Navigating the Permitting Process with FluentGov
Team: Artie Levine (Stern ’27), Andy Levine
About the Venture: FluentGov automates government form workflows by helping users identify, prepare, and submit required permits and certifications. The platform is designed to reduce complexity across jurisdictions through guided, end-to-end assistance.
Tell us about FluentGov and the problem it aims to solve.
FluentGov is a software platform that provides permit submission automation for contractors. We know it’s not sexy, but permitting is a necessary regulatory step that every contractor struggles with in the building process. Think of our cousin Brian, who worked as a contractor across 20+ cities in Los Angeles County on a regular basis for the last 20 years. To submit permits for his plumbing and AC business, he was personally responsible for figuring out what municipal website to use, the correct person to call, or which office to show up to in order to get the knowledge he needed to discover the permits required for his job, then to prepare the permit and submit it. Brian is just one of millions of independent contractors and small business owners across the US submitting permits who all experience the same pain of not knowing where to go, what is required, or how to submit correct permits when they take on a new job. FluentGov has set out to become the go-to self-service platform for permit discovery, preparation, submission, and tracking to help individuals and small businesses save time and frustration when interfacing with the permitting process.
How did the team come together?Â
The FluentGov team is a family venture in the literal sense. Andy and Artie Levine are brothers who have come together with complementary skills to tackle this problem. In between getting a B.S. in Statistics and Genetics and an M.S. in Bio Informatics, Andy worked for a plumber and AC contractor, experiencing the permit process in construction first hand. The redundant paperwork, unclear requirements, and hours lost chasing approvals stood out as something that could be improved upon. When Andy came to the realization that he could apply his background in machine learning and the cutting edge of AI to the difficult permitting process he lived first hand, an idea was born. He began researching and building to create the basics of a product that could service this need he had identified, but eventually recognized that he would need some help to turn this idea into a business. At that point, Andy reached out to his brother, Artie, who was beginning his MBA at NYU Stern, and a solo venture turned into a duo. Together, the two brothers have been tackling the business and technical challenges needed to make FluentGov possible.
What sets FluentGov apart?
Enterprise SaaS options exist for large high-volume customers to support the permit process, but these solutions are too comprehensive and as a result, too expensive for individuals or small businesses to even consider. Alternatively, permit expeditors exist to give personalized support for permit submission, and are quite effective solutions for those who can afford the hundreds to thousands of dollars it costs to bring them on board for a project. The last option is for people to do it themselves. That means comb through the government websites, read the city code, call the building department, show up in person, guess and check at inspection, phone a friend, or any means necessary to get the knowledge at the right time in the right place to follow government regulations and requirements for every new job. FluentGov is a new alternative that offers easy access to self-service discovery of requirements, preparation help, submission to the correct jurisdiction, and status tracking at an affordable price point. End-to-end permit automation, previously inaccessible to the vast majority of the market, is now available on demand for the guy doing it alone without sacrificing any measure of consistency or accuracy.
What motivated you to apply to the Challenge?
The NYU Entrepreneurs Challenge represents an opportunity to pressure test the ideas and assumptions we’ve made in forming this business. Access to mentors with deep expertise in functional areas we are looking for help in has been the most exciting part of the process so far. Additionally, we have had the opportunity for specialized bootcamps and instruction in very relevant topic areas to push our product and business strategy in the best direction we can for success as a venture. What we’re most hoping to gain is exactly what the program offers! The access to people and resources that help us learn faster, think more clearly, and build better is a rare opportunity and we are not taking it lightly.
What has been the biggest turning point for you in your startup journey?Â
The turning point was recognizing that the technology had finally caught up to the problem. Andy had lived the permit process firsthand for years and he knew exactly how broken it was and had a clear picture of what a real solution would need to look like. The barrier was never the idea. It was whether the tools existed to execute it at a cost and scale that made it viable. In late 2024, that changed. AI capabilities crossed a threshold that made what had previously been theoretical suddenly buildable. Andy recognized it immediately as the specific moment to act. That clarity of timing is what brought FluentGov into existence, and it’s what continues to drive how we build today.
 What have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced so far?
The first challenge we’ve faced is conceptual. Simply adopting AI on top of an existing model is not enough to differentiate from existing software solutions. We are rethinking how AI changes what work can look like entirely. That required stepping back from how the industry has always operated and asking a different question: if you were building this from scratch today, what would it actually look like? The answer to that question is FluentGov. The second challenge has been identifying the user journey in a mundane process where technology has a place to make an impact. We are building the right tool to fit into our target customer’s daily life, not derail it or just giving a tool for the sake of giving a tool. We’ve been very thoughtful about exactly how the product fits within contractors existing workflows and have been validating our assumptions with people in the industry every step of the way.
What are some recent milestones?
The milestones that matter most to us right now are the ones that prove the system works in the real world. In that vein, we recently deployed an early version of FluentGov at FluentGov.com. Getting to a live product is a milestone that changes how every conversation about the company feels. It’s the difference between describing an idea and showing someone something real. We’re currently in the final stages before alpha testing with real contractors, which is the next proving ground. That feedback loop of getting the platform in front of the people who will actually use it every day is what we’re working towards right now and what we’re most excited about.
What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs, especially those just starting out?
Our honest advice: challenge every assumption your target market is built on. Industries develop standards for good reasons, but those reasons don’t always stay relevant forever. When you find an assumption that no longer holds, don’t just note it and move on. Follow it. See what else it’s touching, because a single outdated assumption is rarely sitting alone. Pull that thread and you’ll often find the ground underneath an entire category has shifted without anyone noticing. Opportunities live not in doing what the market does faster or cheaper, but in recognizing that the foundation some of it is built on has changed. We built FluentGov by asking what was actually still true about how this industry operated, and what wasn’t. The answers surprised us. We’d encourage any entrepreneur starting out to ask the same question of whatever space they’re entering.Â
