Access to the data economy should not be limited to large corporations.
But access should not be limited to people who already have “AI” on their CV either. A large part of this economy depends on skills that already exist outside the technology industry: careful research, domain knowledge, professional judgment, relationships, documentation, verification and the ability to work precisely.
Data has become an economic input on the level of energy or logistics. The ability to collect it, prepare it, evaluate it and sell access to it is concentrated in a small number of organizations that already had scale before the shift happened.
Meanwhile the raw material is everywhere and mostly unused. A regional logistics company has fifteen years of operational records. A clinic has structured diagnostic history. A trade association has documentation nobody outside the field can interpret. None of them are in a position to turn that into anything, and most have never been asked.
The same asymmetry applies to people. The work that makes data usable — annotation, correction, evaluation, verification, expert review — is done by people who are usually the furthest from the value it creates, hired through intermediaries, on terms set elsewhere.
Four things exist already. They are simply not connected.
Infrastructure, not a gatekeeper.
The ecosystem we are working towards connects people, skills, data, organizations and the buyers of data work — with rules that are written down, and participation that does not require you to already be inside the industry.
Infrastructure means the boring, durable parts: qualification that is consistent, terms that are stated before work starts, records of who contributed what, and a network that keeps its value when any single project ends.
For a participant, that should mean simple things:
- you know what you are applying for;
- you know what happens next;
- you know the terms before you start;
- and you are not required to pay to access an opportunity.
This is a question of incentive structure, not of good and bad actors. Commercial intermediaries do useful work in many markets. But an intermediary whose return depends on remaining in the middle has little reason to make the two sides less dependent on it — and that is exactly what open infrastructure has to do.
TopIzdaTo is registered as a nonprofit public organization in Ukraine (EDRPOU 44894768, registered 13 June 2022); the registered details are on the legal page. That does not make us better at anything — it orients the organization towards infrastructure rather than towards permanent dependency on it.
How the organization funds its operation
Nonprofit does not mean free of charge. When TopIzdaTo facilitates a transaction, a 20% administrative allocation covers the administrative and operating expenses of running the organization and its infrastructure: hosting, the domain, technical infrastructure, software, administration, coordination, legal and compliance work, and the other costs the organization needs to function.
The remaining amount is handled according to the terms of the specific transaction agreement, and those terms are stated to you in writing before you commit to anything. The full explanation is on the transparency page.
It also means we can be direct about the current state of things, which is the next section.
At the beginning, and we will not dress it up.
We are early. Plainly:
- there is no large marketplace operating today;
- there is no catalogue of jobs;
- there is no guaranteed flow of projects;
- there are no guaranteed rates, hours or income.
What exists today is the organization, the infrastructure, and an open application process for people who want to join the network. We are building the supply side of the network first.
If you are looking for a guaranteed job starting next Monday, this is not that. If you are looking for a way to put your existing skills, expertise or professional network into the emerging data economy, this may be worth joining early — the three paths are on the careers page.
If any of this describes something you have, there is a path for it.
Three paths, one starting point: tell us what you bring — a network, practical capacity, or professional judgment.