Tech Partners

Build the tech stack with us.

Connective infrastructure needs aligned tech collaborators and co-stewards. If you're building tools that serve networked communities, we're interested in building the infrastructure together.

Systemic challenges need systemic solutions.

We each hold an important piece — knowledge sharing sits comfortably beside resource flows, decentralized governance protocols, sovereign data standards, social impact metrics, relational trust tracking, single sign on requirements, and more. The coordination layer a thriving world requires isn't any one platform's job to build alone.

Whether you're building adjacent tools, weaving parallel networks, or stewarding tech for a thriving world, we invite you to connect with us. We now recognize and reciprocate contributions of all types. With that foundation in place, true collaboration is possible.

Let's operate differently.

The barriers aren't technical — they're structural. Catalist's Collaborative Operating Agreement (COA) is designed to address these as a foundation for real collaboration on the build itself.

Barrier
How we address it
No IP recognition across teams
Structured contribution recognition & commons licensing
Misaligned competitive incentives
Shared abundance framework & co-stewardship model
No standards for interoperability
Commons-based ontologies & open integration patterns
Divergent platform architectures
Modular stack & defined integration points
Context lost across organizational boundaries
Shared knowledge commons for the build itself
No framework for trust & reciprocity
Collaborative Operating Agreement as shared legal ground
We build with partners who share our structural commitments.

The COA isn't a policy document — it's legal architecture. Steward-led governance, mission-locked purpose, regenerative capital flow. These aren't aspirations; they're encoded.

Read our Operating Model →

We have a partner process designed to evolve as relationships do.

Co-stewardship isn't the starting assumption — it's a possibility that opens as trust and track record develop together.

1

Values alignment conversation

Every partnership starts with a genuine conversation about what you're building, what we're building, and whether the values underneath both are actually compatible. We use our Core Activation document as a shared reference — not a litmus test, but a way to get honest quickly about how each of us works and what we care about.

2

Relationship building

If the initial conversations land well, we keep talking. We share more about the work, you share more about yours, and we look for the natural overlaps and complements — where our tools, communities, or methodologies are already pointing toward each other.

3

Short-term project collaboration (3–6 months, MOU)

Before any deeper arrangement, we work together on something concrete. A defined project, a bounded scope, a simple MOU that protects both sides. This is where we find out whether collaboration actually works — not in theory, but in practice.

4

Evaluating next steps together

At the end of the project, we sit down and ask honestly: what did we build, what did we learn, and what makes sense from here? Co-stewardship isn't the default outcome — it's one of several, chosen because it fits.

For tech partners where deeper integration makes sense.

Depending on what you're bringing and how you want to be involved, our COA provides for a range of arrangements. None of these are obligations — they're options that become available as trust and track record develop.

  • Mutual disclosure — sharing roadmaps, architectures, or methodologies under a defined confidentiality frame
  • Code sharing or licensing — contributing to or licensing sections of each other's codebase under commons-aligned terms
  • Right of first negotiation — a commitment to come to the table with each other before going elsewhere on defined integration opportunities
  • Legacy contribution tracking — ecosystem-building work and technical contributions recognized and tracked within Catalist's contribution framework
  • Active ecosystem participation — holding a named role in the Catalist ecosystem and participating in the Shared Abundance pool under the COA as the platform grows

Partner organizations and ambassadors as cross-network weavers — augmented by technology, never replaced by it.

Steve MelvilleMAP
Daniel KleinmanSeaworthy Collective
Erik WillekensNon.Ngo, Senseweavers.com
Charles BlassInteroperability
Carolina CarvalhoReFi DAO
Yannick CiocanelGaianet
Daan GorterInternational changemaker network

We're a small team building for the long arc. We'd rather go slowly with the right tech partners than move fast with the wrong ones.

If that matches how you work, we'd love to talk.

Tell us about your work — what you're building, who you're building it for, and what draws you to this kind of collaboration. We'll take it from there.

Read the Core Activation Our Operating Model