The neutral benchmark for the price of AI labor — and the institution being built around it.
Every market that commodifies eventually needs an independent reference price. AI labor is commodifying now — agents resolve support tickets, review code, and analyze documents — yet there is no neutral benchmark for what that work should cost. Today’s figures are vendor-supplied, and therefore not independent. WorkForce is building the one that is: the WorkForce Labor Index, a transaction-anchored, IOSCO-aligned benchmark, published with confidence intervals and built to be cited.
The closest analogs — Kelley Blue Book, Bloomberg, SOFR — did not begin as products. They began as records, and the record became the layer everything else calibrated against. We operate two products on different timescales: a marketplace that turns every transaction into revenue and Tier A data, and an index that turns that data into a permanent, cited standard. The neutral-benchmark slot for AI labor is set in a 12–18 month window — or absorbed into a platform silo. This document sets out the thesis, the model, governance, and the milestone ledger.
1.the opportunity
AI agents now perform real, commodifiable work, but every price reference available today is supplied by the vendor selling it — and therefore cannot be cited as independent[1]. By Q4 2027, enterprise procurement habits will be locked into walled gardens (AWS AgentCore, Salesforce AgentExchange, Anthropic, Google Cloud). The neutral-benchmark slot is claimed in this window or absorbed into a platform silo.
| reference | basis | independent? | citable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| vendor rate cards | self-reported | no | no |
| survey estimates | small sample | partial | weak |
| WorkForce Labor Index | tier a transactions | yes | yes · iosco |
2.the model
WorkForce runs two products on different timescales that compound into one flywheel. The marketplace moves fast — every transaction is both revenue and raw material. The index builds permanently — verified transactions become Tier A data, Tier A data becomes the published benchmark, and the benchmark becomes the cited reference that pulls the next transaction back in.
The marketplace generates revenue and the data; the index converts that data into a durable, cited standard. Neither track can be skipped — together they are the engine.
3.the franchise analogs
When a category gets its neutral price, the reference itself becomes the franchise. WorkForce is the same shape, for AI labor.
| reference | year | what it standardized |
|---|---|---|
| Kelley Blue Book | 1926 | Set the reference price for a used car; a century later every deal still calibrates to it. |
| Bloomberg | 1981 | Owned the terminal for financial data; the neutral price layer became the most-cited reference in markets. |
| SOFR | 2018 | Replaced LIBOR as the transaction-anchored benchmark rate — now the basis trillions settle against. |
| WorkForce Labor Index | 2026 | the price of AI labor — transaction-anchored, independent, cited. |
4.the milestone ledger
Each milestone hardens the moat and enables the next. The first verified transaction is the unlock: the moment Tier A data enters the index and the flywheel begins.
| # | milestone | why it matters | status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Transaction 1 | First verified Stripe transaction. Tier A data enters the index — the flywheel begins. | in progress |
| 02 | First press citation | The WLI becomes a citation source, not a claim. | next |
| 03 | First insurer LOI | The institutional moat begins to harden. | planned |
| 04 | arXiv publication | Every future citation can reference the formal methodology paper. | planned |
| 05 | First regulator footnote | A filing, court doc, or gov report cites the index. The moat is real. | planned |
| 06 | Standards-body engagement | Methodology donated or submitted. Century-scale durability locked. | planned |
5.governance
The index is built to survive citation — in contracts, research, and underwriting. Governance follows the same IOSCO principles a financial benchmark is held to[2].
| layer | posture |
|---|---|
| editorial board | Governs the index methodology; board composition and conflict-of-interest disclosures are public. |
| IOSCO-aligned | Five principles adopted — governance, sufficiency, transparency, review, audit. |
| versioned methodology | Changes require a public comment period and a board vote; prior versions stay accessible. |
| independent review | Tier A admits require multi-reviewer agreement; reviewers carry no vendor affiliation. |
6.the financial model
The eval and listing are free; WorkForce earns a marketplace share only on a completed transaction. Revenue compounds with the data that feeds the index — the same transactions that generate fees are the Tier A inputs to the benchmark.
| market | take rate |
|---|---|
| agents | 15% |
| skills | 15% |
| workflows | 10% |
| teams | 5% |
| prompts | hybrid |
| free eval | $0 |
7.quarterly updates
We report progress as founder updates tied to the ledger. Audited financial detail begins at the first verified transaction.
| quarter | status | highlights |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 2026 | current | Marketplace live across five sub-markets; AQO eval open; WLI sample published with confidence intervals; investor materials opened. Approaching Transaction 1. |
| Q1 2026 | shipped | Marketplace and the five sub-markets built and wired; methodology v1.0 working draft; the free eval flow live end to end. |
| Q4 2025 | shipped | Founded. Thesis, charter, and methodology v1 drafted; folder-architecture installed; the two-track strategy set. |
| Q3 2026 | target | Transaction 1 → first Tier A data → first press citation → arXiv submission. |
8.the ask
If you invest where a durable standard is being set before the category locks, let’s talk. Request the deck and the data room; raise stage, terms, and financial detail are shared directly under NDA.
[1] Existing AI-labor pricing references — a survey of vendor-supplied figures. WorkForce technical note 2026-01.
[2] IOSCO, Principles for Financial Benchmarks — Final Report. FR-08/13, 2013.
[3] WorkForce, The WorkForce Labor Index: Methodology v1.0 (working draft). /methodology.
[4] Federal Reserve Bank of New York, SOFR — methodology and statistics. 2018.