V1 of this can be found at 
Computational Agency — Lex. Thanks for the feedback!
Exercising economic agency fully requires navigating or controlling computational systems. Just having access to them is insufficient. We need pliable software systems that people can adapt to their ends. Users need be met where they are. Because limited user literacy inhibits agency, we also need applications that scaffold a user’s ability, guiding them toward deeper computational confidence. Agency begins when users can bring their full selves to a system and be guided toward greater capacity.
Pliable systems offer agency when users are ready. Scaffolding systems help them get ready.
The third kind of system is interventional. These systems help the structurally marginalized navigate and influence other domains outside of computing per se. A worker-centered platform allowing gig drivers to analyze and respond to ride-sharing algorithms gives workers visibility into, and influence over, opaque algorithmic management systems that determine their schedules, routes, and earnings. A workplace tool that enhances employee voice by surfacing collective sentiment is valuable but a tool that allows them to organize around those sentiments is better. In this way, computational agency prioritizes the assignment of interpretive and directional power to users of computational systems, without needing dictating a specific outcome for the use of that power.
This provides a critical constraint. IAF has a dual mandate to invest in companies that produce measurable improvements to the economic agency of our beneficiaries and return >=3x money on invested capital. Returning to our workplace organizing tool as an example, who do you sell a tool like that to? And who buys the company that sells it? The market size for the labor-organization tool is likely much smaller than the vox pop version.
To make high-conviction investments in this space, we need to identify the design characteristics and business models of these systems and how they support computational agency in these 3 forms while maintaining commercial viability. We then need to assess how they suit IAF’s beneficiaries.
Some initial research questions to help clarify this:
- Which venture-scale business models have grown value alongside user agency? DuckDuckGo shows how privacy-preserving technologies can enhance computational agency by giving users control over their digital footprint and the market opportunity as demand for privacy-enhancing technologies increases with awareness of data risks.
- In those models, how is pliability implemented across different technical literacy levels, and along a user’s path from personalization to control?
- Which domains have these models been in? What are their characteristics? For example, are they regulated? If computational agency depends on regulation and shared protocols, we should support policy development and standardization alongside our investment work as complementary leverage.
- What pathways have led to creative or critical computational engagement for low-income or marginalized communities. How have emotional and social factors (e.g. fear of judgment, institutional distrust) shaped entry points into systems that enhance agency?
The above position piece describes an in-development investment theme that you will support with deep research. Your task is to:
- Find venture-backed businesses have grown commercial value (revenue and valuation) by growing user agency. This should be across Pliable, Scaffolding, and Interventional systems.
- Identify and describe their business models? While categories (e.g. "Freemium", "D2C" or "Enterprise SaaS") are expected, be clear about how each company makes money.
- Describe how those agency supporting features are implemented in these company's products. Also describe how have they been designed for users of different technical literacy levels?
- Typify the domains these companies are in. For example, are they regulated? For each domain, list key characteristics important for venture investors and company operators to consider.