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Sahil Lavingia has had just three jobs over a 15-year career in tech. The first was as the second employee of Pinterest. The second was by founding the startup Gumroad, a successful, famously lean company that makes it easy for content creators to sell digital goods. The third? As an unpaid contractor supporting the Department of Veterans Affairs in a role facilitated by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a fact recently revealed in a Wired piece. One of these things is not likeand is far more controversial thanthe others. But Lavingia, who chose not to speak to Wired but reached out to me after I drew attention to the piece, makes no excuses for his decision to join DOGEs tidal wave of on-the-fly federal contractors. He says hes able to work without pay because of Gumroads successand that he is driven by a sense of mission. The reason I did it is, I think, the impact I can have, he explains. Lavingia says that in the private sector, technical employees can have between six and seven figures of financial impact over their lifetime. If theyre a successful startup founder like he is, maybe that number is larger. But in the government, I really believe that I can have billions of dollars of positive impact just by being technically minded. To hear it from Lavingia, the Elon Musk-backed DOGE was a shortcut in a direction he already saw himself going. Years ago, during the Obama administration, he applied to the United States Digital Service, the predecessor organization to DOGE, only to find the hiring process arduous. While he officially works for the VA, DOGE gave him an inroad into government work that didnt force him to go through a complicated vetting process. They just sent me to the VA, he says. They just kind of helped me find the job. Which is greatIm proud of that. Reflecting his tongue-in-cheek stance that DOGE is a glorified temp agency for software engineers, he got in through the side entrance, offering his services to the cause of government efficiency. Im basically taking Elon at his word, he admits. Wait, doesnt he run a company? Lavingias decision to moonlightnot exactly unheard of in DOGE circlesdoesnt necessarily tie to his primary gig. But he suggests that it might have inspired his recent decision to open source Gumroad. After all, it matches what hes proposing with DOGE. I think we should open source all the code that we write, he says of his VA work. And I think that if we did that, I’m not saying people will agree with us, but at least people will see what we’re doing. His VA side hustle comes at a time when Gumroad itself is going through some major structural changes. Last year, the company rebranded its corporate structure as Antiwork, inspired directly by a popular Reddit community of the same name. As part of its restructuring, it began putting its various apps on GitHub, including Gumroad. (The announcement taking Gumroad open source had some odd timing, hitting on the same day as the Wired story; Lavingia claims it was unintentional and unfortunate.)In one sense, this was a positive move for tech fans who run web apps and other software on their own infrastructure. Now they have a new tool at their disposal, and Gumroad has pledged to make it easier for them to install and maintain its code in the coming months. But the launch raised questions, in part because the license wasnt purely open source. With limits on the upside for commercial enterprises, tech users were skeptical. In response to the feedback, almost on a whim (I just kind of woke up one day, and I was like, Fuck it, lets just do the thing), Lavingia decided to move the Gumroad code base to the MIT license. That license, which companies such as Netflix and Apple have used to support their empire building, essentially allows users to do what they want with code without any requirements or limitations on its commercial use. Unlike the equally well-known General Public License, it does not require the creation of open-source derivative works. There are technical reasons for the licensing decision that go beyond helping a few self-hosters. Gumroad is a prominent example of a complex code base built on the Ruby on Rails framework, something Lavingia claims there are only limited examples of in the commons. From an AI standpoint, he says, this creates a knock-on effect where providers of large language models are less helpful with Rails than with competing frameworks like React. Internally, Antiwork aims for Gumroad to get 100,000 stars on GitHub, a number he freely admits is arbitrary. But what matters is its a good proxydid we actually build something people use, fork, and get value from? (Its currently at 5,700 stars.) Lavingia says the timing of his work at the VA is coincidental, but it helped inspire his thinking about open sourcing. Simply put, in a climate where equipment is often purchased through a complex bidding process, federal agencies have more flexibility with open-source tooling. He uses the example of Drupal, an open-source content-management system that is ubiquitous throughout the government and enterprise, but has a reputation among tech enthusiasts of being an older framework. People probably in startups would not say Drupal is their first choice, but what is really good about Drupal is that its MIT, he says. Its open source, it has a lot of packages and extensions. And its probably no coincidence that the government runs on Drupal for a lot of its CMS needs instead of some commercial proprietary thing. One could see an automation-minded coding whiz like Lavingia modernizing the VAs stack around more efficient tools. But as the security-card mechanisms in many government-procured laptops highlight, federal agencies are a different beast. A startup lifers