Methodology
Where every number comes from
Policy effective July 2026 · applies to every page on this site
A number with no provenance is an anecdote. Every figure published on The AI Business Ledger traces to one of three sources, is rounded under a single stated policy, and passes an internal audit that checks the published claim against the source record before the page ships.
Sources, in order of authority
| Source | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Internal ledger | A cross-venture double-entry ledger, logged at transaction time by the operating pipelines themselves. The system of record from July 2026 onward. |
| Platform statements | Marketplace transaction histories, payment processor records, and platform analytics exports. Used for figures that predate the ledger. |
| Reconstructed estimates | Used only when marked. Any figure that is an estimate says so inline. Unmarked figures are never estimates. |
Rounding policy
- Dollar amounts above $500: rounded to the nearest $50, always rounded toward the less flattering direction for revenue claims.
- Dollar amounts below $500: rounded to the nearest $10.
- Percentages: whole points. Subscriber and audience counts: published as floors ("80,000+"), never inflated ceilings.
Redaction policy, and why
We redact three things, consistently: client names, the names of our consumer-facing content channels, and the internal mechanics of our research systems. Clients did not consent to appear in a public dataset. Channel names invite brigading and tell competitors exactly where to aim. Everything else, including failures, costs, and dead ventures, is published.
Ventures carry stable anonymous labels (V1, V2, V3...) that never change between reports, so figures remain comparable across months.
What disqualifies a number
- No source record: not published.
- "Run rate" extrapolated from less than a full month of data: not published as run rate.
- Screenshots as sole evidence: not accepted, including our own.
- Any figure that would require naming a client or channel to verify: published only in rounded, redacted form, and marked as such.
Conflicts of interest, stated plainly
This site is published by the operators of VerifiedDesk, which sells automation builds and research services. That is the business model: the data is free, the shovels are for sale. We believe publishing real books, including the ventures that lost money, is the only honest way to market in a niche saturated with fabricated income claims. Nothing here is financial advice, and no figure implies your results.