change — a few of the employees there with AI, The New York Times reports.
Kyle Schutt
Schutt is listed by Crunchbase as a co-founder of a Virginia-based software program firm known as KAMM, which state information say has been inactive as of late November 2024.
Schutt has additionally labored on WinRed, WIRED reports, a for-profit fundraising website that says it’s helped increase $1.8 billion for Republican celebration candidates since 2023. He additionally served because the CTO at online fundraising platform REVV, additionally utilized by the Republican celebration.
He’s a member of DOGE and is now on employees on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company, in accordance with an inside employees listing viewed by Politico. He was beforehand on the GSA. He’s mentioned to have entry to FEMA programs and to have labored for an organization known as Outburst Knowledge which hosts a number of Musk-related websites, and hosts elements of the DOGE web site.
Ethan Shaotran
Shaotran was beforehand the founding father of Energize.ai, although its web site now not masses. He additionally developed a number of iPhone apps, together with a Donald Trump-themed working recreation known as “Donald Sprint.”
In 2024, Shaotran told Business Insider that he was a 22-year-old Harvard laptop science pupil working solo on his startup, which supplied an AI scheduling assistant and had landed a $100,000 grant from OpenAI.
Shaotran was one in all a number of DOGE workers named in a lawsuit by federal staff that sought to forestall DOGE employees from accessing federal information, though he was not a defendant.
Shaotran reportedly has a working GSA e mail tackle and requested entry to a decade’s price of GSA information. Shaotran additionally has entry to e mail programs on the Division of Schooling and entry to the division’s back-end web site, NBC reported.
Brad Smith
Smith is a longtime healthcare entrepreneur who co-founded the palliative care firm Aspire Well being (later acquired by Anthem) and co-founded CareBridge, which gives at-home service to Medicaid sufferers (and is said to have struck a deal with Elevance Well being to promote for $2.7 billion).
He additionally co-founded healthcare VC agency Russell Avenue Ventures and served as CEO of Predominant Avenue Well being, which affords main care providers to these in rural areas.
Smith led the Middle for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation throughout President Trump’s first time period. He’s mentioned to be one of many leaders of DOGE, alongside shut Musk ally Steve Davis.
As ABC Information reported, Smith has been an advocate for privatizing points of Medicaid and Medicare. At DOGE, Smith has requested entry to the payment systems at Medicare, in accordance with The New York Occasions.
Jordan Wick
Wick is the co-founder of Y Combinator startup Intercept. He additionally labored as an engineer at Alphabet’s self-driving automobile firm Waymo, he told a podcast in 2024.
He’s among the many DOGE staffers granted in depth entry to the Client Monetary Safety Bureau’s information, in accordance with a lawsuit from former USAID contractors which names him (however not as a defendant).
Wick graduated from MIT with a level in laptop science in 2019 and likewise has a grasp’s diploma from there, in accordance with an archived version of his web site. He additionally worked at YC-backed logistics startup Flexport.
Enterprise Capitalists
Baris Akis
Akis is a co-founder and president of Silicon Valley VC agency Human Capital.
He reportedly led inquiries into the Treasury Division’s funds programs, The New York Occasions reported. He was also named in a lawsuit about DOGE’s legality, though not as a defendant.
Akis is the second hyperlink to DOGE from Human Capital. The VC agency’s former head of expertise, Amanda Scales, is now chief of employees on the highly effective Workplace of Personnel Administration, the federal authorities’s HR division.
Marc Andreessen
Andreessen is the co-founder of outstanding VC agency Andreessen Horowitz. He famously backed Trump for president in 2024, regardless of previously endorsing Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Andreessen described himself as an “unpaid intern” for DOGE in a podcast with the Hoover Institution earlier this 12 months, reportedly serving to recruit for DOGE’s early hires, the FT reported.
Within the Hoover Establishment podcast, Andreessen described former a16z managing associate Scott Kupor — and incoming OPM head — as “very aligned” with DOGE’s mission.
