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The secretive brain trust of Silicon Valley insiders who are helping Trump
- The Washington Post
See Ramji's brother mentioned here...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/11/21/the-secretive-brain-trust-of-silicon-valley-insiders-who-are-helping-trump/?tid=sm_tw

The secretive brain trust of Silicon Valley insiders who are helping Trump

Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel speaks at the Republican National Convention
in Cleveland, Ohio earlier this year (Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

Billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel is putting together a brain trust of
Silicon Valley insiders to share ideas with the transition team for
President-elect Donald Trump. But he’s having trouble finding takers.

In recent days, the Facebook board member and PayPal cofounder - who is
also a member of the Trump transition - has been appealing to fellow
entrepreneurs of all political stripes to share their best ideas and
possibly join the incoming administration.

Thiel has been carrying around an iPad with an editable list of possible
candidates, say people familiar with Thiel’s thinking who did not want to
be named because the venture capitalist has not made his effort public.
Those who have been approached by Thiel have been asked to add other names
to the shortlist.

Thiel, a libertarian who was shunned by his tech industry peers for being a
Trump supporter, is pitching his personal network of entrepreneurs on the
opportunity to influence an incoming administration that is somewhat of a
blank slate when it comes to technology policy. Because Trump had so few
ties to the world of tech, Thiel will have an unusually powerful influence
on the new administration, the people familiar with his thinking said.

But in the liberal bastion of Silicon Valley — where Trump is despised and
even admitting you’re a Republican can hurt your candidacy for a job – that
coveted opportunity has been fraught with challenges. And some people have
turned him down altogether. Thiel declined to comment.

People who have joined Thiel form a tight-knit group of conservative and
libertarian-leaning entrepreneurs who have long felt ostracized in Silicon
Valley for their political views, a source said. Many are excited to
finally have a voice in government.

Some entrepreneurs who had not been politically active said the opportunity
was too good to pass up. “The chance to influence the government is a huge
opportunity,” said Jack Abraham, a serial entrepreneur who is executive
director of the Thiel Fellowship. “There are people who are repulsed by
Trump, and it’s understandable - Silicon Valley is very liberal. But it’s
unfortunate [that some people don’t want to contribute] because this is a
unique opportunity for smart people to inject ideas.”

Others who spoke to the Washington Post said people Thiel approached were
conflicted: Thiel is revered throughout Silicon Valley for his business
acumen, even by those who disagree with his politics. In any other
circumstance, being tapped by someone of his stature to have a voice at the
highest levels of power would be hugely appealing.

Entrepreneurs working in emerging areas that the government has yet to
fully regulate, such as the virtual currency bitcoin and drones, see the
value in having a line to an administration that so far has had few ties in
the tech world.

But people who have turned Thiel down felt Trump’s campaign had been too
divisive and that an association with Trump could have toxic repercussions
in their social and business circles, several people said.

The reaction in Silicon Valley reflects a broader dilemma for the incoming
administration: Many of the best and brightest are wary of contributing to
the incoming government because they fear the ramifications of having ties
to Trump. These concerns have played out in recent days among Republicans
who are considering whether to serve.
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/11/14/the-dilemma-of-serving-in-a-trump-administration/?utm_term=.8feaa6026ea1>

People on Thiel’s shortlist include Blake Masters, who co-authored, with
Thiel, the book Zero to One, which is read as a business bible in Silicon
Valley. Masters is also president of the Thiel Foundation, an organization
dedicated to funding young people who want to skip college to pursue an
entrepreneurial idea.

Other Thiel mentees have been tapped, including Joe Lonsdale and Abraham.
Like Masters, Lonsdale met Thiel while he was a libertarian-leaning
Stanford student, and co-founded the data-mining startup Palantir
Technologies with Thiel. Abraham is executive director of the Thiel
Foundation, and Thiel's ties to Abraham include sitting on the board of his
startup Zenreach.

Balaji Srinivasan, whose startup focusing on the virtual currency bitcoin
received funding from Thiel, shares some of his anti-authoritarian ideals.
Thiel has advocated for technologists to live in offshore ships that would
function as mini-nations to escape regulation; Srinivasan once advocated
for technologists to exit the United States and form a separate society
that would govern itself.

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Masters and Srinivasan did not respond to requests for comment. Lonsdale
declined to comment.

Max Levchin, another PayPal cofounder who is an outspoken critic of Trump,
has contributed ideas and suggested others for the shortlist, but does not
want to join the administration, a source close to Levchin said. Levchin is
on the advisory board at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the
watchdog agency created by the Obama administration to police financial
institutions. Levchin declined to comment.

In speeches leading up to the election, Thiel has pushed for a government
agenda that includes greater investments in science and technology. He gave
a $1.25 million donation to political groups supporting Trump.

Thiel is also a backer of many companies that have pending business with
Washington. He’s funded the ride-sharing company Lyft and home-sharing
company Airbnb, which have been in the crosshairs with regulators and
unions. He also has backed a marijuana business and a drone maker, areas
that federal regulators are scrutinizing.

The people close to Thiel said he had also told Trump’s team about the the
challenges startups had in doing business with the federal government. The
issue is close to Thiel: Palantir, which Thiel co-founded, recently won a
legal case against the Department of Defense, in which the company claimed
that it was sidelined from competing for government contracts.


Eric D. Schwerin
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com

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