#StartupsEverywhere: Bellevue, Wash.

#StartupsEverywhere: Saf Rabah, Founder & CEO,GovStream.ai

This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.

Streamlining city permitting to solve the housing crisis

If you’ve ever had the misfortune of working on filing paperwork for renovations, you know that seemingly obscure missing paperwork in a first submission can result in months of back and forth between you and your local government. Saf Rabah saw how this creates a bottleneck in the development of affordable housing and decided to use his previous experience to create Govstream.ai, a one-stop AI platform for builders and city planners to streamline the permitting process. We sat down with Saf to talk about his company, their unique public-private partnership with the city of Bellevue, Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS), and more.

Tell us about your background. What led you to Govstream.ai?

Govstream.ai is our second govtech startup. Our first was Socrata, founded in 2010. After Socrata was acquired in 2018, I took a break from startups for a while, but when the AI boom happened, I didn’t want to sit on the sidelines. I decided that I would focus on a problem that felt close to home, in this case, the housing shortage. Focusing on that, it became clear that the permitting process (the mechanism by which all building happens in the U.S.) is overly complex, slow, expensive, and opaque. The result is that it is harder and more expensive to build anything. AI offered a fresh opportunity to approach this bottleneck with a new perspective, and I decided to jump in with Govstream.ai.

What is the work you all are doing at Govstream.ai? Who are your users/customers?

When a developer decides to build or renovate something on a piece of land or an existing property, they have to turn to the city to make sure they’re compliant with all local codes and ordinances. But those codes and ordinances are everywhere; there’s no single site with all the answers. So we started by building email and voice assistants so the city could provide homeowners, developers, and general contractors with answers faster without further burdening overworked permitting reviewers. By doing that, we’re freeing up those specialized experts in the facets of permitting (land use, zoning, fire, right of way, etc.) to focus on reviewing plans. By reducing their workloads, we’re increasing the speed of the permitting process. 

Even with more efficient and knowledgeable answering services, there is a mountain of forms to sign and documents to upload. More often than not, initial permitting applications get rejected because something in this process wasn’t completed. The rejection rate in some cities on a first submission can reach as high as 90 percent. Maybe it’s because the property is in a historic district, or the applicant didn’t realize their property was on a floodplain requiring additional documentation. To counteract this, we developed an AI platform that serves as an application assistant. Govstream.ai guides applicants through the permitting process and checks their entire application package against those submission requirements, all in an effort to make sure their application is complete the first time. So we preempt all of the rework and resubmit cycle, saving everyone time and money and allowing the city to review applications right away. We’re in the middle of deploying in Bellevue, Washington, Louisville, Kentucky, and other cities. 

You mentioned that you’re working with the city of Bellevue, what has been your experience as a private company partnering with city officials?

Bellevue is a fantastic city. We’re very grateful for them as a partner. The city created an innovation program using Govstream.ai as its pilot. City officials in Bellevue are working to figure out how they can implement a program that allows them to work hand-in-hand with startups. The program they started with us is now called the Public-Private Design Partnership. Founders from all backgrounds in Bellevue are working with it now; there’s a high school student working with the city through the partnership now. By partnering with the city, we’re able to see what a day in the life looks like for our clients and build at a very granular level.

Expanding to the state and federal levels, have there been any policy roadblocks you’ve hit while building Govstream.ai?

So far, so good. There is, however, real concern about the conversations Washington state is having around tax incentives and entrepreneurship. Some of the policies our state legislators are discussing would create obstacles that make Washington less attractive to investors. Thankfully, the state taxes on Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) didn’t pass the legislature. Policymakers need to think carefully when considering legislation involving QSBS, limiting incentives for investors who are willing to invest in an industry with a 90 percent fail rate limits the money for innovation.  We chose to build in Washington for a number of reasons, but a policy like this could impact the economic health of the state. 

Are there any local, state, or federal startup issues that you think should receive more attention from policymakers?

Right now AI legislation feels very fragmented. Each state is creating its own rules about how AI can operate within its borders. We believe AI has enormous potential, and we are already starting to see that potential translate into real-world impact. But when every state approaches regulation differently, it creates uncertainty and makes it harder for responsible innovation to scale. I would welcome more federal leadership in this space. Large companies have the resources and legal teams to navigate different regulatory regimes across all 50 states. Early stage startups do not. 

The technology itself is evolving quickly. Writing laws tied to a specific model risks being outdated almost immediately. It would be more effective to focus on durable principles instead. Things like transparency, traceability, and accountability. If we establish those foundations clearly, we can create meaningful guardrails that protect the public while still allowing innovation to move forward.

What are your goals for Govstream.ai moving forward?

Our goal is to reduce permitting cycles from months to weeks. If they currently take weeks, we want them to take only days. For many low-risk permits, we want to see same-day turnarounds from application to issuance. Why is that important? Because every day of delay constrains the supply of housing, and makes what little gets built even less affordable. A 25% reduction in permit cycles produces a 30% increase in housing supply. That’s the goal of Govstream.ai, to be the company that makes this vision a reality with our city customers. It’s a financial win for the city. It’s an operational win for developers. And it’s a life-affirming win for those who currently cannot see a path to ever affording a home. 

All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.

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