I dropped out of high school at 16 to become a Buddhist monk. Now I run a startup taking on Accenture.

Lilly Chen, founder and CEO of FSH Technologies, just raised $25 million in funding.

Outlier Partners

This is a conversation with Lilly Chen, the 30-year-old founder and CEO of FSH Technologies. It has been edited and condensed for clarity.When I was 16, I dropped out of high school and became a Buddhist monk.At the time, I was really sick. I had been diagnosed with Graves' disease, an autoimmune disorder, and my family was on public health insurance.I didn't have good access to preventive healthcare,We went through that cycle two or three times. At one point, I had a fever for more than a week and was bedridden.My mom had always been spiritual. Eventually, she was basically like, "Screw Western medicine. Let's become monks."I got ordained in America, and eventually my mom and I moved to a Buddhist monastery in rural China. I was a monk for about two years altogether, which included about six months living at that monastery.Life there was simple. We woke up at 3 a.m. and meditated. We grew food, cleaned, fetched water, and did other chores. There was no electricity.People also traveled to see the monks, and they would tell us about their problems. They came looking for advice, but monks don't really give advice. We listened.