19 founders and VCs working with Elon Musk’s DOGE
Silicon Valley used to take a backseat to Washington, D.C. However now, the folks disrupting expertise have taken the wheel on the highest echelons of presidency. And that’s thanks, in large part, to the Department of Government Efficiency, higher often known as DOGE.
A lot reporting on DOGE has targeted on its staffers’ ties to Musk, the billionaire bestie of President Donald Trump. Nevertheless, there’s one other main nexus: the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and traders who’ve joined its clarion name of slashing authorities spending.
TechCrunch has compiled a complete record of the founders and VCs who’ve labored with DOGE, recognized via 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 referred to as TraceHQ.
And Gonzalez is much from the one Silicon Valley founder to discover a new position in public service. Our roster of founders-turned-DOGE staff spans from the co-founder of Airbnb to a man who bought his startup for practically $1 billion — solely to hitch DOGE to discover a increased that means after breaking apart along 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 search 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 last year to construct a market of finance specialists for entrepreneurs.
He’s a part of a DOGE staff tasked with auditing — some would say dismantling — the USADF and IAF, two U.S. authorities businesses that fund improvement 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 “so much” of his eager 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 appearing administrator and deputy administrator of GSA in January. This company is the cornerstone of buying contracts for the federal authorities.
In his position, 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 international locations 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 pal of Elon Musk, who had been deliberating shopping for one in every of Samara’s tiny houses final yr, in response to 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 stated 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 staff 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 stated what he’s doing at OPM. However in February he wrote a post on LinkedIn lamenting the state and strategy of the federal funds.
Vinay Hiremath
Hiremath is the co-founder of video recording startup Loom, which was sold to Atlassian in 2023 for $975 million.
In accordance with a blog post on his private web site titled “I’m wealthy and do not know what to do with my life,” Hiremath says that after breaking apart along 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 couple of 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 necessary,” however stated he give up the job as he wanted to deal with himself. He referred to as off plans to maneuver to Washington, D.C. and went to Hawaii as a substitute, his put up states.
Brooks Morgan
Morgan is the co-founder and former CEO of an Austin-based edtech startup referred to as Podium Schooling, a press release from final yr reveals, though he’s not at the moment listed as a frontrunner on the corporate’s website.
His social media presence is extraordinarily minimal however he has reportedly been concerned in edtech for effectively over a decade, beforehand working for a long-since acquired firm that supplied a Fb app for colleges.
Morgan is alleged to be concerned in DOGE’s efforts on the Schooling Division, particularly round efforts to reinforce — maybe change — among the staff 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 referred to 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 response to an inner employees listing viewed by Politico. He was beforehand on the GSA. He is said to have access to FEMA techniques and to have labored for a corporation referred to as Outburst Knowledge which hosts a number of Musk-related websites, and hosts components of the DOGE web site.
Ethan Shaotran
Shaotran was beforehand the founding father of Energize.ai, although its web site not hundreds. He additionally developed a number of iPhone apps, together with a Donald Trump-themed working sport referred to as “Donald Sprint.”
In 2024, Shaotran told Business Insider that he was a 22-year-old Harvard pc science scholar working solo on his startup, which supplied an AI scheduling assistant and had landed a $100,000 grant from OpenAI.
Shaotran was one in every of a number of DOGE workers named in a lawsuit by federal workers that sought to stop DOGE staff from accessing federal information, though he was not a defendant.
Shaotran reportedly has a working GSA electronic mail handle and requested entry to a decade’s price of GSA information. Shaotran additionally has entry to electronic mail techniques 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 offers 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 Principal Avenue Well being, which gives main care companies to these in rural areas.
Smith led the Middle for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation throughout President Trump’s first time period. He’s stated 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 elements of Medicaid and Medicare. At DOGE, Smith has requested entry to the payment systems at Medicare, in response to The New York Instances.
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 response to a lawsuit from former USAID contractors which names him (however not as a defendant).
Wick graduated from MIT with a level in pc science in 2019 and in addition has a grasp’s diploma from there, in response to 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 techniques, The New York Instances 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 staff on the highly effective Workplace of Personnel Administration, the federal authorities’s HR division.
Marc Andreessen
Andreessen is the co-founder of distinguished 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 yr, reportedly serving to recruit for DOGE’s early hires, the FT reported.
Within the Hoover Establishment podcast, Andreessen described former a16z managing companion 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 close associate 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 effectively often known as a Tesla board member from 2007 to 2021, on the board previous to its IPO in addition to when Tesla bought the Musk-controlled company SolarCity for $2.6 billion.
On a February episode of the VC All-In Podcast, Gracias stated that he was working with DOGE. “I’m not there full-time,” he stated. “I’m out and in just a little bit and making an attempt to assist the place I can.” He additionally talked about that DOGE had 80-plus full-time folks at the moment.
He’s apparently now working with DOGE’s efforts on the Social Safety Administration, The New York Instances reported, and is one in every of 9 DOGE associates there. Different Valor workers are additionally a part of the Social Safety crew, the NYT studies.
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 yr to check and consider AI instruments for the army.
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 every of 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 staff by saying he believes it’s affordable for the present administration to judge present expertise.
Scott Kupor
Kupor is a managing companion at VC agency Andreessen Horowitz, and was a16z’s first worker. He serves on the boards of a variety of a16z investments. He’s additionally a former chairman of the Nationwide Enterprise Capital Affiliation — the VC trade’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 change into floor zero for DOGE’s mission to slash the federal workforce. DOGE staff are utilizing OPM’s information and pc techniques to acquire details about federal staff throughout businesses, in response to a CNN report.
Shaun Maguire
Maguire is a companion at Sequoia Capital and previously co-founded cyber agency Expanse, which was sold 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 season.
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 yr.
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 data. The restraining order was later denied by a federal choose.
In a signed declaration, Ramada stated he began working for DOGE in January, assigned to audit contracts and packages on the Division of Schooling for waste, resembling federal scholar loans. President Trump, a critic of the Division of Schooling, recently signed an govt order to begin its closure very quickly.
In another declaration, Ramada, who can be listed as a GSA employee, stated he was assigned to the Labor Division, too, to “enhance its data 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 response to 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 assets division, in response to an OPM memo.
Scales beforehand labored on expertise at Uber earlier than becoming a member of Human Capital, in response to her LinkedIn.
