December 25, 2025· 60 min

Scott Kupor's New Plan to Bring Tech Workers Into the Federal Government

Orality
Model
50%

Speaker Breakdown

HostJoe Weisenthal(1,289 words)
M:29%
HostTracy Alloway(2,570 words)
M:28%
GuestScott Kupor(9,282 words)
M:29%

Oral Indicators

Agonistic58%
totally, literally, absolutely
Engagement91%
you, our, your
Memory Aids100%
listen, now, like
Repetition100%
like (204x), know (198x), about (102x)
Parallelism96%
And I'm Tracy Alloway...., And we got a good sense of som..., But you hear stuff like that a...
Sound Patterns61%
92 question(s), alliteration: "markets move", alliteration: "barclays brief"
Formulaic Phrases4%
you know what, i mean, to be honest

Literate Indicators

Hedging6%
may, maybe, probably
Passive Voice5%
been dictated, is called, being challenged
Abstract Nouns15%
investment, business, chase.com/business
Subordination5%
while, though, since
Sentence Length41%
Avg: 15.2 words/sentence
Word Complexity48%
investment, analyze, anticipate
Academic Markers0%
Impersonal Style9%
1359 personal pronouns found
Descriptive Style100%
apply, internationally, actually

Description

If you're a high-skilled tech worker, then potentially huge fortunes await you working for a startup or one of our booming AI giants. But the government needs these types of workers too. And the government is not set up to pay commensurate salaries with the private sector -- particularly for these types of roles. This challenge has long been understood, and there have been numerous efforts over the years to infuse the government with high-tech talent. Scott Kupor is the director of the US Office of Personnel Management, which manages and coordinates recruiting of new government employees across the federal workforce. Scott was also previously one of the top partners at the famed VC firm Andreessen Horowitz. So he has a mind for bringing the recruiting practices of the tech world into DC. But of course, that's easier said than done. On this episode, we talk about how federal hiring works and doesn't work, and also his new endeavor called the US Tech Force, which aims to bring in top talent for a two-year stint of solving problems across the bureaus. We also talk about the DOGE initiative, and how he thinks about recruiting top talent at a time when the administration has been aggressive about shrinking the size of the overall federal workforce. Read More: Federal Workforce’s Toll After a Year of DOGE and Trump: 317,000 USDA Lost a Third of DC Staff Even Before Relocation Effort  Join the conversation: discord.gg/oddlots Only Bloomberg.com subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox — now delivered every weekday — plus unlimited access to the site and app. bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.