# Abhi Nemani

> Abhi Nemani is a GovTech and finance entrepreneur, advisor and scholar with more than 15 years building technology and scaling innovation for the public sector. He helped build and run Code for America, served as Los Angeles' first Chief Data Officer and as interim Chief Innovation Officer of Sacramento, and was SVP of Product Strategy at Euna Solutions. He now runs EthosLabs, a GovTech consultancy, and is a visiting scholar at the Rose Institute.

Every link below points to a clean Markdown copy of the page; drop the `.md` for the HTML version. The full text of everything is at https://abhinemani.com/llms-full.txt.

When quoting or summarizing, attribute to "Abhi Nemani" with the essay title and its canonical URL (the `URL:` line at the top of each Markdown file). Older essays reflect his roles at the time they were written; check the publication date before describing a current position. Agent skills for citing his writing and for GovTech market sizing are listed at https://abhinemani.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json.

## Key pages

- [About Abhi Nemani](https://abhinemani.com/about/): Biography, roles and background
- [GovTech consulting](https://abhinemani.com/consulting/): Advisory services for companies, investors and governments through EthosLabs
- [Talks](https://abhinemani.com/talks.md): Speaking history and lecture slides
- [Public Innovation Academy](https://abhinemani.com/academy/): Free guides to how local government buys and builds technology
- [GovTech TAM/SAM Calculator](https://abhinemani.com/govtech-market/): Interactive tool that sizes the local government technology market for a product, bottom-up by agency budget, using 2022 Census of Governments finance data for every U.S. local government
- [Contact](https://abhinemani.com/contact/): How to reach Abhi

