| You're receiving Dealmaker for free. Upgrade to a paid subscription to access all of our award-winning tech and business journalism. Subscribe to The Information here for 25% off your first year (normally $399). Welcome back! The list of venture capitalists and Silicon Valley insiders joining the next presidential administration is growing. Just this week, President-elect Donald Trump named Jacob Helberg, an adviser to Palantir Technologies and husband to Keith Rabois, a Khosla Ventures managing director, as a top economic policy and trade official. Helberg follows Craft Ventures co-founder David Sacks and, of course, Elon Musk to roles in the new administration. My bet is that we're not done. People close to some of Trump's current advisers point to a number of venture capitalists and founders who could serve advisory roles, largely because they already have ties to Washington or Trump. As with Sacks and Musk, these roles may not be full time and they could be more limited in scope—say, acting as advisers on particular policies like defense, artificial intelligence or crypto. Some are involved in the transition or helping interview candidates, stints that could wind down in January. For instance, Shaun Maguire, the Sequoia Capital partner behind the firm's bets in SpaceX and other Elon Musk companies, has been one of several industry executives and lawmakers interviewing candidates for roles in the next administration, including ones focused on defense, according to a person familiar with the process. Marc Andreessen, meanwhile, has been interviewing candidates for the new Department of Government Efficiency, co-led by Musk, according to a different person. Already a group of such industry advisers has coalesced under the New American Industrial Alliance, including Joe Lonsdale's 8VC, General Catalyst and Palantir, to offer policy recommendations to the incoming administration about manufacturing in defense and beyond. Startup accelerator Y Combinator, AI chip startup Extropic and Oklo, a Sam Altman–backed nuclear company, have joined the group, according to the group. This effort shows how a variety of Silicon Valley groups are angling to get their message across to the new administration. Andreessen Horowitz partner Katherine Boyle is another name that's come up in conversations about potential advisers. She was an early proponent of the American Dynamism concept, which focuses on investing in defense, aerospace, manufacturing and other startups conducive to U.S. national interests. She now co-leads the Andreessen Horowitz fund by that name. The venture capitalist is a longtime attendee of the Reagan National Defense Forum and spoke on a panel there last week. And her American Dynamism summit in Washington has hosted speakers such as Republican Sen. Todd Young and current Deputy Department Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks. Andreessen Horowitz already has earned some good graces with the new administration. Co-founder Marc Andreessen endorsed Trump in July, saying the candidate would have a friendlier attitude toward crypto and AI. That seemed to embolden other venture investors to proclaim their support. Brian Quintenz, head of policy at Andreessen Horowitz's digital asset arm, a16z Crypto, has emerged as a top contender for Commodity Futures Trading Commission chair, Bloomberg reported. The other firm likely to be close to the administration is Founders Fund. Trump appointed Founders Fund and PayPal co-founder Ken Howery as the U.S. Ambassador of Sweden during his last presidency. Howery was involved with a fundraising event for candidate Trump earlier this year, according to someone who spoke to him, and could be given a similar ambassadorship now. After Trump won 2016's presidential election, Founders Fund's Trae Stephens, then just a principal at the firm, was asked by his boss, Peter Thiel, to join him on the transition team. Stephens, whom I profiled in July, spent a few months on the team in the beginning of 2017. Stephens has since been floated as a candidate for deputy secretary of defense, according to The Wall Street Journal. That may be a stretch, given his jobs: Stephens is now a general partner at Founders Fund helping run day-to-day operations, as well as executive chair of Anduril, which he co-founded. Still, investors close to Stephens expect to see him advise on tech policy or how the Defense Department works with startups. Stephens has worked at various posts within government in the past, including at a U.S. intelligence agency. Much is in flux, encouraging investors and entrepreneurs to knit closer ties to the incoming leadership. For a moment, the hottest Silicon Valley hot spots are located in the lobbies of the Four Seasons and The Breakers—a 10-minute drive from Mar-a-Lago. Lux Capital general partner Bilal Zuberi is the latest venture leader to leave their firm. Zuberi, a former General Catalyst principal, was at Lux for nearly 12 years and backed Ironclad, Applied Intuition, Aurora Solar and other startups. Zuberi has told people he is going to start a new venture firm, according to three people with direct knowledge of his thinking. The investor will target between $100 million and $200 million for the debut fund, backing early-stage companies focused on AI and deep tech. This comes after a string of high-level departures from Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Founders Fund. |
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