view of the VA Much of what has been written about DOGEthe push to get employees into sensitive systems, the aggressive attempts at layoffs, the weekly emailshas not endeared the work to the public, and Musk recently took a step back from the endeavor. What people have heard about DOGE, they dont like. A recent New York Times poll analysis found survey respondents favored the idea of improving government efficiency, and even the idea of DOGE, but not the way it was being done. But hearing a first-person perspective of whats happening on the ground from Lavingia is nonetheless revealing. Hes someone who has gone from being the big fish in a tiny pond to just anotherperson in an agency that counts more than 400,000 employees on its payrollthough, as with elsewhere in the federal government, it is also seeing cuts. Now that hes there, he says he finds himself surrounded by people who love their jobs, who came to the government with a sense of mission driving their work. In a sense, that makes the DOGE agenda a little bit more complicated, because if half the government took [a buyout offer], then we wouldnt have to do much more, he says, implying software can replace departing employees. Wed just basically use software to plug holes. But thats not whats happening. Lavingias skills with automation, which have helped keep Gumroad lean, are what he hopes to bring to the VA. But when it comes down to it, what hes found is a machine that largely functions, though it doesnt make decisions as fast as a startup might. I would say the culture shock is mostly a lot of meetings, not a lot of decisions, he says. But honestly, its kind of finebecause the government works. Its not as inefficient as I was expecting, to be honest. I was hoping for more easy wins. In contrast to DOGEs shadowy reputation, Lavingia has made a case for transparency. Based on a pledge he received from Musk during a meeting, Lavingia has been open sourcing his VA work, creating tools that can generate org charts and detect compliance with the presidents executive orders. If you arent a fan of DOGEs work, the open-source code, while useful for transparency, probably wont make you feel any better about Lavingias work at the VA. The compliance code, for example, is effectively a Python script that hooks into OpenAI servers hosted on Microsoft Azure, detecting whether a federal agencys communication references chief diversity officers, pronouns, or WHO (World Health Organization) partnerships. However, Lavingia makes it clear that DOGE has limits, especially thanks to the court decisions and palace intrigue that have removed much of its bite. Ultimately, he argues, it has become a way for roving engineers to get an up-close view of how government worksa McKinsey for the government, as he puts it. I think DOGE both gets too much credit and too much blame, he says. Blame the people who actually have the authority to make the decisions. Its like when people say billionaires are evil. Im like, well, maybebut really, the people at fault would be the lawmakers, right? I dont know. Lavingia strikes me as someone who genuinely cares about the work hes doing, but who thinks about it like a software engineer. There may be a case for startup lifers to swoop in and out of government, sharing the latest technical innovations with a complex beast in dire need of more efficiency. But the move-fast-and-break-things style may simply be too swift and damaging when essential government services are on the line. A fork in the Gumroad? No matter how Lavingia sees things from a day-to-day perspective, the truth is that people who feel betrayed by Gumroads association with DOGE have a new reason to go with another creator-friendly tool. But its not the first knock against the service. Its traditional laissez-faire approach to content moderationcontroversially, the site is the digital storefront of onetime Adult Swim sketch comic Sam Hyde, notorious for his alt-right tieshas long raised eyebrows. The companys heavy use of automation has also created problems for users concerned about customer support. Evan Hildreth, a writer and programmer, recently expressed frustration with the platforms changes, and his inability to reach a support person that wasnt an LLM. Even with the licensing changes, he felt like he could no longer trust the platform. The changes to email and memberships really shook my confidence in the product itself, he said. (Lavingia says Gumroad is working to hire additional customer support staff.) And more recently, the platform has started to limit not-safe-for-work content, with Lavingia suggesting to TechCrunch last year that an unnamed supplier required the stricter approach. But even considering all that, Lavingia seemingly hadnt taken into account one key aspect of open sourcing that the MIT license could allow: the potential of folks turned off by his moonlighting gig creating their own version of Gumroad by forking the code and continuing development independently. When I pose the question, he isnt entirely opposed. He admits that the brutal form of capitalism the MIT license allows for might force Gumroad to compete a little harderor, perhaps, become more community-oriented, like WordPress. I kind of want that, almost. I want to move on with my life, he says. If someone launches Blueroad.com, or something worse on the right? Whatever. While Gumroada small company with outsize impact on the creator economyisnt going away, going open source nonetheless seems like something Lavingia has been preparing to do for a while. Gumroad is now 14 years old. So maybe the analogy is, My kids going off to college, and its not my problem anymore, he says. And maybe this means Gumroad will get even weirder in the future, right? Given the current context, its already off to a weird start.