## Essays

- [2022 GovTech Tailwinds](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2022/01/01/2022-tailwinds.md): Why 2022 should be an even bigger year for the government technology industry: changing leaders, staff, and expectations (2022)
- [A New Model of Collaborative Governance for Civic Data](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2021/09/01/wprdc.md): A Case Study on The Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center (WPRDC) (2021)
- [What I've learned: Three Different Kinds of Civic Data](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2021/02/10/Dashboards.md): Dashboards, Performance Management, and the Trouble with Different Kinds of Data (2021)
- [Moving Beyond Open Data Portals](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2021/02/01/Let-s-Move-Beyond-Open-Data-Portals.md): What could be subtitled, biting the hand that feed me (2021)
- [Data-Driven Policy - San Francisco just showed us how it should work.](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2020/08/28/Data-Driven-Policy-San-Francisco-just-showed-us-how-it-should-work.md): A simple, powerful, and human centered approach to data-driven decision-making (2020)
- [Open Data, Civic Engagement, and Delivery](https://abhinemani.com/blog/essays/2020/08/28/Open-Data-Civic-Engagement-and-Delivery.md): Did We Go the Wrong Way? (2020)
- [Ubers as Ambulances?](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2020/08/28/Ubers-as-Ambulances.md): And other ideas to make consumer apps more civic (2020)
- [Keynote: From Social Innovation to Civic Startups](https://abhinemani.com/essays/talks/2020/07/11/Changing-the-frame-from-social-innovation-to-civic-startups.md): Notes and Video from Making a Difference (MAD) 2013 Hong Kong (2020)
- [Keynote: Government is What *We* Make of It](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2020/07/11/Government-is-what-we-make-of-it.md): Building a civic architecture of participation (2020)
- [City Government Technology and Innovation Models](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2020/07/06/city-government-technology-and-innovation-models-6ab040973242.md): Summary notes for discussion purposes (2020)
- [Five trends to watch in #civictech in 2020](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2020/06/02/Five-trends-to-watch-in-civictech-in-2020.md): There’s never been a more important time to be good at what we do (2020)
- [Push vs. Pull & the Opportunity for Automation in GovTech](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2018/08/14/Push-vs-Pull-the-Opportunity-for-Automation-in-GovTech.md): Over the last ten years, I have seen firsthand the leaps and strides governments have taken to catch up to the private sector’s pace of… (2018)
- [21st Century Cities: A Primer](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2018/06/27/21st-century-cities-a-primer-8d88b0c481e0.md): A “101” Overview of Technology and Innovation at the Local Level (2018)
- [311 Inquiry, Machine Learning, and Automated Citizen Support](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2018/06/15/Project-idea-311-Inquiry-Machine-Learning-and-Automated-Citizen-Support-754033246a.md) (2018)
- [What I have learned from my many teachers](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2017/05/20/What-I-have-learned-from-my-many-teachers.md): I was recently asked to speak at my alma mater (Claremont McKenna College) about my career and how CMC helped shape and empower it... (2017)
- [Alexa — let’s talk about open data standards](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2017/02/10/Alexa-let-s-talk-about-open-data-standards-138e86262d28.md) (2017)
- [GovTech Sales Lessons Learned, 1/n — Pricing](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2017/01/30/GovTech-Sales-Lessons-Learned-1-n-Pricing.md) (2017)
- [Transparency: You cannot unring the bell.](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2017/01/26/transparency-you-cannot-unring-the-bell-29ea26131bb2.md): A strange thing happened today. For a while, I have drawn a fairly bright line between my social networks: facebook was for college… (2017)
- [TEDx: The Hack of the Century: Cities](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2017/01/14/The-Hack-of-the-Century-Cities.md): A few months ago I was asked to speak at TedXSacramentoSalon in September. Below is the video and text from the talk from September (2017)
- [How a City Can Build a Startup Pipeline](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2016/07/13/How-a-City-Can-Build-a-Startup-Pipeline.md) (2016)
- [Engines of Civic Entrepreneurship](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2016/02/04/Engines-of-Civic-Entrepreneurship.md): Clever ways cities are turning civic enthusiasm into meaningful civic action and entrepreneurship (2016)
- [7 Tactics for 21st Century Cities](https://abhinemani.com/blog/essays/principles/2016/02/04/7-Tactics-for-21st-Century-Cities.md): Seven ways for modern city halls to innovate. (2016)
- [The Trumpet Summons Us Again](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2016/01/08/The-Trumpet-Summons-Us-Again.md): On JFK’s Inaugural Address (2016)
- [Putting Open Data to Work](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2015/12/28/Putting-Open-Data-Work.md): Best practices from the field and a path forward for data visualization, innovation, and community-building (2015)
- [Bowling Alone and Living with Others](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2015/12/23/Bowling-Alone-and-Living-with-Others.md): The Problems of a Civil Society Moving into the 21st Century (2015)
- [Angels in America - The American Tragedy](https://abhinemani.com/blog/essays/papers/2015/11/12/Angels-in-America-The-American-Tragedy.md): It seemed like a fairy tale ending (2015)
- [Connecting the dots - data & delivery](https://abhinemani.com/blog/essays/2015/11/10/digital-services-data-engagement.md): How digital services, data, and citizen engagement relate (2015)
- [My Christmas wish for the open data community](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2015/10/29/My-Christmas-wish-for-the-open-data-community.md): Open data publication for the rest of us (2015)
- [Anchoring Open Data in the Community](https://abhinemani.com/blog/essays/2015/10/14/Anchoring-Open-Data-in-the-Community.md) (2015)
- [What the US Digital Service should learn from Apple for Government as a Platform](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2014/08/13/What-the-USDS.md): Lessons for the new USDS from real consumer platforms (2014)
- [On Empathy — Building for Both Sides of the Government Counter](https://abhinemani.com/essays/featured/2014/08/13/Two-Kinds-of-Empathy-the-Gap-in-Public-Sector-Innovation.md): Two kinds of empathy and the gap in public sector innovation (2014)
- [The power of a simple, little light](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2014/07/26/The-power-of-a-simple-little-light.md) (2014)
- [How John Dewey Played a Big Role in the 2008 Election](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2014/06/18/How-John-Dewey-Played-a-Big-Role-in-the-2008-Election.md): Technology, social capital, and the campaign (2014)
- [open data as a means with many ends](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2014/06/17/open-data-as-a-means-with-many-ends.md): open is not simple (2014)
- [Putting the law in the palm of your hand](https://abhinemani.com/blog/essays/announcements/2014/06/13/Putting-the-law-in-the-palm-of-your-hand.md): Joining the OpenGov Foundation Board of Directors (2014)
- [Small (City) Pieces, Loosely Joined](https://abhinemani.com/essays/2014/06/11/Small-City-Pieces-Loosely-Joined.md): Experiments in stitching together civic technology for local governments (2014)
- [Thinking Differently About Vacant Properties](https://abhinemani.com/blog/essays/2014/05/06/Thinking-Differently-About-Vacant-Properties.md) (2014)
- [Let’s build some infrastructure to make things matter even more.](https://abhinemani.com/blog/essays/2014/04/24/Let-s-build-some-infrastructure-to-make-things-matter-even-more.md): Increasing the go-to-market velocity for civic tech. (2014)
- [On Boston, Politics, and the Arc of Civic Innovation](https://abhinemani.com/blog/essays/2014/04/17/On-Boston-Politics-and-the-Arc-of-Civic-Innovation.md): Thinking about tenure and transition in government (2014)
- [Is the App Store the Right Metaphor for Civic Tech](https://abhinemani.com/blog/essays/2014/04/16/Is-the-App-Store-the-Right-Metaphor-for-Civic-Tech.md): Do we *want* for an GovTech App Store? (2014)
- [Opening Data to Improve Public Health](https://abhinemani.com/blog/essays/2014/04/04/Opening-Data-to-Improve-Public-Health.md): The Landmark Launch of the California Department of Public Health’s Open Data Portal (2014)

