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 30-year-old Lilly Chen is the founder of FSH Technologies, which recently raised $25 million.

FSH Technologies competes with firms like Accenture to help modernize government technology systems.

Chen spent two years as a Buddhist monk, which she said taught her valuable leadership lessons.

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.