Politicians have historically left Washington to land cushy jobs on Wall Street. But as the alpha males of banking have decamped to California in pursuit of startup riches, Washington's revolving door increasingly opens to Silicon Valley, not Wall Street. Now techies are charming the latest D.C. free-agent: former Obama flack Jay Carney.

In another sign of confidence in the tech industry's money-minting promise, former public servants looking to "cash in" on their experience are turning to startups where they once might have knocked on Wall Street's revolving door.