Former DOGE staffers who came to Washington to shrink government have moved into startups, investments and companies seeking federal contracts — with firms tied to alumni raising at least half a billion dollars.
DOGE arrived in Washington with a simple pitch: government was bloated, inefficient and full of people making careers out of bureaucracy. Less than two years later, some of the people who came to dismantle that system are discovering that knowledge of the system can be extremely valuable.
A Washington Post analysis found roughly two dozen former DOGE staffers have moved into private-sector roles that directly draw on their government experience. They have founded startups, taken executive jobs, invested in companies and joined businesses seeking government contracts or regulatory approvals.
Companies founded by or closely tied to DOGE alumni have raised at least half a billion dollars, according to The Post’s review of government records, fundraising disclosures and investment databases. Several of the firms operate in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, defense technology and data-center infrastructure — areas where federal contracts and approvals can be worth enormous sums.
One of the most prominent examples is Cathedral, an AI cybersecurity company founded by former DOGE figures Gavin Kliger and Luke Farritor. Investors have valued the company at roughly $1.4 billion, and it intends to sell products to corporate customers and government agencies, including the Pentagon.
Kliger served in government roles connected to DOGE and later became the Pentagon’s chief data officer before leaving in 2026. According to The Post, fundraising for Cathedral began shortly afterward. The company has not been accused of violating any ethics rule, but watchdogs say the timeline illustrates how quickly temporary public service can become private-market credibility.
Other DOGE alumni have launched companies explicitly describing their government experience as inspiration. Special, an AI startup founded by former DOGE members, has said its founders wanted to extend the ethos of their government work back into the private sector.
There is nothing inherently illegal about leaving government and starting a company. Washington has had a revolving door between public service and private industry for generations. Former regulators become consultants. Former lawmakers become lobbyists. Former Pentagon officials join defense companies. Nobody exactly discovered the concept in 2026.
The irony is that DOGE built much of its identity around attacking that ecosystem. Its members entered agencies arguing that bureaucracy was wasteful, insiders were self-interested and Washington rewarded people for knowing how to navigate government instead of fixing it.
Now government experience is appearing in investor decks as a selling point.
The Post found that at least six DOGE alumni are connected to businesses registered on Sam.gov, the federal contracting portal. Other former staffers have joined companies that rely heavily on government regulation or approvals, creating the possibility that insider knowledge of agency structure becomes commercially useful almost immediately after leaving public service.
Ethics experts say current rules may not be designed for this exact model. Many DOGE participants served as special government employees for relatively short periods, sometimes only months. Traditional revolving-door restrictions were largely built around longer-term officials and more conventional lobbying or contracting relationships.
Defenders of the alumni argue that this is exactly what skilled technologists are supposed to do: take what they learned, build better companies and bring private-sector efficiency into areas government struggles with. Investors also say DOGE experience can demonstrate that founders understand large institutions, difficult systems and rapid operational change.
Critics see something else. People entered government promising to destroy the swamp, gained access to agencies and decision-making systems, then emerged with credentials, relationships and startup valuations that would have been much harder to obtain before their federal service.
The contradiction is strong enough that it almost sounds like a DOGE efficiency win: instead of waiting 20 years to monetize government connections, some alumni managed it in under 20 months.
No broad finding of illegal conduct has been made against the former staffers highlighted by The Post. The story is about ethics, incentives and whether the rules governing short-term government service have kept up with the speed of Silicon Valley careers.
The larger question is whether a government reform movement can credibly attack Washington’s revolving door while its own alumni are walking through it carrying term sheets.
