Trust asset · v1 pending
How we score, and what money cannot buy
A ranking nobody can audit is worthless. This page exists so anyone can check our work — and so the line between sponsorship and score is written down before it is tested.
Rubric v1 is not published yet. Scores currently carry the labelv1-pending and profiles with too little verified signal show "Not yet scored" instead of a number. This page is replaced by the full factor table — weights, refresh cadence, and a changelog — when the rubric ships.
The two public numbers
Influence (0–100) measures reach and resonance: owned audience, mentions across domain-diverse sources, citations by other profiles here, and speaking or podcast appearances.
Innovation (0–100) measures substance and momentum: activity in the last 90 days, profile completeness (capped), published work relevant to innovation themes, verified awards, and rubric-driven editorial review.
A third signal, 30-day activity, is a delta rather than a score. It powers the rising lists and nothing else.
Rules that protect the index
- Completeness and freshness are capped. They open the door; they do not win the race.
- Backlinks count by domain diversity, not volume. Our own links never count.
- Self-edits are rate-limited and reviewed. Awards are re-verified annually.
- Editorial overrides exist, are logged, and are disclosed on the page as "Editor's pick".
- Minimum-data rule: too little signal shows "Not yet scored", never a low number.
The firewall
Sponsorship and enhanced profiles buy placement, features, media, and analytics. They never buy points, rank, or a badge that implies a score. If that ever changes, it changes here first, in public, with a dated changelog entry.
Correcting the record
Every profile can be found in the index and claimed by its owner. Claiming is step one of raising a score, and it is also how a factual error gets fixed fastest.