• Guido Gabrielli is leaving restaurant tech company Otter after five years, per a company email viewed by BI.
• Otter's new head is Ashvin Kumar, who most recently worked at fintech Affirm.
• Otter is a nearly $70 million a year business, Travis Kalanick wrote in an email to staff.

One of Travis Kalanick's key businesses just named a new leader, according to a company email reviewed by Business Insider.

Guido Gabrielli is leaving Otter, the restaurant tech arm of City Storage Systems, per the company email sent by Kalanick.

He is replaced by entrepreneur Ashvin Kumar, who comes from Affirm.

Gabrielli is "moving on to a new chapter in his career of substance," Kalanick wrote about Otter's head, who joined the company from Uber. "He has been a part of CSS since the early days, with us for 5 years and has taken Otter from a scrappy upstart to the almost $70mm/yr business it is today."

Otter's global businesses include order management for platforms such as DoorDash, a virtual-menu arm, a revenue-recapture business that claws back money owed to restaurants, and a point-of-sale system. In early May, Gabrielli told Otter staff that the company had 100,000 restaurants paying for at least one service, BI previously reported.

The company's technology is used by customers of CSS's other arm, CloudKitchens, which renovates warehouses into ghost-kitchen facilities for mom-and-pop restaurateurs and big companies such as Chick-fil-A.

Otter has, at times, struggled with glitchy software and customer support. Last year, a CloudKitchens operator invited to speak at an all-hands meeting complained about the system, BI previously reported. In response, Gabrielli sent a Slack message to the full company promising better customer service.

Otter has also seen some personnel stumbles. The company ran a controversial sales boot camp that went off the rails before it was shut down last year, BI reported. And, like many peers, Otter has cut staff in multiple layoff rounds after the pandemic.

Kumar comes from Affirm, where he was a vice president working on special projects. Before his stint at the fintech company, he founded the social auction app Tophatter, which shut down in 2022.

"I've known Ashvin since the late 2000's Silicon Valley entrepreneur community. I couldn't be more excited about having him take the helm," Kalanick wrote in the company email.

In fall 2021, Kalanick raised $850 million for CSS from investors, including Microsoft, at a $15 billion valuation. Since then, the company has faced similar headwinds to the rest of the tech and real-estate industries, including higher interest rates and slower customer-demand growth than during the pandemic boom.

Through CSS, Kalanick wants to reinvent the business of food, just as he upended transportation by cofounding Uber.

BI reached out to Gabrielli, Kumar, and a representative for CSS about the leadership change. None responded to the request for comment, sent outside normal business hours.

Do you have a CSS story to share? Reach out to this reporter using a nonwork phone on Signal and Telegram at 646 768 1627.

• Donald Trump has tapped Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the Department of Government Efficiency.
• The advisory group is aimed at reducing federal spending and cutting waste.
• Several notable tech figures have already been linked to DOGE.

Donald Trump has picked Elon Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE — and they appear to be tapping into their network of Silicon Valley contacts to make it happen.

The department is set to be an advisory group outside the Trump administration that will seek out ways to cut costs and curb federal spending.

Although Musk has said he wants to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget to make it more efficient, under current law, Congress must approve most budget changes, which limits DOGE's power.

Musk has already reportedly been consulting Silicon Valley leaders about the advisory group. These are the tech figures that have already been linked to DOGE.

Vivek Ramaswamy

Ramaswamy is set to spearhead the DOGE alongside Musk.

The biotech billionaire previously ran for president, launching his bid in February 2023. He later dropped out to support Trump and campaigned for the former president.

Ramaswamy has said DOGE will be "crowdsourcing examples of government waste, fraud, and abuse.

"Americans voted for drastic government reform & they deserve to be part of fixing it," he wrote in a post on X.

Marc Andreessen

The Washington Post reported that the Andreessen Horowitz cofounder has been involved in helping Musk plan the department. Andreessen also discussed Musk and DOGE on a recent episode of Joe Rogan's podcast.

On the podcast, he criticized the "raw administrative power" of independent federal agencies like the SEC, FTC, and CFPB, highlighting Musk's direct business approach as a model for government accountability.

Sriram Krishnan

Sriram Krishnan, a general partner at A16z, has had discussions with Elon Musk about joining DOGE, The Information reported.

Krishnan has a history with Musk, assisting him in the early stage of his Twitter takeover. He's also previously held roles within Big Tech companies, including Twitter, Snap, and Meta.

Krishnan confirmed in an X post on Wednesday that he will be leaving A16z at the end of the year.

"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," Krishnan 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."

Antonio Gracias

Private equity executive Antonio Gracias has also been linked to the new advisory group.

The Washington Post reported that Gracias, alongside Boring Company President Steve Davis, was among Musk's business associates helping to plan the coming department.

Gracias also assisted Musk with his Twitter deal, helping him line up financing for the $44 billion deal. Gracias was also a director of Tesla from 2007 to 2021.

Travis Kalanick

Musk is also reportedly consulting Uber cofounder and former CEO Travis Kalanick about his plans for DOGE.

Kalanick is one of several tech titans being approached by Musk and Ramaswamy, according to a report from The Washington Post, which cited people familiar with the matter.

Kalanick was CEO of Uber from 2010 to 2017. He stepped down from the board in 2019.