Our Mission
Government leaders deserve better tools.
Today's leaders are navigating simultaneous pressures that rarely traveled together: aging infrastructure alongside emerging AI, shrinking workforces alongside growing constituent expectations, legacy systems that resist change alongside the mandate to change fast.
Most available tools were built to manage process. None of them were built to help leaders think. CivStart was built to fill that gap.
How we do it
From messy challenges to decision-ready intelligence.
We believe the best government decisions emerge from three things: clarity on the real problem, alignment with peers who have faced it, and access to partners who have actually solved it.
Everything CivStart builds is designed to deliver all three — without a long RFP, a consultant engagement, or months of research.
Clarity is powered by our 4-A Framework, a structured methodology developed from decades of state and local government experience. It does what a general AI tool cannot: it grounds your challenge in the way government actually operates.
What we offer
Purpose-built for the public sector.
CivStart operates two distinct platforms, each designed for a different user — but connected by a shared mission.
For government leaders.
Clarity by CivStart
A research and decision-support tool built specifically for state and local government professionals. When you are facing a challenge — technology procurement, a workforce gap, a budget constraint, a policy decision — Clarity helps you move from confusion to confident action.
- Articulates what is actually driving the problem, not just the surface symptoms.
- Surfaces peer patterns — how comparable governments have approached the same challenge.
- Maps the partner and vendor landscape so you know who is already solving it.
- Organizes your intelligence into a format your team can use immediately for planning, budgeting, or procurement.
No lengthy research cycles. No vendor noise. Just clear, structured intelligence — in minutes. Always free for government.
For technology vendors.
GovFit
GovFit helps technology companies understand where government demand is building — and get in front of the right decision-makers at the right moment.
Founding team
Built by people who have been in your seat.
Our founders have deep roots in state and local government — not as observers, but as practitioners.
Anthony Jamison
Co-Founder & CEO
10+ years in state & local gov tech. Former Director of Business Development, NACo.
Anthony led NACo's Smarter Counties Summits and CIO Forums, convening the technology leaders shaping government's digital future. A serial entrepreneur, he founded CivStart to close the gap between the tools government leaders need and the tools they actually have.
Nick Lyell
Co-Founder & COO
Research, comms & civic tech. Former NACo Research & Communications lead.
Nick built out the Research Department and digital communications at NACo, and led strategy at ReThink Media. At CivStart Ventures, he oversees legal, compliance, partnerships, and platform operations.
Chris Canin
Co-Founder & CTO
Software engineer & product builder. JavaScript, React Native, B2B platform architecture.
Chris has built and shipped products across mobile, web, and enterprise — including work featured by TechCrunch and deployed at scale for consumer and B2B clients. At CivStart, he leads the technical architecture of Clarity and GovFit.
Tim Rahschulte, PhD
Co-Founder & CSO
Public sector leadership & transformation. Co-founder, Professional Development Academy.
Tim leads the only accredited Agile leadership program for government (in partnership with NACo), established Oregon's Project Management Community of Practice, and is co-author of My Best Advice: Proven Rules for Effective Leadership.
Advisors
Guided by leaders who know government.
Tom Spengler
Board Member
Co-founder, Granicus. Three-time GovTech 100 CEO. CEO, SOVRA.
Tom co-founded Granicus, the citizen engagement platform used by 6,000+ government agencies serving 500M citizens. He has scaled multiple civic tech companies and served as a board member across the most consequential GovTech companies of the past two decades.
Anthony Fischer
Advisor, State of Colorado
Head of Data Governance & AI, Colorado DOR. Harvard Kennedy School.
Anthony brings a practitioner's perspective on AI, data governance, and how state government makes decisions — grounding CivStart's platform design in operational reality from the Governor's Office of Information Technology and the Department of Revenue.
Joseph Cazier, PhD
Advisor, Arizona State University
Clinical Professor & Assoc. Director, Center for AI & Data Analytics, ASU. CAP-X certified. Author, Leading in Analytics.
Joseph has 100+ scholarly publications, has spoken at the UN and European Parliament, and founded the analytics program at Appalachian State. He advises CivStart on the research and analytical foundations underpinning the 4-A Framework.
Platform partners
Shaped by governments, for governments.
Our Platform Partners are active government practitioners who help shape CivStart's tools and direction. Not beta testers — co-builders.
Thomas Leung
Finance Director, Town of Los Altos Hills, CA
Municipal finance & budget management. Former Finance Director, City of Cupertino.
Thomas brings frontline municipal finance expertise. In Cupertino he navigated a complex state tax reallocation that created a substantial budget shortfall — the kind of high-stakes, fast-moving problem Clarity is built to support.
David Hall, CPCU, ALCM
Disaster Recovery Architect, City of Tulsa
Business continuity, risk & gov data governance. DRI Award of Excellence recipient.
David leads Tulsa's disaster resilience and business continuity planning. He has written on strategic data governance for GovCIO Outlook and brings a national perspective on public-sector operations to CivStart's product development.
Louis Svehla
Dir. of Communications, City of Peachtree Corners, GA
Civic communications & smart city engagement. First 5G smart city in the US.
Louis leads communications for Peachtree Corners — a national model for civic tech adoption. His experience spans emergency communications, website governance, and smart city infrastructure.
Contact
Let's talk.
We work with government leaders every day. If you're navigating a complex challenge and want to see what Clarity can do, reach out. It's always free for government.
General: hello@civstart.ventures
Compliance: compliance@civstart.com