Philadelphia served as the catalyst city for dreaming about a new form of government during the American Revolution. The status quo was monarchs. People were being taxed to fund foreign wars, not public services. Philadelphians believed, and built, a better government for the people. 250 years later, FSH Technologies and the City of Philadelphia is once again innovating on how people can be served by their government.
The core discontent then and now is undue tax burden. People want to see their tax dollars go to work, at home. There are two main problems:
- Traditional procurement processes favors incumbents, not innovation. Incumbents who know how to navigate the system win long term contracts. These software vendors are better at politics than they are at building software.
- These long term contracts are not designed for software. Technology should be built in partnership with people, so that it is always solving real world problems. Traditional government contracts that are used for purchasing commodities like furniture are the same contracts used for purchasing software. That is why government service websites look like they’re from the early 2000’s, and often miss the mark on what people need today.
With the cards stacked to protect the house, Lilly Chen has a plan to change the system.
Lilly and her cofounder, Johnson Lin, headquartered FSH Technologies in Chinatown. Their office sits above a hair salon. When a guest opens the door, the first thing they see is a lucky cat figurine, like the ones in their neighborhood restaurants. A mural of fishes and water dance along the desks of computer monitors. Blue skies, green plants are thematically included in every corner of the office. A bean bag with the texture of a fluffy cloud sits in a glass living room they call the “FSH Bowl”. On their shelves sit framed letters from their customers – towns and cities all across the country who have become FSH advocates.
“Belief and trust.” answers Lilly, when asked what product FSH builds. The company sells government software ranging from citizen portals that make it easier for people to apply for services, to internal workflow compliance tools that make it possible for civil servants to do their jobs in days, not months. When given the literal description, Lilly counters, “The point is not the technology. The point is people need to believe their government can meet their needs, and trust that it will happen.”
For Lilly and the team, software is the interface that builds that belief and trust. When people are suddenly able to get an emergency grant in less than 2 weeks, they start to think about what else the government can do for them. This positive feedback loop creates strong civic engagement. People start to attend community hearings, vote in their local elections, and do more research.
The City of Philadelphia has seen the magic happen. Liam Kelly Fleming and Shanshan Ma were tasked with providing free accounting services to small businesses and contractors on short notice. Rolling out a new government program, much less building a digital delivery system, normally takes 12-18 months. With tax season around the corner, the team had less than 30 days.
FSH Technologies was able to deliver a fully digital process, complete with the bells and whistles of mobile native experiences and 13 supported languages. Their software solved auditing headaches that would slow down processes of approval and payment. As the tax team learned more about the real world problems, FSH continued to iterate and solve.
A traditional government contracting vendor would require change orders, contract amendments, and additional payment for these services. All of these transactions would slow the process down. At FSH, they align with the City on what the goals of the program are, and price at a single flat fee to meet that goal. This pricing model reflects the team’s commitment to long term partnerships.
The reason FSH can deliver on this speed and quality, without the high consulting-style fees is due to their proprietary platform architecture. Unlike companies using AI for code generation, which trades off speed for quality, FSH leverages AI through a unique declarative and deterministic model. The company consumes 1/1000th of a token compared to other AI-native companies, dramatically reducing the energy consumption necessary to power their models. The result is “green” AI, reminiscent of the green fish swimming on the FSH Technologies logo.
Impact by the numbers:
- 85% of citizens engaging with FSH’s public portals are first time users
- 73.4% of citizens live in Low-Middle Income areas
- 29.9% of citizens have complex requirements and needs
- 100% of citizens would re-apply to this program again
Lilly and FSH are driven by a mission to create “the biggest wave of civic impact.” While public sentiment toward both government and AI is trending negative, the FSH team overflows with a sense of purpose. This mission has attracted engineers from major tech hubs like Seattle, San Francisco, and New York, all of whom have relocated to Philadelphia.
The work of public service and government reform is intense. Yet, the vibes at FSH remain fun and cozy. Lilly attributes their ability to navigate the challenges of bureaucracy to an “irrational amount of optimism.” If anyone can change the system from within, it would be these relentless optimists.
