Trust & Continuity
We put the limits in writing, then gave someone else the veto.
A charter forbids selling or mining what you store with us, and an independent council can block any attempt to change it. Below are the specific, checkable commitments that come with that structure.
As AI agents start reading client files, bank feeds, and years of business history, the data a system touches quietly becomes worth more than the software around it. That creates an incentive any company in this position would have to reckon with. Catalyst is structured so that we can’t act on it, which is worth more to you than our promising to resist it.
The charter.
A data steward holds your data on your behalf, and doesn’t get to profit from it. Here’s how Catalyst commits to that, in writing.
We will never monetize your data
We do not sell it, license it, train outside models on it, or use it for anything beyond running your own system. Catalyst is paid for the work we do on your business, and only for that.
No one's pay depends on your data
Compensation across Catalyst, including any future equity or revenue share, is tied to quality of work, uptime, and security audits. None of it moves with how much data we collect, retain, or process.
Independent oversight
An independent Data & Security Council enforces this charter and holds veto power over any change that would weaken it. It is chaired by an outside-funded security and privacy lead, and sits structurally apart from Catalyst's commercial side.
This charter is public, and binding on us
It is written into our customer agreements as an explicit commitment, worded to survive leadership changes, funding rounds, and changes in strategy.
Built to keep running.
A commitment like the one above usually comes undone the same way: a new owner, a new board, an acquisition with different incentives than the ones you signed up for. Catalyst is built to stay put. There is no venture funding pushing for a sale, no IPO clock, and no cap table full of people whose only return comes from flipping the company. Revenue funds growth. If Catalyst ever grows enough to matter at scale, the plan is to move it into a trust structure that makes it permanently unsellable, so the charter above can’t be undone by a buyer with different plans for your data.
The Data & Security Council.
The charter is only as real as who’s allowed to enforce it. The Data & Security Council holds veto power over any feature or data-access decision that would compromise it, and that veto is written into our operating agreement as a condition we legally can’t get around — not just a description of how we intend to behave. The Council is chaired by an independent, outside-funded security and privacy lead, and kept structurally separate from Catalyst’s commercial side. We’re not naming individual members while it’s still being formed.
Privacy & Security Lead
Audits how data is encrypted, stored, and scoped to AI agents.
Legal & Data Governance Lead
Owns the charter itself and how it holds up as regulation evolves.
User / Operator Advocate
Represents the operators using the system.
No Council member holds equity, revenue share, or any Catalyst compensation tied to growth. They’re paid fixed, market-rate terms, so nothing about their pay ever points toward looking the other way.
In practice
What this looks like today.
The charter above is the destination. These six commitments are already live today.
Source Code & Data Escrow
Our source code and production data backups sit with an independent, outside escrow agent from day one. If Catalyst ever shuts down or discontinues support, they release automatically, with no request or permission needed, so your system can keep running or be handed to another team.
Your Data, Kept Separate
Your client records, Ledger history, and documents live in your own account, separate from every other customer’s. Download a complete copy of it anytime, in one click. No request, no waiting on us.
Yours to Run, Permanently
Anything we build for you is yours to keep running for as long as you want it. Nothing renews, nothing lapses, and there’s no recurring bill we could ever raise or cut you off from. That’s a perpetual license to run your system, which is a different thing from owning our source code. The code itself passes to you only under the escrow terms above, if we ever shut down.
Bring Your Own AI Key
Plug in your own OpenAI or Anthropic key and your agents run on it directly, at your cost. You depend on Catalyst for the platform around the AI, and never for the AI itself.
Optional Dedicated Infrastructure
Want your own isolated instance and database, physically separate from Catalyst’s shared platform? Available for teams that want that extra layer of isolation, scoped as part of the engagement.
Nothing Starts Without Your Approval
The diagnosis costs you nothing. If you decide to go further, you get scope, timeline, and price in writing, and you approve them before any work begins. There is no point in this where a bill arrives that you didn’t agree to first.
Whatever we build for you, you keep.
Tell us what’s slowing you down, or read more answers in the FAQ.