When we started Humankind, we faced a choice that would shape everything that followed: what kind of company should this be?
We're building something that requires an extraordinary level of trust. Humankind asks people to share their genomic data—the most personal information that exists—so we can collectively understand what makes humans different and what works for people whose biology resembles yours. That mission only works if people believe, deeply and correctly, that we will never betray that trust.
We chose to become a Public Benefit Corporation.
What a PBC Actually Means
A Public Benefit Corporation is a legal structure that changes what a company is for. In a traditional corporation, directors have a fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder value. That's not a suggestion—it's a legal obligation. When the pressure is on, shareholder returns win.
A PBC is different. Directors must balance shareholder interests against a stated public benefit and the interests of those affected by the company's actions. The public benefit isn't marketing language—it's written into the corporate charter, filed with the state, and legally binding.
Ours reads:
To advance human understanding through the collective analysis of genomic and phenotypic data, while ensuring that identifiable individual data remains under individual control and is not sold or licensed for commercial use.
Why This Matters for Genomic Data
The genomics industry has a trust problem, and it earned it.
Companies have sold user data to pharmaceutical companies. They've handed databases to law enforcement without user consent. They've changed privacy policies after the fact to enable monetization that users never agreed to. When 23andMe faced financial pressure, suddenly that decade of "your data is safe with us" messaging started to look fragile.
The standard corporate structure creates this outcome almost by design. When a company's legal obligation is to maximize shareholder value, and the most valuable asset is a database of genetic information, the math eventually wins. Maybe not today. Maybe not with the current leadership. But eventually.
A PBC doesn't eliminate pressure. We still need to build a sustainable business. But it changes the legal calculus. A board that voted to sell user data would be breaching their fiduciary duty, not fulfilling it.
The Prohibition Is the Point
Our charter doesn't just state a positive mission. It includes an explicit prohibition: identifiable individual data cannot be sold or licensed for commercial use.
This isn't about being virtuous. It's about making a credible commitment.
Trust in genomics can't be built through promises. The history of the industry has made promises worthless. Trust has to be structural—baked into the legal DNA of the company in ways that survive leadership changes, financial pressure, and acquisition offers.
When someone asks "what happens to my data if Humankind gets acquired?" the answer is that any acquirer inherits a legal entity whose charter prohibits selling that data. The prohibition travels with the company.
Collective Intelligence Requires Collective Trust
Humankind only works if people contribute. The insights we surface—what works for people whose biology resembles yours—require a critical mass of participants sharing real data about real outcomes.
That's a collective action problem. Each person has to trust that their contribution is protected, even as they benefit from everyone else's contributions. If that trust breaks down, the whole system fails.
The PBC structure is how we solve that problem.
A Different Kind of Company for a Different Kind of Mission
We could have incorporated as a standard Delaware C-Corp. It would have been simpler. Some investors would have preferred it. The legal and governance overhead would be lower.
We chose the harder path because the mission requires it.
Humankind exists to advance human understanding. That sounds grandiose, but it's actually quite specific: we want to explain why humans differ, why what works for one rarely works for another, and what that means for how you live your life.
That mission is only possible if people trust us with the most personal data that exists. And that trust is only credible if it's structural, legal, and binding.
That's why Humankind is a Public Benefit Corporation.