This isn’t just a project. It’s redemption.This journey has been a relentless labor of love—and heartbreak.

In 2018, with FixNix, Shan Sankaran poured his soul into building a web platform to fight fraud, waste, and abuse. The spark was there: enterprises wanted this. By 2019, he drafted a blockchain-powered vision but walked away, fearing the “token frenzy” would cheapen its purpose. In 2020, investors nibbled but wouldn’t bite. He couldn’t accept half-measures, so he let the dream fade.

2021 brought him to the U.S. on an O1A visa with his family in tow. By 2022, same idea spun off as NixWhistle felt like a final roll of the dice as they secured $750K in soft commitments—so close—but without a lead, it collapsed. Crushed, he shelved the company, his heart heavy with what could’ve been.

But the universe won’t let go of this mission.

Open Efficiency: Rethinking Governance with Humility and Collective Wisdom

Since the new admin in 2025 took charge and the push for government efficiency through the Department of Government Ethics (DoGE)—its whistleblowing safeguards saved billions, yet distrust lingered. Vision is noble, but history cautions us: even well-intentioned systems falter when built in isolation. Why? Because efficiency without transparency feels punitive. Because solutions crafted behind closed doors, no matter how clever, risk alienating the very people they aim to serve.

his lesson fuels Open Efficiency Inc., a nonprofit born not from Silicon Valley’s “disrupt first” playbook, but from a quieter revelation: lasting change requires humility. Launched in February by Shan Sankaran, Sajjad, Suresh, Balaji and a coalition of engineers, policymakers, and activists, we’re reimagining governance tools as open-source collaborations—not proprietary fixes.

Here’s the thinking:

• Transparency isn’t optional. DoGE’s stumble revealed a truth: public trust erodes when decisions lack visibility. Our tools (built on Hyperledger, MIT-licensed) are open by design, inviting scrutiny and iteration. No black boxes.
• Efficiency ≠ austerity. Saving taxpayer dollars matters, but not at the cost of equity. We’re prototyping systems that measure success holistically—streamlining bureaucracy while safeguarding access for marginalized communities.
• Avoid the “lone hero” trap. DoGE’s oversight? It relied on whistleblowers to shoulder the burden of accountability. We’re decentralizing that responsibility, designing platforms where civil servants, citizens, and auditors collectively surface inefficiencies—and solutions.

Version 0 is live, but incomplete. We are yet to add the AI components. This isn’t a moonshot; it’s a scaffold. We need your hands:

• Developers to harden code,
• Ethicists to challenge assumptions,
• Public servants to ground-truth prototypes,
• Dreamers to imagine what’s possible when governance is built with people, not for them.

No salaries. No theatrics. Just stubborn optimism that systems can be both lean and humane—if we build them together.

Join us. Let’s replace “efficiency theater” with something enduring.

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Inspired by setbacks, committed to iteration.
Open Efficiency: Code. Policy. Ethics. No Silos.

 Open Efficiency Inc.—a nonprofit built on open-source ideals (Hyperledger, MIT license). No more chasing VC validation. This is about truth, not profit.

We’re building Version 1, but we need you. Your brilliance, your commitment to Truth, your belief in Ethics—it’s the missing piece. We can’t offer salaries yet as this is open source and not for profit, but we can offer purpose:

a chance to reshape accountability for generations.