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If youve ever been to the Vatican or watched for a puff of white smoke on live TV, you probably noticed something colorful. Or rather, something wholly mind-blowing in the modern era of tactical military designa troop of tri-color pantalooned papal protectors wielding halberds, seemingly straight out of a Raphael painting. But these are not hired cosplayers. This is the Swiss Guard, the popes personal security teamand today theyre protecting the college of cardinals as they vote on the next Catholic leader, decked out in what Encyclopedia Britannica has dubbed among the oldest uniforms in continuous use. Its more Met Gala than military. Heres how this bold anachronism came to be. Pope Francis walks past a Swiss guard, June 1, 2024. [Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty Images] SWISS ARMY LIFE Of course, theres another anomaly at play here: Why the mini army is dubbed the Swiss Guard despite being located within the worlds smallest country (Vatican City), which is nestled within Rome. As it turns out, rather than being a false eponym, the name is quite literal. In the late Middle Ages, Swiss mercenary forces were revered for their highly effective (read: deadly/terrifying) tactical fighting. Other countries in the region hired them to great effectso in 1506, Pope Julius II brought 150 of them to the Vatican. It was a fortuitous decision, and one that would save Pope Clements VIIs life in 1527. On May 6the day in which new Swiss Guard members are now traditionally sworn in every year, though that has been postponed in 2025 due to the conclaveCharles Vs soldiers sacked Rome. Of the Guards 189 members, 147 were killed, and they saved the popes life by ferrying him to safety through a secret passage. Today, the Vatican has a police force, which handles general security and law enforcement in the city. But the Swiss Guard exclusively protects the pope and his residence, and also travels abroad with him, in addition to safeguarding conclaves. And they do it with more than just those halberdsall members of the Guard must be between 19 and 30, Catholic, unmarried, and have already completed basic training with the Swiss Army, giving the 135-strong force proficiency with military tactics and modern firearms, which they are indeed equipped with. Theres more than meets the eye in those pantaloons. And not everyone is wearing themsome guards are in plain clothes and may appear to be tourists walking next to you. A painting of a Swiss Guard by Hortense Haudebourt-Lescot, ca. 1810. [Image: Wiki Commons THE MOST PICTURESQUE UNIFORM OF ALL If you were to Google just what the heck, exactly, the Swiss Guard are wearing, youd quickly discover that the uniforms were designed by Michelangelo, who Julius II also commissioned to paint the Sistine Chapel. And that would be a myth, which everyone from The New York Times in the 19th century to Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown has perpetuated. Rather, as the Vatican has detailed, when the mercenaries first rolled into the city, they were dressed like any other soldier of the 1500s, donning doublets and stockings. Its believed that Julius II gifted them with the beginnings of their signature stylistic flair when he incorporated yellow and bluecolors from his family coat of armsinto their uniforms. According to the Vatican, clothing had become finer and more colorful during the Renaissance, and red was in vogue. So Julius IIs successor, Leo X, took the opportunity to incorporate it into the uniforms as a nod to the colors of his family, the powerful Medici, during his reign from 1513 to 1521. Tweaks and revisions were made over time, with history intervening at various points. For example, as the Vatican details, there was no money to make updates to the uniforms during Napoleons rule, but some years later, under Leo XII, various attempts were made to copy Napoleonic uniforms, but fortunately without success; otherwise the splendid old uniforms would have been lost forever. [Photo: Stefano Costantino/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images] The current incarnation of the uniforms came in the early 20th century when a man named Jules Repond refined their form as we know it today (and who the Vatican notes was gifted with an exceptionally fine taste for colors and shapes”). Pope Pius X appointed him as commander of the Swiss Guard in 1910and he immediately managed to rankle the ranks. The Swiss Guard had become largely ceremonial, so he brought back rigorous military exercises and rifle practice. He mandated that only true Swiss natives could enroll. And he studied Raphaels frescoes and refined the uniform, drawing inspiration from its Renaissance-era appearance. Over the years the uniforms had been variations on a theme, and by 1914, Repond brought them to their final form. Today, 11 years on, theyre nearly the exact same design. [Photo: Riccardo De Luca/Anadolu/Getty Images] TAILOR-MADE There are a medley of variations to the uniform for different occasions, and even a subdued blue exercise uniform that is worn by the Guard during night operations and when working, say, the gate at the St. Annes entrance. (The Guard politely declined to comment for this story, given, you know, the whole conclave at handbut as they detail on their website: The main roads are also located there, and the colorful Gala uniform would cause too much distraction for the motorists.) No matter which uniform a member of the Guard sports, theres a good chance it was made by Ety Cicioni, the Vaticans chief tailor since 1997. As the CBC reported, the biggest challenge is keeping the uniform the same as Reponds vision despite the passage of time, and its impact on materials and techniques. Still, he and a team of seven manage to churn out 120 a year using prized wool from the Italian city of Biella. Per the CBC, every outfit is made from 154 pieces of fabricand Cicioni has also designed costumes for Vatican-adjacent films, such as 2019’s The Two Popes and 2023’s The Popes Exorcist. [Photo: Vasily Krestyaninov/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images] The one thing that has changed in the overall design of the uniformthe Swiss Guard got a helmet glow-up in 2019 when their scorching metal morions were replaced with breathable 3D-printed PVC counterparts. Ultimately, being a guard isnt all halberds and Renaissance history. In their off-time, they play on the FC Guardia soccer team, and compete against museum attendants and other groups in the Vatican Championship. They can join the Vatican band. They get to dine on Swiss and Italian cuisine cooked by Albertine nuns from Poland. What they cant do is play fast and loose with those wild uniforms. Theyre allowed to keep them for five years after they leave the Guard, or they can be buried in them. But they are explicitly banned from selling them. Still, if youve got $47,500, you could always try eBay.
