Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban has stepped into the latest government tech shake-up, rallying support for the recently dismissed federal workers responsible for improving government technology. On the social platform Bluesky, Cuban encouraged these professionals to use their expertise to forge a new path, potentially turning their misfortune into a business opportunity.
Cuban’s message, which quickly gained traction, directly addressed the engineers and designers affected by the abrupt layoffs at 18F, a technology unit under the General Services Administration (GSA). In a bold call to action, he advised them to unite and start a consulting firm, predicting that the government agency responsible for their dismissal would eventually require their services.
“If you worked for 18F and got fired, group together to start a consulting company,” Cuban wrote. “It’s just a matter of time before DOGE needs you to fix the mess they inevitably created. They will have to hire your company as a contractor to fix it. But on your terms. I’m happy to invest and/or help.”
The layoffs stemmed from a directive by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a department under Elon Musk’s leadership, which has been aggressively cutting costs and reducing the federal workforce. Around 70 employees received their termination notices in the early hours of Saturday, a move that followed a similar round of layoffs in February. The affected workers included those who had developed Login.gov, a platform designed to provide secure access to various government services such as Social Security and Veterans Affairs.
A statement from 18F described its members as “non-partisan civil servants” who had worked on “hundreds of projects” to make government technology more efficient and cost-effective for taxpayers. However, the administration’s sweeping budget cuts upended their efforts.
Adding an element of intrigue, DOGE reportedly sent out emails to multiple agencies late Friday, with the subject line “What did you do last week? Part II,” requiring employees to summarize their weekly accomplishments by Monday. The message was widely distributed across departments, including the State Department, IRS, and NIH, further signaling ongoing changes within the federal workforce.
As the dust settles, Cuban’s idea presents an interesting prospect: could these displaced government tech professionals turn their expertise into private ventures, ultimately offering their services back to the very administration that let them go? Even Musk has acknowledged unintended consequences from his rapid restructuring, admitting that “one of the things we accidentally canceled — very briefly — was Ebola prevention.”
The coming weeks will determine whether these laid-off employees will take Cuban’s advice and launch a startup that could, ironically, become an indispensable government contractor. Some are already embracing the idea, with one Bluesky user suggesting a name for the new company:
