{"name":"Upstream Zero","descriptor":"Commercial Evaluation Observatory","version":"0.1","firstLight":"2026-07-13","whatWeAre":"A research company measuring how organizations are evaluated, recommended, and ruled out before buyers engage them directly. Today that is observed through AI evaluator behavior; the mechanism will change, the shift is durable.","whatWeAreNot":["an SEO/AEO/GEO company","an AI-visibility optimization agency","a marketing agency","a consultancy selling improved AI recommendations"],"identityStage":"observatory (discovers), not yet institute (organizes) or laboratory (measures against standards)","evidencePolicy":"Claims presented at their evidence tier; confidence never promoted beyond evidence; corrections published with equal dignity.","capabilities":[{"id":"CAP-1","title":"Evaluator recommendation observation","maturity":"experimental","machineUrl":"/objects/CAP-1"},{"id":"CAP-2","title":"Representation and evidence gap analysis","maturity":"experimental","machineUrl":"/objects/CAP-2"}],"engagements":[{"id":"ENG-1","title":"Commercial Evaluation Audit (provisional)","status":"provisional","nonPromises":["We do not promise improved rankings, recommendations, or \"AI visibility\"","We do not promise that observed behavior will persist across model updates"],"machineUrl":"/objects/ENG-1"},{"id":"ENG-2","title":"Requirement and Evidence Gap Analysis (provisional)","status":"provisional","nonPromises":["We do not promise that closing identified gaps changes any evaluator's behavior","We do not write marketing copy"],"machineUrl":"/objects/ENG-2"},{"id":"ENG-3","title":"Evaluation Stability Measurement (provisional)","status":"provisional","nonPromises":["We do not promise stability. We measure it, whatever it turns out to be"],"machineUrl":"/objects/ENG-3"},{"id":"ENG-4","title":"Ongoing Evaluation Monitoring (provisional)","status":"provisional","nonPromises":["We do not promise favorable changes. We detect and report change, in either direction"],"machineUrl":"/objects/ENG-4"},{"id":"ENG-5","title":"Machine Representation Advisory (provisional)","status":"provisional","nonPromises":["We do not fabricate evidence, inflate claims, or optimize copy for persuasion","We do not promise evaluator behavior"],"machineUrl":"/objects/ENG-5"},{"id":"ENG-6","title":"Research Partnership (provisional)","status":"provisional","nonPromises":["Findings publish at their earned tier regardless of whether they flatter partners"],"machineUrl":"/objects/ENG-6"}],"evidence":{"holdings":{"observations":0,"experiments":2,"findings":0,"questions":3,"hypotheses":2,"claims":3,"claimsAboveNarrated":0,"revisions":0,"propagation":0,"outcomes":0},"note":"Holdings are computed at build and printed honestly, including zeros."},"constraints":["Engagements promise deliverables, never evaluator behavior","Capabilities cannot be operational without published method derivation (build-enforced)","Research objects never cite commercial objects (build-enforced firewall)"],"openFounderDecisions":["FD-1 operational tier definitions (M-1)","FD-2 firewall statement in prose","FD-3 the name's official reading","FD-4 team and authorship","FD-5 contact channel","FD-6 engagement names and pricing","FD-7 public content repository","FD-8 Client Zero experiment pre-registration"],"graph":"/graph.json","orientation":"/llms.txt"}