Submit a product for evaluation

Before submitting

Confirm two things first:

1. Your product has a public INTEGRITY.md at the repo root or product website. The file maps all six Layer 1 vetoes from the framework: artifact-vs-outcome, independence, verifiability, AI accountability, pricing-rigor, the TechCrunch test. Missing any one is an automatic Bronze rejection.
2. For Silver: either @startvest/integrity-cli runs green against your public repo, or your product has a public methodology page with a Version heading and a Changelog heading. Pick the credential that fits your product shape. You do not need both.

See methodology for the full tier gates and verification process.

Path 1: email submission

Email integrity@startvest.ai with a JSON block following the listing schema below. Include any context you want considered during review. The directory operator responds within the SLA window.

Listing JSON template

Required fields:

{
  "slug": "your-product",
  "name": "Your Product",
  "description": "One sentence describing what the product does. Up to 160 characters.",
  "homepageUrl": "https://yourproduct.example",
  "integrityMdUrl": "https://yourproduct.example/integrity",
  "tier": "bronze",
  "license": "closed-source",
  "operator": {
    "name": "Your Operator Name",
    "url": "https://operator.example"
  },
  "firstListedDate": "2026-04-25",
  "lastRescannedDate": "2026-04-25",
  "state": "active"
}

For Silver via methodology page, add inside the JSON object:

  "silverCredential": {
    "kind": "methodology-page",
    "url": "https://yourproduct.example/methodology"
  },

For Silver via integrity-cli output, add inside the JSON object:

  "silverCredential": {
    "kind": "integrity-cli",
    "outputUrl": "https://yourproduct.example/integrity-cli-output.json",
    "commitSha": "abc1234"
  },

Optional fields: category, logo, rationale, socialLinks. Categories are a flat list at v1; we will introduce filtering once the directory grows past 30 listings.

Path 2: GitHub pull request

Once the directory's repo is published, technical founders can submit by opening a pull request that adds an entry to data/listings.json. Same schema as the email path. The PR template will list the verification artifacts the reviewer needs.

The repo URL will be linked here once the directory is open-sourced. Until then, use the email path.

What happens after you submit

1. The directory operator reads your INTEGRITY.md.
2. If you claimed Silver, the operator verifies the credential. Either runs integrity-cli against your repo, or reads your methodology page for the required headings.
3. Within 14 calendar days, you get one of: approved (with a publish date), changes requested (with specific gaps), or rejected (with the reason).
4. Approved listings publish to /listings and a per-product page at /listings/<slug>.
5. Quarterly re-scans, plus a triggered re-scan on any framework version bump. See methodology for the failure-handling and delisting rules.

What the directory will reject

• Missing INTEGRITY.md, or one that does not map all six Layer 1 vetoes.
• Self-attested Silver claims with no public credential URL.
• Closed-source products claiming the integrity-cli path without publishing the runner output.
• Products that fail Veto 1 (selling a certification artifact rather than the underlying outcome) or Veto 2 (verifier paid by the verified entity with no structural independence).
• Submissions that fail a TechCrunch-test sniff: claims that need hand-waving to defend.