From Cutting Government Waste to Chasing Profit: The Second Act of the DOGE Bros
Here's something you don't hear every day.
Two guys in their late twenties, with zero prior government experience, once got handed the keys to review thousands of federal grants. They used ChatGPT to decide which ones to cut. They couldn't always define the terms they were enforcing. And now?
They want another shot.
Nathan Cavanaugh and Justin Fox, better known online as the "DOGE bros", are back. Their new company, Special, just raised a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) with backing from some of the biggest names in tech: Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong, Palantir execs, and close allies of Elon Musk. Their mission? To take what they "learned" at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and apply it to the private sector.
But here's the question hanging in the air like a bad smell at a blockchain conference: Why should anyone trust them?
Let's break down who these guys are, what they did, what they're building now, and whether this is genuine innovation or just the most audacious pivot in recent startup history. Stick around, because the answer might surprise you.
Who Exactly Are the DOGE Bros? (Before the Headlines)
Before we judge what they're doing now, we need to understand who Nathan Cavanaugh and Justin Fox were before they became internet famous for all the wrong reasons.
Nathan Cavanaugh: The Private Equity Operative
Nathan Cavanaugh came to DOGE from the world of private equity. That's important context. Private equity firms buy companies, cut costs aggressively (often through layoffs and restructuring), and flip them for profit. It's a world where "efficiency" usually means leaner payrolls and higher margins, not necessarily better outcomes for workers or customers.
Cavanaugh was the more senior of the two. He led the Small Agencies team at DOGE, which meant he and his crew were responsible for reviewing operations at lesser-known federal agencies that most Americans have never heard of.
He was also the one who, during depositions, admitted to emailing sensitive documents to his personal device and communicating via Signal, not exactly standard operating procedure for federal work.
Justin Fox: The Associate Who Followed
Justin Fox was Cavanaugh's subordinate at DOGE. Before that, he was an associate at a private equity firm, same world, same mindset. He followed Cavanaugh into the department and quickly became the public face of its most controversial decisions.
Together, they became the "DOGE bros", a label that stuck after their deposition testimony went public, revealing a process that critics called haphazard, unqualified, and, at times, shockingly arbitrary.
The DOGE Era: What They Actually Did
The Department of Government Efficiency was never meant to last forever. Established as a temporary initiative under the Trump administration, it was tasked with identifying and eliminating waste across the federal government.
Cavanaugh and Fox were among its most active operatives.
The ChatGPT Grant Controversy
This is the part that made them infamous.
During depositions for a federal lawsuit, Fox admitted that he used ChatGPT to screen grant descriptions from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). He fed grant summaries into the chatbot and asked it to flag anything related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). He then used those AI-generated responses to compile a spreadsheet of grants to recommend for termination.
Let that sink in.
A federal employee, with no prior grant administration experience, outsourced decision-making to a large language model. He wasn't instructed to do this by superiors. He just decided, on his own, that ChatGPT would be a good tool for identifying waste.
The lawsuit claims this process was so flawed that grants with no connection to DEI, including a documentary about Jewish women forced into slave labor during the Holocaust, were flagged and cut.
When asked why a documentary about Black civil rights was flagged, Fox reportedly said: "It is not for the benefit of humankind. It is focused on this specific group, or a specific race, here being Black."
Cutting More Than 10,000 Contracts
DOGE as a whole cut more than 10,000 government contracts, including lifesaving international aid programs. The exact savings are disputed, critics argue the department saved a small fraction of its claimed numbers, but the scale of disruption was undeniable.
Cavanaugh and Fox were at the center of that disruption, particularly in small agencies where their decisions had outsized impact.
The Lawsuit and Public Backlash
In March 2026, depositions from Cavanaugh and Fox were released as part of a lawsuit brought by several humanities organizations. The lawsuit alleges that DOGE's grant review process violated the Fifth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, among other claims.
Public reaction was swift and brutal. Headlines called them "inexperienced," "haphazard," and worse. The DOGE bros became a symbol of everything critics feared about bringing Silicon Valley's "move fast and break things" ethos into government.
And then, just like that, DOGE was gone. The department disbanded. Cavanaugh and Fox were out of a job.
Or so everyone thought.
Enter Special: The AI Holding Company With a Vague Mission
"Shooters shoot. Builders build. And DOGE alumni make splashy announcements about entering complex industries with scant qualifications while promising to 'root out waste.'"
That's how Charlie Warzel at The Atlantic described the launch of Special, Cavanaugh and Fox's new startup. And honestly? It's hard to find a better summary.
What Is Special According to Its Website?
According to its website, Special is a "new kind of holding company, building an AI operating system to transform critical American industries."
Translation? They plan to acquire struggling companies, particularly in sectors they deem "broken and inefficient", and then use a proprietary AI-powered operating system called SpecialOS to automate operations, cut costs, and presumably turn a profit.
The company launched with funding from a16z, Human Capital, and a slew of Musk allies, including Steve Davis (Musk's top lieutenant at DOGE), Antonio Gracias, and Anthony Armstrong.
Fox and Cavanaugh describe their mission as extending "the ethos of our work at DOGE back into the private sector."
The "DOGE Mafia" and a16z Funding
The term "DOGE mafia" has started circulating among tech insiders, a reference to the network of former DOGE staffers and allies now fanning out across the private sector. Cavanaugh and Fox are its most prominent members.
