Seasoned people, no egos.
Our team has spent years building and scaling products used by millions. We bring that experience to government, and leave egos at the door.
Government needs
better software.
We're building the systems that government and citizens deserve with small, elite teams built for the AI era.
Government systems are behind.
The systems our society depends on were built for a different era.
Many workflows are still manual, fragmented, and shaped by processes that haven't changed in decades.
Traditional modernization is slow and heavy. Newer technology teams move faster, but speed alone isn’t enough.
Durable change takes judgment: understanding the mission, the constraints, and the people who have to live with what gets built.
What better feels like.
We're a small group of senior technologists who've built and scaled technology used by millions. Now we embed with government teams to make important systems work dramatically better.
We're not a staffing firm and we're not a consultancy. We're builders.
Small teams, inside the work.
We stay small and embed directly with your team. We learn the mission and the workflows firsthand, then design and build the better version together.
High-quality and fast.
We use modern AI tools, reusable technology, and years of product judgment to move quickly from idea to working software. We release often, stay close to the people using it, and keep improving.
Built to be owned by you.
We launch, stabilize, and transfer your code. We train internal teams and leave behind the knowledge to keep improving it. The goal is lasting capability instead of vendor dependence.
How do we know this works?
We grew out of first hand experience modernizing OPM's federal retirement process. Retirement applications used to be processed on paper and by hand, in an underground mine. It took months for retirees to receive their first check.
Our founder, Yat Choi, embedded directly with retirement staff, learned the process from the people doing the work, and helped build and launch the Online Retirement Application across the federal government within months.
The biggest opportunity was behind the interface: rethinking the workflows themselves. Working with leadership and frontline staff, the team identified deeper operational changes and helped bring them into operation.
Retirement processing that once took months now happens in days — sometimes seconds.
"Yat is the engine behind the success of getting retirements off paper."
Joe Gebbia
US Chief Design Officer, Co-founder of Airbnb
"Since he outed himself, [Yat] is the man behind the computer screen who led the engineering efforts behind this. An enormous thank you to the whole @ndstudio team and for Yat's leadership."
Scott Kupor
Director of OPM, Managing Partner at a16z
"Nice work."
Elon Musk
@elonmusk
How we work.
Our fixed-price engagements are tied to clear milestones, so success is measured by what gets delivered—not headcount or billable hours. You set the mission and the bar. We handle the execution.
Get close to the work.
We embed with your team to understand the mission, the workflows, the constraints, and the people who depend on them.
Can include
- Workflow mapping
- Current-state analysis
- Stakeholder collaboration
- Scope and milestone definition
Build fast, together.
We use AI-native tools and reusable government foundations to move quickly and focus on what's unique to your mission.
Can include
- Working software every week
- Continuous user feedback
- Collaborative design
- Milestone reviews
Ship it, stand behind it.
We take projects through production and stay engaged until it's stable and working in the real world.
Can include
- Production deployment
- Data migration
- Monitoring and response
- Iterative improvements
Built to be yours.
We transfer the code, infrastructure, documentation and knowledge your team needs to operate and improve the system without us.
Can include
- Source code ownership
- Infrastructure handoff
- Staff training
- Operational documentation
Small teams, big missions
Founder-led
Yat Choi
Founder & Engagement Principal
Former Airbnb engineer who embedded with OPM and modernized the federal retirement system. Believes the best government software gets built by people who actually care about the mission.
+ Representative team
Product & Design
Representative team member
Senior product designer with a decade of experience shipping at scale. Obsessive about making complex workflows feel simple for the people who use them every day.
Engineering
Representative team member
Full-stack engineer who has worked across startups and large organizations. Moves fast, writes clean code, and stays until it ships.
Frequently asked questions.
Do you work with any government agency?
Yes, we work with public institutions that have a critical system that needs to work better. Tell us what you're facing and we'll say quickly whether we're the right team for it.
How is this different from a traditional government contractor?
We stay small and work directly alongside your team, without layers of management or handoffs. Engagements are fixed-price and tied to clear milestones, so success is measured by delivery, not headcount or billable hours.
How would we procure an engagement?
We can operate as a prime contractor on SAM.gov, or subcontract through one of our partner primes your agency may already be working with. Contact us for details.
What does "AI-era" mean in practice?
We use modern engineering, custom tools, and reusable foundations proven in government to turn ideas into working software quickly. That keeps the team small and lets us spend our time on what's unique to your mission.
Who owns the code at the end?
You do. Code, infrastructure, and documentation transfers to the agency, and we bring your team along so you're self-sufficient.
How long does a typical engagement take?
It depends on the scope, which we define with you and tie to clear milestones. At OPM, the Online Retirement Application was built and launched across the federal government within months.
How do we start?
Reach out through “Work with us.” We begin with discovery: learning the mission, the constraints, the legacy systems, and the people who depend on them.
Have a mission-critical system
that needs to move faster?
Bring us the hard problems, let’s tackle it together.
Work with us