ACI Business Model
Trust is the commodity upon which Applied Collaborative Intelligence (ACI) will be built.
Success depends on attracting the most talented IT professionals to build ACI tools as well as the brightest licensed professionals to use those tools and grow the networks.
A broad array of revenue streams are possible, but long-term success will require a business model that:
- Reinforces user benefit
- Maintains human-controlled knowledge
- Provides fair incentives for builders/maintainers and early risk-takers
The Core Problem
ACI only scales if incentives align for users, maintainers, and early risk-takers—without letting capital capture control.
Startups require innovation and risk-taking, but at scale ACI should function more like a cooperative or trust/foundation where users and operators become stewards and beneficiaries.
Human Control
The knowledge networks must be owned and governed by the licensed professionals who rely on them—not captured by whoever has the most capital.
Reward Builders and Maintainers
Encourage participation without constant re-negotiation:
- Incentives should appropriately reward contribution and risk
- Contributors and project champions may come and go
- A shared ‘exit strategy’ for everyone when ACI succeeds. Contribution repayment and capped upside (without requiring a sale/IPO)
Enable Fractional Contribution
Top talent with stable jobs have time and passion to contribute—if they can trust:
- ACI will be used for good
- Participation won’t threaten their existing lifestyle and career
- Their contributions will be recognized and valued
- They will share in the upside when ACI succeeds at scale
One Common Exit Path
Aligning exit strategies across participants will reduce friction as ACI grows.
Contributors and investors, large and small, need a clear path to repayment and future upside, without requiring a single exit event (sale/IPO) to make the model work.
Startup Phase (incentivize and reward risk-takers)
In the early phase, the company should operate like a conventional startup to quickly:
- Build the platform
- Sign users and customers
- Iterate workflows
- Harden security and governance
Board control is shared by major contributors and investors.
Stewardship is protected by a golden share (a narrow veto that protects core values and the planned transition), ensuring:
- Eventual transition to a cooperative or trust/foundation business model
- Commitment to core values
- ACI is optimized for long-term user benefit
Contributor Commitment (baked into the business model)
From day one, a small fixed portion of recognized revenue is dedicated to contribution repayment.
As revenue grows, repayment accelerates. If growth slows, repayment naturally slows (avoiding debt spiral).
Once success at scale is achieved:
- A separate fixed portion of revenue can provide long-term upside
- Repayment and upside obligations remain risk-adjusted and capped
Risk Types (broad strokes)
- Cash risk
- In-kind risk (expert time and other verified contributions)
Success (ACI at scale)
The end goal is not just a successful platform—it is a platform that remains trustworthy and human-controlled at scale:
- Thousands to millions of users who rely on ACI knowledge networks and tools
- Hundreds to thousands of workers who support ACI infrastructure
Long-term Business Model
- Multi-stakeholder cooperative / trust / foundation
- Continues to repay capped obligations carried over from the startup phase
- Increasing focus on directing profits back into the ACI community rather than indefinite repayment to early contributors
Revenue Streams That Fit ACI
The model doesn’t depend on one revenue stream, examples include:
- Individual professional subscriptions (tiered)
- Team / organization plans
- Managed hosting for Human-Certified Knowledge Networks (HCKNs)
- Secure sharing, collaboration, and governance tooling
- Integrations and audited deployments
- Training and certification programs
The constraint is simple:
- Revenue must not depend on selling control of the knowledge networks or compromising the trust model.
North Star
ACI succeeds when:
- Professionals trust the knowledge networks they rely on
- Maintainers are incentivized to keep systems safe and excellent
- Early risk-takers are repaid fairly—without owning the future
If ACI becomes foundational infrastructure for knowledge work, its governance should resemble a cooperative or foundation more than a conventional tech monopoly.