Mark Cuban has never shied away from expressing his opinions, particularly those regarding other business leaders.
The billionaire tech founder has found plenty to keep him busy since he ended his tenure as a judge on Shark Tank. He cited a desire to spend more time with family and focus on other ventures as his primary reasons for leaving the popular pitching show.
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Much of Cuban’s business focus lately seems to be on Cost Plus Drugs, his public benefit corporation. However, he recently shared some advice for the latest victims of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) hiring purge.
Since Elon Musk’s office began making massive changes across Capitol Hill, many federal employees have lost their positions. However, Cuban sees an opportunity for one group of workers that DOGE recently eliminated.
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One key government office is out of work and Cuban thinks he can help
Over the past weekend, news broke that the U.S. government’s General Services Administration had received orders to terminate 18F, an elite program comprised of developers and engineers who developed open-source tools for the federal government.
According to an email sent by GSA commissioner of Federal Acquisition Service and former Tesla (TSLA) engineer Thomas Shedd, “this decision was made with explicit direction from the top levels of leadership within both the administration and GSA.”
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A report from Federal News Network states that the decision to terminate 18F will impact roughly 85 people. The agency’s public web page is no longer accessible, indicating that all operations have already been ceased.
Cuban has criticized DOGE before, and he isn’t breaking with tradition. He responded to news of the 18F termination by offering some advice for engineers and developers who are now out of work: tell them to group together and start their own consulting firm.
“It’s just a matter of time before DOGE needs you to fix the mess they inevitably create,” Cuban stated in a Bluesky post addressing the former 18F staffers. “They will have to hire your company as a contractor to fix it. But on your terms.”
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On top of that, Cuban added that he is happy to help and/or invest in any new company that the former members of 18F should decide to form.
Since then, the post has received many positive responses, indicating that many social media users received Cuban’s idea well.
18F members make it clear, they aren’t slowing down
One of Cuban’s commenters shared a post from former 18F software engineer John Skiles Skinner that contained a link to a new site called 18F.org. Created by the agency’s former members, it recounts the high level of technical work done by its members.
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“18F was doing exactly the type of work that DOGE claims to want – yet we were eliminated,” the webpage notes.
It also states that 18F’s former members intend to keep working hard, adding, “We came to the government to fix things. And we’re not done with this work yet.”
Like Cuban’s, Skinner’s post received many comments encouraging the impacted 18F team members to form their own company. Now that Cuban is offering to help and potentially invest, they may have more incentive than ever to make this venture a reality.
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