Entrepreneurship research for an agentic world.

We study how founders build companies with human-agent workforces, the new way of work, in pursuit of greater economic independence and fulfillment.

Our Mission →Who We Are

An illustrated operator working at a laptop, surrounded by topographic map lines and data coordinates.

Our Mission

Mission

Open Frontiers Foundation conducts research on the future of entrepreneurship in an agentic world, so that AI benefits everyone by unlocking greater economic independence and fulfillment.

Why now

In an era where the concentration of economic power is accelerating with AI, we believe that distributed entrepreneurship is the most vital safeguard for economic diversity. By empowering founders to scale with greater autonomy, we ensure that the benefits of technological advancement reach a resilient, broad-based economy.

Research Independence

Structural independence. Not a posture.

We believe honest, operator-grounded research requires freedom from financial skin in the game. These are the structural constraints we've adopted from day one to protect that.

Commitments

Self-funded

Open Frontiers Foundation accepts no external funding, grants, or institutional capital. All operating costs are borne by the founding board. This is a structural constraint, not a posture.

No portfolio

No board member holds an investment position in any company that could benefit from our research conclusions. This will be reviewed annually, with no exceptions sought or granted.

No client relationships

We do not produce research for hire, accept sponsored content, or take consulting engagements. If a conclusion is inconvenient, it gets published anyway.

No financial interest in any conclusion

Board members receive no compensation. No royalties, no speaking fees derived from our research, no financial upside tied to any finding.

2026 Agenda

Upcoming Research

We produces original research and educational material at the intersection of entrepreneurship and human-agent workforces. Our programs are designed to document what is happening now, surface the people building through it, and publish an annual benchmark on where it is headed.

Checkpoints

Building in Public

A progress report on our own AI-native operations — what we accomplished, which agents did what, and how much was agent-driven versus manual.

Field Notes

Insights from those building

Case studies and operator conversations documenting how human-agent workforces are actually being built — what worked, what broke, and what's next.

Annual Report

The State of Human-Agent Workforces

Our flagship annual report, published each January: survey data, operator narratives, and expert outlook on the year ahead.

Where we are

Day one.

Open Frontiers Foundation was established in the summer of 2026. Our first research cycle — operator surveys, case studies, and direct lessons learned — is underway now. Everything we learn will be published openly.

Board of Directors

Trent Bigelow

Director

Co-founder and former CEO of Abound (acquired by NYSE: BILL). Beachheads Advisor to New Zealand's entrepreneurship agency, NZTE and Board Member at Code for America. Positions that give a consistent pulse on entrepreneurship.

Alexander Cram

Director

Co-founder and former CTO of Abound (acquired by NYSE: BILL); a platform built for the rise of independent work and its compliance demands. He brings that firsthand experience to the next shift in work: human-agent teams.

Rebecca Carr

Director

CEO of SmartRecruiters (acquired by NYSE: SAP). Having led a company at the center of how organizations build teams, Rebecca brings an expert perspective on what changes when AI agents join the workforce.

“Entrepreneurship is the most direct path to economic independence, and agentic tools should be open to anyone with the drive to build.”

Open Frontiers Foundation — Founding Thesis

Leading human-agent teams?

If you're an operator building with human-agent workforces and want to participate in our first research cycle, please get in touch.

Get in Touch