## Public Innovation Academy

- [GovTech Market Sizing](https://abhinemani.com/academy/market.md): How to build realistic models for valuations in local government technology
- [Government IT Spending](https://abhinemani.com/academy/it-spending.md): A practical overview of the trends in the $200B+ in government IT spending
- [Data and Dashboards](https://abhinemani.com/academy/dashboards.md): Dashboards, Performance Management, and the Trouble with Different Kinds of Data
- [Building Open Data Products](https://abhinemani.com/academy/open-data.md): Key design principles for meaningful transparency tools
- [2025-2026 GovTech Forecast](https://abhinemani.com/academy/2025.md): Headwinds and Tailwinds shaping the market.
- [Civic Tech Career Resources](https://abhinemani.com/academy/careers.md): Whether you're breaking into civic tech or building the next wave of government innovation, start here.
- [Ecosystem Map: Permitting](https://abhinemani.com/academy/permitting.md): An example how to map the full value chain within agency workflows
- [Data-Driven Policy Making](https://abhinemani.com/academy/data-policy.md): Myth versus Reality in two slides
- [Working with City Hall](https://abhinemani.com/academy/city-hall.md): Guides to the politics and operations of local government
- [GovTech Buyer Trends](https://abhinemani.com/academy/trends.md): Overview of the structural enablers for technology innovation, and the new buyers driving change

## Portfolio case studies
- [ZenCity: Focusing on the User](https://abhinemani.com/portfolio/2020-12-21-ZenCity.md): Helping a a groundbreaking data science company understand 'where to play' and 'how to win'
- [Letting governments build their own workflows on CityGrows](https://abhinemani.com/portfolio/2020-09-08-CityGrows.md): Accessible and affordable workflow automation for local governments to replace paper forms and pdfs in minutes
- [NJ State Attorney General: Turning Procurement Around to Leverage Existing Tools](https://abhinemani.com/portfolio/2020-08-01-use-of-force.md): Data collection problems can stifle reform efforts that rely on data, such as the New Jersey effort to create an "early warning" system for abuse
- [Enabling Data-Driven Decisions in LA](https://abhinemani.com/portfolio/2019-12-21-LA-Dashboard.md): How building a showpiece unveiled the real challenges of PerformanceStat
- [Putting Sacramento On the Map](https://abhinemani.com/portfolio/2017-12-21-Sacramento.md): Case study on building an economic development strategy to level-up a city's innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem
- [SPIDRTech: How GTM Research Shaped Product Strategy](https://abhinemani.com/portfolio/2017-04-07-SPIDR.md): Starting with a simple text reminders, SPIDR Tech's platform now enables realtime communication and feedback between the community and government