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Bible designs tend to be variations on a themetissue-thin paper and unforgiving font sizes, owing to the 783,000 words crammed into a single normal-sized book (the average novel, by comparison, clocks in at 70,000100,000 words). Cheap faux-leather covers. A bookmark ribbon, maybe. If youre a person of faith, its perhaps not the most fitting frame for what is defined as the literal word of God. If youre a design zealot, its heretical object quality. If youre both, wellprayers. The Bible is a book utterly ripe for a redesign. So Dylan Da Silva did just that with his Byble project, which released a bespoke hypermodern 11.5-pound edition of Genesis (the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament) last fall, and this week is launching its next volume, Matthew (the first book of the Christian New Testament). Our mission, I guess, is simplecraftsmanship beyond words, Da Silva says. Crafting products so beautiful, they elevate the experience of reading the most powerful book ever written. The Genesis Da Silva is not a designer, nor does he work in publishing. Rather, he comes from a property development background. Around 2022, the Sydney-based Da Silva was pondering how he could build a business around something of great meaning to him. He realized that while many people own a Bible, they generally dont display it. And given that we live in a consumer society driven by aesthetics, he saw an opportunity to craft something new in that blank space. While he lacks visual design creds, he has experience with architectural design, and the Bible is very much a structural design challenge owing to its system of numbered verses and chapters. Da Silva wanted to keep the focus exclusively on the text (here, the King James Versionthe word is beautiful enough as it is), so he decided not to feature any illustration or photography, and instead offer a solution that was purely typographic, which he developed with a partner in Greece over the course of two years. Another key goal was to design a system that would allow for a deeper reading of the Bible. To that end, he is breaking the Bibles many books out of the larger whole and into single volumes, starting, naturally, with Genesis, which dominates the spine and cover of the first release in a debossed Grotesk. Da Silva drew inspiration from the Gutenberg Bible, with its distinct columns and margins and occasional typographic flair, and also sought to home in on particular moments for readers in pull quotes, translucent overlays, and bold all-caps spreads (the brand dubs these yield moments, thus the Y in Byble). It has the effect of slowing the books down and allowing text to breathe in an otherwise daunting 783,000-word experience. We obsess over every detail, every page, every layout, he says. Ultimately, we are accessible to the reader. OPENING A DOOR In addition to the new text presentation, Da Silva went wild on the production specs for the 13×10-inch volumes. Rather than fragile gossamer pages, he brought in a hefty 220 gsm stock. Hardcovers with silkscreened fabric. Typographic edge painting. Each book is available in two colorwaysin the case of Genesis, black or green, the latter being a tip of the hat to the Garden of Eden. And for Matthew, white and red, the latter signifying the blood of Christ. All this production value comes at a cost: Currently the Byble costs $149, which has rankled some commenters on social media. Our cost to produce is quite expensive, Da Silva says. The margin is not massive; it’s a standard margin for a business. I think we’re reasonably priced. I knew there was always going to be a pushback. Following Matthew, Da Silva is focusing on eight of the other most popular books of the BiblePsalms, Proverbs, Exodus, Romans, Mark, Paul, John and Revelation. He wants to have five or six out by the end of the year, and then keep launching more from there, with special editions mixed in. His target audience? The devout, of course, but also design lovers and those who the Byble aesthetic could resonate with in new ways. The goal for us is really reaching that younger generation who might be curious to learn more, who might think that the Bible is boring, or religion is boring, Da Silva says. We’re trying to open up a door for them.
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