From Marc Andreessen to Sriram Krishnan, these are all Silicon Valley leaders with ties to Elon Musk’s DOGE

• Donald Trump has tapped Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the government’s Department of Efficiency.

• The advisory group is focused on reducing federal spending and reducing waste.

• Several notable tech figures have already been linked to DOGE.

Donald Trump has chosen Elon Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy to head the Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE – and they appear to be tapping into their network of Silicon Valley contacts to make this happen.

The department will become an advisory group outside the Trump administration that will look for ways to reduce costs and rein in federal spending.

Although Musk has said he wants to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget to make it more efficient, under current law Congress must approve most budget changes, which limits DOGE’s power.

Musk has reportedly already consulted with Silicon Valley leaders about the advisory group. These are the technical figures already linked to DOGE.

Vivek Ramaswamy

Ramaswamy will lead the DOGE along with Musk.

The biotech billionaire previously ran for president and launched his bid in February 2023. He later dropped out to support Trump and campaigned for the former president.

Ramaswamy has said that DOGE “will exemplify government waste, fraud and abuse.

“Americans voted for drastic government reform and they deserve to be part of its solution,” he wrote in a post on X.

Marc Andreessen

The Washington Post reported that Andreessen co-founder Horowitz was involved in helping Musk plan the department. Andreessen also discussed Musk and DOGE on a recent episode of Joe Rogan’s podcast.

On the podcast, he criticized the “raw administrative power” of independent federal agencies like the SEC, FTC and CFPB, highlighting Musk’s direct business approach as a model for government accountability.

Sriram Krishnan

Sriram Krishnan, general partner at A16z, has had discussions with Elon Musk about joining DOGE, The Information reported.

Krishnan has a history with Musk and assisted him in the early stages of his Twitter takeover. He also previously held positions at Big Tech companies including Twitter, Snap and Meta.

Krishnan confirmed this in one X message Wednesday that he will leave A16z at the end of this year.

“What’s next? I’ll talk more about that later, but it’s clear that we’re living through a unique moment in history,” Krishnan wrote. “I’m going to focus entirely on something I wanted to spend my energy on. More about that in the coming months.”

Antonio Gracias

Private equity director Antonio Gracias has also been linked to the new advisory group.

The Washington Post reported that Gracias, alongside Boring Company President Steve Davis, was one of Musk’s business partners who helped plan the coming division.

Gracias also assisted Musk on his Twitter deal and helped him arrange financing for the $44 billion deal. Gracias was also director of Tesla from 2007 to 2021.

Travis Kalanick

Musk is also reportedly consulting with Uber co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick on his plans for DOGE.

Kalanick is one of several tech titans being approached by Musk and Ramaswamy, according to a report by The Washington Post, which cited people familiar with the matter.

Kalanick was CEO of Uber from 2010 to 2017. He resigned from the board in 2019.

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