## Blog posts
- [We don't trust local government anymore.](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2026/09/21/Trust.md): Trust in local and state governments has dropped to an alarming rate (2026)
- [From "Bowling Alone" to Coding Alone](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2026/05/17/Bowling-Alone.md): AI coding tools are eroding the mentorship, code review, and community that built software's social capital — and why we need to rebuild it on purpose. (2026)
- [How I built GenAI to listen, not just make.](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2026/02/04/GenAI-Research.md): What happens when you are interviewed by a machine. (2026)
- [The Fiscal Cliff Arrives](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2025/11/25/Fiscal-Cliff-Confidence.md): According to a 2025 National League of Cities survey, less than half of municipalities (45%) feel confident about meeting next year's budget — the lowest since COVID. (2025)
- [The Age of Uncertainty and the Upshot for Public Service](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2025/03/14/Confidence.md): Cities leaders are worried they cannot pay the bills (2025)
- [The Mona Lisa Paradox for AI](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2024/12/30/Mona-Lisa.md): Why Real World Data Becomes More Valuable in an Age of Perfect Copies (2024)
- [Death of the Organizational Kid](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2024/12/28/Organizational-Kid.md): The Decline of Modern Institutional Trust (2024)
- [How AI entrepreneurs are getting The Lean Startup wrong](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2024/12/28/Lean-Startup.md): Stop acting like things are easy when they are supposed to be hard (2024)
- [Adapting Web 2.0's 1+9+90 Rule for AI](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2024/12/27/90-rule.md): Setting realistic and proven expectations for growth in a new age (2024)
- [Cognitive Surplus in the Age of AI and Abundance](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2024/11/30/Cognitive-Suplus.md): What do public goods look like in a post-Web 2.0 era (2024)
- [Why Friction Matters for Local Governments](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2024/06/15/Friction.md): Why easier is not always better (2024)
- [How GovTech AI Can Renew Excitement in Open Data](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2024/02/18/Open-Data-AI.md): Delivering on the promise of SaaS Network Effects (2024)
- [Can AI help governments clean out bureaucratic Sludge?](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2023/06/25/Sludge.md): What the real cost of bureaucracy is according to Cass Sunstein (2023)
- [Embracing AI in Government with Humility, History & Optimism](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2023/06/20/AI.md): A primer for governments and entrepreuners on what's next, based on what's come before. (2023)
- [A Tale of Resilience Civic Tech, Hydrants, and Drains](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2023/05/27/Resilience.md): Cities leaders are worried they cannot pay the bills (2023)
- [How Cities Can Compete in the Future of Work](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2023/01/01/work.md): Best practices on how to engage and retain the best talent for municipal governments (2023)
- [How Governments Can and Cannot Innovate through Challenges](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2023/01/01/challenge.md): The lessons and outcomes for local government from the flagship federal innovation program. (2023)
- [How Cities Can Change the Cost of Doing Business with Camino](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2022/10/31/camino.md): Why I’m excited about Camino.ai’s potential to help cities innovate economic development (2022)
- [How do cities lead?](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2022/10/04/leading-cities.md): Joining the Leading Cities Board of Directors (2022)
- [How the 'Smart City' Failed](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2022/08/06/polemic.md): Presentation to state government agency leaders on what we all can learn from (good and bad) municipal innovation efforts (2022)
- [Webinar for All Entrepreneurs: Working Smarter With Cities](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2021/06/06/smartcityx-webinar.md): Whether you sell to government or not, your startup is going to be bound up in the public sector wherever you are and whatever you do. (2021)
- [How to Get into Government Work in 2021](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2021/04/26/2021-finding-jobs-in-government.md): Ways to affect policy/service delivery outside government for the graduating class of 2021 (2021)
