Venture Capitalist Sriram Krishnan in Talks With Elon Musk to Join Department of Government Efficiency
- The Indian American is the latest Silicon Valley mover and shaker to be associated with the newly-formed advisory group to be co-headed by Vivek Ramaswamy.
Sriram Krishnan, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), is resigning from the venture capital firm and could be joining the Department of Government Efficiency, co-headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. The Indian American has had discussions with Musk about joining the advisory group outside the Trump administration, according to The Information, which first broke the news.
Confirming the news of his departure in a post on X, Sriram said he’ll soon provide details on his next move. “What’s next? I’ll have more on that in a bit but it’s obvious we are living through a unique moment in history,” he wrote. “I’m going to be jumping all into something I’ve wanted to spend my energy on. More on that in the coming months.”
He also took the opportunity to speak about a16z since it has been “the best part” of his career. “Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz have created not just one of the great venture capital firms but what I believe will be seen as one of the great American institutions,” he wrote. “It has been the greatest privilege of my career to be a part of it and learn from them. I’ll dearly miss all the great people I got to work with over the last four years here,” he added.
Krishnan joined A16z in 2021 and has worked as a crypto investor. Before joining the firm, he held numerous senior product roles, including leading core consumer teams at Twitter where he was responsible for products including the home timeline, new user experience, search, discovery, and audience growth. He was among one of the advisers who helped Musk take over the company. The Washington Post reported at the time that Andreessen Horowitz had invested $400 million in Musk’s Twitter acquisition.
Krishnan also worked at Snap and Facebook, where he created and oversaw various mobile ad products including Snap’s Direct Response ads business and the Facebook Audience Network, one of the largest networks in display advertising. He started his career at Microsoft where he touched numerous projects related to Windows Azure. Krishnan He is the author of “Programming Windows Azure,” published by O’Reilly.
He also hosts a podcast, “The Good Time Show,” on Clubhouse with his wife Aarthi Ramamurthy, where they have conversations with leading builders and CEOs and reveal what it takes to make it to the inside. In January 2023, the couple was signed by WME, a well-known talent agency. Variety reported at the time the WME would work with the couple “in areas including film and television development, as well as publishing and podcasting projects.”
(Top photo: Sriram Krishnan, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, with his wife, Aarthi Ramamurthy. The couple hosts a podcast, “The Good Time Show,” where they have conversations with leading builders, CEOs and reveal what it takes to make it to the inside.)