STRUCTURE BEFORE SCALE

This platform protects structure, not scale

200 Brady Street is not a startup built for blitz scaling. It’s public infrastructure, designed with constraints that protect contributors, licensing logic, and public interest use, even after capital enters.

Before a single dollar was raised, the platform’s governance structure was mapped in full. Milestone scopes, licensing terms, contributor protections, and audit requirements weren’t added after, they were built in from the start.

A vertical schematic showing capital and public tools sitting above a foundational governance layer labeled with licensing, audit, and protection terms.
Governance came first. Capital sits on top, not underneath.
A five-row civic schematic showing platform safeguards for milestones, licensing, data, revenue, and capital.
Civic protections aren’t promises. They’re part of the architecture.

WHAT GOVERNANCE PROTECTS

Guardrails come first and they hold

Area Safeguard
Milestone Control Deployment only advances through pre-approved scopes, no fast tracks, pivots, or scope drift.
Licensing Integrity No resale, no lockup. Civic+ tiers are protected by public interest clauses and reciprocity.
Data Protection No PII, no enforcement contracts, no exposure by design. Contributor protection is non negotiable.
Revenue Use All monetization flows are scoped around public access, not private leverage or ad funnels.
Capital Influence No equity override. No board seats. Aligned funding supports structure it does not direct it.

🔎 Want definitions of terms like redaction logic, licensing safeguards, or non-override controls? See our Key Terms & Concepts reference.

GOVERNANCE CAME FIRST

The structure was built before the raise, not after

Most civic tech platforms move fast, raise quickly, and figure out governance later, once incentives have shifted and compromises are already locked in. 200 Brady Street was built in reverse: platform logic first, then contributor protections, then licensing constraints, and only then, funding strategy.

This isn’t a system that can be reshaped after launch. It’s a public infrastructure layer that’s only viable if governance stays intact from the beginning.

We didn’t add governance later. We started with it.

KEY STRUCTURAL PRINCIPLES

Governance isn’t an overlay, it’s the foundation

These aren’t values we aspire to. They’re structures we build on.
A horizontal diagram showing four milestones advancing only through a shared governance gate
Governance isn’t just the start. It’s the standard, at every step.

GOVERNANCE SCALES WITH THE PLATFORM

Future milestones stay bound to the same public logic

As the platform expands into later milestones, FOI indexing, legal recovery tooling, academic licensing, the same structural guardrails apply. No deployment moves forward unless it passes through the same milestone logic and contributor first constraints. This isn’t policy by promise. It’s governance by design.

Many of the governance mechanisms outlined here, from milestone control to redaction governance are defined in greater detail on our Key Terms & Concepts page. It’s not jargon. It’s structure.