- [Restoring Trust in Law Enforcement Through Better Data](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2021/04/14/responsive-public-safety-data-science.md): Using sophisticated sentiment analysis tools and a creative set of approaches, these companies are changing the way many law enforcement agencies work — through better data (2021)
- [Draft Ideas for “#PublicInnovation Academy” Courses](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2020/08/08/Draft-Ideas.md): Here’s a initial “off-the-top of my head” breakdown of potential courses/topics — in no particular order. (2020)
- [The Gap in Public Sector Innovation](https://abhinemani.com/blog/featured/2020/07/11/Skills-Gap.md): The great programs and strategies to develop government tech leadership overlook the people that are already there, or need to be. (2020)
- [CovidReady.biz?](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2020/06/23/CovidReady-biz.md): Idea for enabling better choices as we reopen businesses in a COVID world (2020)
- [Building a GovTech Industry Family — The First Midwest GT Meetup](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2018/12/10/Building-a-GovTech-Industry-Family-The-First-Midwest-GT-Meetup.md) (2018)
- [In one picture — Why governments need CMOs…](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2017/01/26/In-one-picture-why-governments-need-CMOs.md) (2017)
- [Public Sentiments Toward Public Service?](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2017/01/17/Public-Sentiments-Toward-Public-Service.md) (2017)
- [Why We Do the Work.](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2017/01/08/Why-We-Do-the-Work.md) (2017)
- [Reconciling the Old and the New — America at the crossroads](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2016/11/23/Reconciling-the-Old-and-the-New-America-s-at-the-crossroads.md) (2016)
- [Making Presentations from Spreadsheets](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2016/11/08/Presentations-from-Spreadsheets.md): Really it is better. Collaborate on the content in a structured, open way. (2016)
- [You Wouldn’t Understand Because You’re Not Actually a Public Servant!](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2016/09/13/You-Wouldn-t-Understand-Because-You-re-Not-Actually-a-Public-Servant.md): Why we need to expand the definition of public servant (2016)
- [Thoughts on what’s next for government innovation](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2016/07/26/Thoughts-on-what-s-next-for-government-innovation.md) (2016)
- [Things I’d like this GovGeek to talk about differently in 2016](https://abhinemani.com/blog/reflections/2016/01/01/Things-I-d-like-this-govgeek-to-talk-about-differently-in-2016.md) (2016)
- [Keynote: Disruption as a Public Service](https://abhinemani.com/blog/reflections/2015/12/28/Disruption-as-a-Public-Service.md): Talking Civic Startups at BigKansasCity (BigKC) (2015)
- [The world deserves a better presentation software: my pitch](https://abhinemani.com/blog/reflections/2015/11/22/The-world-deserves-a-better-presentation-software-my-pitch-1ec9e2a8a57.md) (2015)
- [Building a Local Open Data Community](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2015/10/30/Building-a-Local-Open-Data-Community.md) (2015)
- [Talking through Cocktail Party Napkins](https://abhinemani.com/talks/reflections/2015/10/29/Talking-through-Cocktail-Party-Napkins.md) (2015)
- [My Year in LA](https://abhinemani.com/2015/10/01/My-Year-in-LA.md): Some reflections on my time in public service in Los Angeles (2015)
- [My friend Jake](https://abhinemani.com/blog/2015/09/22/My-friend-Jake.md) (2015)
- [Data in the City of Angels](https://abhinemani.com/blog/announcements/reflections/2014/08/20/Data-in-the-City-of-Angels.md): On joining Mayor Garcetti’s Team as the city’s first Chief Data Officer (2014)
- [Reframing the conversation around open data](https://abhinemani.com/blog/reflections/2014/06/14/Reframing-the-conversation-around-open-data.md): Building a culture of transparency (2014)
- [My favorite books of essays](https://abhinemani.com/blog/reflections/2014/05/08/My-favorite-books-of-essays.md) (2014)
- [Looking at things in many different ways](https://abhinemani.com/blog/reflections/2014/04/14/Looking-at-things-in-many-different-ways.md): The need for diversity in the civic technology ecosystem (2014)
- [What Kenya Reminded Me about Technology and the Liberal Arts](https://abhinemani.com/blog/reflections/2014/02/01/What-Kenya-Reminded-Me-Technology.md): What Ought Technology Do (2014)

## Optional

- [Press](https://abhinemani.com/press/): Coverage of Abhi's work in Fast Company, The Atlantic, Politico and others
- [Community](https://abhinemani.com/community.md): The GovGeek Club and other communities