I’ve spent a lot of my life trying to figure out who I can trust.
Building companies. Building relationships. Building on technology that promised one thing and eventually became something else.
With big tech, the pattern kept repeating. We were told our data was ours. That we were in control. Then the terms changed. The products changed. The things we thought we could count on changed with them.
There’s an old saying: if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product.
Turns out, this isn't true anymore.
Now we’re paying and sharing more of ourselves than ever. Our conversations. Our work. Our relationships. The things we’re trying to figure out before we’ve told anyone else.
And it makes sense. The more useful these tools become, the more we want to give them. More context. More access. More responsibility.
The price tells us very little about what we’re giving up.
So I keep coming back to a different question.
What am I giving away, and what do I still control?
Can I see what happens to what I share? Can I decide how it’s used? Can I change my mind?
Can we have a conversation that belongs only to the people in it? Can we build relationships without giving a company a permanent record of them? Can I let a tool help me without giving it access to everything?
I used to think the answer was finding someone with better intentions. Eventually, I realized intentions weren’t enough.
I’ve learned that the best way to build things people can trust is to make sure they don’t have to trust us.
We need to be able to inspect the things we depend on. To understand what they do, what they can access, and who can change the rules. Trust needs something we can verify.
As intelligence becomes more powerful, this gets more urgent. We’re moving toward a world where software can act on our behalf, make decisions, and access the most personal parts of our lives.
There’s enormous possibility in that. I want to help build it. And I want people to be able to participate without giving up control.
What’s the business of trust?
I believe some of the most valuable businesses in the world will be built around helping people answer these questions.
As intelligence becomes more available, what we’re willing to trust it with becomes more valuable. Our attention. Our information. Our decisions. Our relationships.
There’s a business in protecting those things. In helping people use powerful tools while keeping the ability to set limits, change their minds, and leave.
The business model matters as much as the technology. Does the company do better when I do better? Does it earn more by protecting what matters to me, or by finding new ways to use it?
We believe earning and keeping people’s trust can be one of the best business models in the world. That belief has to show up in how the business works, every day.
That’s what we’re here to explore at XMTP Labs. We build things, try them, and share what we learn. Some will work. Some won’t. We don’t have all the answers.
But we know what we’re here for.
Building things people can trust in a world of superintelligence.
Shane Mac