Elon Musk's high-profile role on Donald Trump's transition team has led to Musk's allies, many of them Silicon Valley venture capitalists, being selected as collaborators. It is reported that.
For example, the name of VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, especially co-founder Marc Andreessen, is mentioned repeatedly. He will work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk's advisory committee, along with Antonio Gracias and Joe Lonsdale, to consider ways to overcome technical challenges in collecting data on federal programs. The Washington Post reported that he was wanted. on sunday.
They are among the few other Silicon Valley bigwigs who have been wiretapped.
Gracias is a co-founder of Valor Equity Partners, which has successfully backed Musk companies over the years, including SpaceX and Tesla, the latter of which he served on the board from 2007 to 2021. Lonsdale is a co-founder of VC firm 8VC, which actively supports defense technologies such as Anduril and other government technologies such as financial software provider OpenGov. Lonsdale worked for billionaire VC Peter Thiel and helped co-found Palantir. TechCrunch previously reported that Andreessen Horowitz has been a big SpaceX investor since around 2022, buying up shares whenever he can, and that Andreessen has been a vocal supporter of Musk.
Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy explained in a Wall Street Journal editorial last week that the DOGE committee hopes to recommend cuts to the program and the number of federal employees. They also expect to face legal backlash, they wrote. The group plans to launch a podcast in the near future, The Washington Post reported.
Meanwhile, Andreessen Horowitz is also said to be in the running to serve on the Trump administration's promised Cryptocurrency Advisory Council. It will be staffed by a large number of crypto industry executives who will help establish U.S. crypto policy, industry executives told Reuters last week. According to Reuters, a16z cryptocurrency policy director Brian Quintenz is already advising Trump's team.
Another VC being discussed as a member of the committee is Paradigm, an investment firm co-founded by Fred Ertham, who previously co-founded Coinbase. Paradigm specializes in cryptocurrency/blockchain investments. Coinbase, which is not a VC firm but funds its corporate arm Coinbase Ventures, is also interested in the commission, people told Reuters.
Meanwhile, Politico reported last week that Thiel's protégé Michael Kratsios, who served as chief technology officer in the first Trump administration, has been selected to lead the Trump transition team in charge of technology policy. Kratsios is known for drafting President Trump's 2020 Executive Order Promoting Investment in AI. Prior to his government position, he worked at Teal Capital. However, Kratsios is not currently a VC. According to LinkedIn, he has been working at AI company Scale AI since 2021.
Lonsdale and a16z could not be reached for comment. He did not respond to requests for comment from The Washington Post.