Antonio Gracias
Gracias is the founder and CEO of Valor Fairness Companions, and a longtime shut affiliate of Elon Musk. Valor has invested in a who’s who of buzzy startups (together with Anduril, Dataminr, Eight Sleep, and Reddit) however is especially identified for backing Musk corporations like SpaceX, Neuralink, SolarCity, The Boring Firm, and Tesla.
Gracias is properly referred to as a Tesla board member from 2007 to 2021, on the board previous to its IPO in addition to when Tesla purchased the Musk-controlled firm SolarCity for $2.6 billion.
On a February episode of the VC All-In Podcast, Gracias mentioned that he was working with DOGE. “I’m not there full-time,” he mentioned. “I’m out and in slightly bit and making an attempt to assist the place I can.” He additionally talked about that DOGE had 80-plus full-time individuals at the moment.
He’s apparently now working with DOGE’s efforts on the Social Safety Administration, The New York Occasions reported, and is one in all 9 DOGE associates there. Different Valor staff are additionally a part of the Social Safety crew, the NYT experiences.
Michael Kratsios
Till not too long ago, Michael Kratsios served as managing director at Scale AI, the information labeling startup that began working with the Pentagon final 12 months to check and consider AI instruments for the navy.
From 2010 to 2017, Kratsios labored for Thiel Capital, the workplace that manages VC Peter Thiel’s many investments, per his LinkedIn; Thiel was one in all Trump’s early backers in 2016. Kratsios also served as CTO of the U.S. throughout Trump’s first administration.
Kratsios helped lead efforts to employees DOGE in late 2024 by conducting interviews of potential employees, Bloomberg reported.
He’s Trump’s pick to guide the Workplace of Science and Expertise Coverage. Throughout his confirmation hearing, Kratsios responded to questions on mass firings of federal employees by saying he believes it’s affordable for the present administration to guage present expertise.
Scott Kupor
Kupor is a managing associate at VC agency Andreessen Horowitz, and was a16z’s first worker. He serves on the boards of plenty of a16z investments. He’s additionally a former chairman of the Nationwide Enterprise Capital Affiliation — the VC business’s lobbying group.
Trump announced in December 2024 that he picked Kupor to function the director of the Workplace of Personnel Administration. The identical day, Kupor confirmed that he was serving to DOGE.
Because the federal authorities’s HR division, the OPM has turn into floor zero for DOGE’s mission to slash the federal workforce. DOGE employees are utilizing OPM’s information and laptop programs to acquire details about federal employees throughout companies, in accordance with a CNN report.
Shaun Maguire
Maguire is a associate at Sequoia Capital and previously co-founded cyber agency Expanse, which was offered to Palo Alto Networks for $800 million in 2020.
Maguire has reportedly helped display potential candidates for DOGE. He’s a frequent and vocal supporter of DOGE on X.
Maguire is an outspoken supporter of President Trump, and announced that he donated $300,000 to his marketing campaign final summer time.
Adam Ramada
Ramada was beforehand a managing director at SpringTide Capital, the place he was a part of a $12 million deal to fund the probiotic drink company ZBiotics. His agency also invested in a SpaceX provider final 12 months.
He was recognized as a member of DOGE in a temporary restraining order after the American Federation of Academics sought to dam DOGE’s entry to privileged info. The restraining order was later denied by a federal decide.
In a signed declaration, Ramada mentioned he began working for DOGE in January, assigned to audit contracts and applications on the Division of Schooling for waste, comparable to federal pupil loans. President Trump, a critic of the Division of Schooling, recently signed an govt order to start out its closure very quickly.
In another declaration, Ramada, who can also be listed as a GSA employee, mentioned he was assigned to the Labor Division, too, to “enhance its info expertise and information group system.”
Amanda Scales
Scales labored for 2 and half years at Silicon Valley VC agency Human Capital, advising the agency’s portfolio corporations on expertise and HR, in accordance with her her LinkedIn profile. Her boss at Human Capital, its co-founder Baris Akis, served as a DOGE advisor.
Scales is now chief of employees on the Workplace of Personnel Administration, the federal authorities’s highly effective human sources division, in accordance with an OPM memo.
Scales beforehand labored on expertise at Uber earlier than becoming a member of Human Capital, in accordance with her LinkedIn.