Marc Andreessen, never one to miss a hype cycle, posted: "Incredible team meets amazing mission meets magical time."
SpecialOS and Vertical Integration Explained
Special plans to operate as a vertical integration play - buying up businesses in critical sectors and running them using SpecialOS. Think of it as a private equity firm, except instead of just cutting costs manually, they're using AI to automate everything from billing to scheduling to insurance processing.
It's ambitious. It's also extremely vague. The company's tagline, after all, is: "You know it when you see it."
Figure Health: Elder Care as the First Target
Special's first announced target is Figure Health - a senior care startup that will supposedly apply SpecialOS to the elder care industry.
The Three-Pronged Pitch
Here's the pitch, as outlined on Figure Health's website:
- AI tools streamline operations at senior-care businesses.
- Those businesses use the money saved to increase pay for nurses.
- That, in turn, leads to better care for seniors.
On paper, it sounds noble. Who wouldn't want better pay for nurses and better care for seniors?
But here's where things get fuzzy.
Red Flags and Vaporware Concerns
Figure Health's website, at the time of launch, was barely functional. The careers and locations links didn't work. The images of staff appeared to be stock photography. The company announced three locations, Dallas, Miami, and Chicago, but provided no proof of actual operations.
The Atlantic went further, suggesting that Special, its AI-powered operating system, and even Figure Health "may all be vaporware."
Vaporware is a harsh term. But when your product exists only in press releases and your CEO can't explain how AI will magically solve the elder care crisis without any meaningful details? Skepticism is warranted.
Why Is Everyone Talking About This?
The DOGE Mafia Phenomenon
The "DOGE mafia" is a fascinating phenomenon. It's not just Cavanaugh and Fox. A network of former DOGE staffers is now spreading across the private sector, taking the lessons (or lack thereof) from their government stint into venture capital, consulting, and startups.
For Silicon Valley insiders, this is cause for celebration. It's the logical next step in applying "efficiency" everywhere.
For everyone else? It's either terrifying or infuriating.
Public Skepticism vs. Silicon Valley Optimism
The gap between tech insider reaction and public reaction is massive.
On X, a16z's Katherine Boyle wrote: "Founders are special. Builders are special. America is @Special." Other users praised the founders for bringing efficiency to Main Street.
But in the comment sections of The Atlantic, Wired, and elsewhere? The tone is very different. Words like "grift," "audacity," and "unqualified" appear frequently.
This disconnect matters. Because whether Special succeeds or fails will depend not just on technology, but on trust. And right now, trust is in short supply.
What It All Means: Innovation, Audacity, or Overreach?
Let's step back and look at the bigger picture.
On one hand, you have to admire the audacity. Cavanaugh and Fox took a controversial government stint, weathered a public firestorm, and somehow convinced a16z and a roster of Silicon Valley royalty to back their next venture. That takes guts, or, depending on your perspective, an almost pathological lack of self-awareness.
On the other hand, the track record is troubling.
Using ChatGPT to cut grants is not efficiency. It's abdication of responsibility. Cutting 10,000 government contracts without the expertise to understand their impact isn't reform. It's chaos. And now these same individuals want to bring their "ethos" to elder care, an industry already struggling with staffing shortages, regulatory complexity, and human lives hanging in the balance.
The core question is simple: Do second chances require demonstrated learning?
Cavanaugh and Fox haven't acknowledged any mistakes from their DOGE tenure. They haven't apologized for the AI-driven grant cuts. They haven't explained how they'll avoid repeating the same errors in a private-sector context.
Without accountability, this looks less like redemption and more like a pivot.
Final Verdict: Should Anyone Take Special Seriously?
I'll be honest with you.
The premise of Special, using AI to automate administrative tasks in broken industries, is not inherently bad. There are inefficiencies in senior care. There is room for technology to help nurses spend less time on paperwork and more time with patients.
The problem is the messengers.
Cavanaugh and Fox have not earned the benefit of the doubt. Their track record at DOGE suggests a willingness to make sweeping decisions without adequate expertise, accountability, or transparency. Their new venture's website is full of vague promises and broken links. Their AI operating system appears, at this stage, to exist mostly in PowerPoint slides.
This doesn't mean Special will fail. Silicon Valley has a long history of backing controversial founders who ultimately deliver. But it does mean that skepticism is the appropriate stance.
Before anyone hands them their tax dollars, or their grandmother's care, they need to show receipts. Real ones. Not press releases. Not AI-generated mission statements. Real technology, real outcomes, and real accountability.
The DOGE Bros Want Another Shot, But Should We Give It to Them?
The DOGE bros want another shot.
Nathan Cavanaugh and Justin Fox have raised millions from top-tier investors, launched an AI holding company, and set their sights on "transforming" elder care. They believe their government experience, chaotic and controversial as it was, qualifies them to do in the private sector what they attempted in Washington.
Whether they succeed or fail depends on three things:
- Whether SpecialOS actually exists beyond the marketing materials.
- Whether they've learned anything from the ChatGPT controversy.
- Whether the public is willing to trust them with industries that affect real human lives.
For now, the smart money is on cautious skepticism. The audacious bet is that they surprise everyone.
But one thing is certain: In a tech culture that rewards boldness over humility and confidence over competence, the DOGE bros are perfectly on brand.
Whether that's a good thing? You'll have to decide for yourself.
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