How Uptick Board works
One board. Every AI category has a ticker and one top spot. A company holds the top spot because it has paid the most for it, and everyone can see what that cost. Here is how that works before the Open, at the Open, and every day after.
The board in one minute
Uptick Board lists 186 AI categories across 16 layers, from compute and silicon up to capital. Each category has a three- or four-letter ticker. GRAG is GraphRAG, FDE is Forward deployed engineer, AIVC is AI venture capital.
Each category has one top spot. The company in it is the holder. The holder's name, logo and link run on the board, on the category page, in the ticker tape and in the public feed. Placements are paid advertising, labelled as sponsored, and we say so on every page.
- Stake Payment
- A single payment for placement in a category. The first one in a category is at least $250; every payment is in whole ticks.
- Tick
- $25. Every price on the board moves in ticks.
- Total Stake
- Everything a company has paid in a category, added up. It is the company's rank, not a balance: it can't be withdrawn, moved or redeemed.
- Holder
- The company with the highest Total Stake in a category. Ties go to whoever reached that Total Stake first.
- Claim Price
- The holder's Total Stake plus one tick. That is what it costs to take the top spot, less anything you have already paid in that category.
- Leaderboard
- Every company with a Total Stake in a category, ranked. Being passed doesn't remove you; it moves you down.
- Founding holder
- The first company ever to hold a category. A permanent line on the category page, with the month and year. One per category, forever.
Before the Open: the Opening Bell
Every category is unlisted until Sat 10 Oct. Rather than let the first company through the door take every top spot for $250, we open the board with a sealed round: the Opening Bell.
1. Submit a sealed stake
From Tue 29 Sep, pick a category and enter a sealed stake: the most your company will pay to hold it at the Open. Minimum $250, in $25 ticks. You submit it from an email address at your company's own domain, save a card, and tick the agreement. Nothing is charged when you submit.
One sealed stake per company per category, as many categories as you like. Companies under common control count as one.
2. Change your mind until the Lock
The link in your confirmation email lets you raise, lower or withdraw a sealed stake any time before the Lock, Fri 9 Oct · 12:00 AM PT. After the Lock nothing can be submitted or changed.
3. What is public, and what isn't
Each category page shows how many sealed stakes it has, from the first one. Amounts and company names stay confidential until the Open, and amounts that are never charged stay confidential forever. Uptick and its affiliates never submit sealed stakes.
4. The Open
At Sat 10 Oct · 12:00 AM PT, in every category with a sealed stake:
- The highest sealed stake takes the top spot. Equal amounts go to whoever reached that amount first.
- The holder pays one tick above the second-highest sealed stake, never more than its own. If nobody else submitted one, the holder pays $250.
- That payment is the holder's Total Stake and sets the Claim Price. Nobody else is charged, and their sealed stakes expire.
WORKED EXAMPLE · GRAG · THREE SEALED STAKES
| Company | Sealed stake | At the Open |
|---|---|---|
| Lattice Graph | $1,200 | Takes #1. Pays $825: one tick above $800. |
| Northwind | $800 | Not charged. Sealed stake expires. |
| Rivet | $250 | Not charged. Sealed stake expires. |
Result: Lattice Graph holds GRAG with a Total Stake of $825 and is its founding holder. The Claim Price is $850. Its sealed stake of $1,200 is never disclosed.
WORKED EXAMPLE · ONE SEALED STAKE
| Company | Sealed stake | At the Open |
|---|---|---|
| Rivet | $2,000 | Takes #1. Pays $250, the opening price. |
Result: A sealed stake protects you against a competitor, not against yourself. With no second sealed stake, the top spot costs the opening price.
5. Payment at the Open
The saved card is charged the amount above. If the charge fails, the company has 24 hours to complete payment; the category shows as awaiting payment meanwhile. If it isn't completed, the top spot passes to the next sealed stake and the same rule is applied again.
Sealed stakes of $5,000 or more can choose a Stripe invoice at the Open instead of a card, payable by ACH within 3 business days. We verify invoiced companies before the Lock.
Categories with no sealed stake simply go live at the Open at $250.
From the Open: the live board
After Sat 10 Oct every category runs the same way, forever. There are no rounds, no end dates and no renewals.
Taking the top spot
The Claim Price is always the holder's Total Stake plus one tick. You pay the difference between the Claim Price and whatever you have already paid in that category. Pay it and you are the holder the moment the payment clears, usually within a minute.
Being passed
When another company's Total Stake goes above yours, you are passed: they hold the top spot, you move down the leaderboard, and we email you. Your Total Stake still counts. Retaking the top spot costs the difference, not the whole price again.
WORKED EXAMPLE · GRAG · AFTER THE OPEN
| Step | Payment | Board |
|---|---|---|
| Lattice Graph holds GRAG from the Open | — | Total Stake $825 · Claim Price $850 |
| Northwind takes #1 | $850 | Northwind $850 holds · Lattice Graph $825 passed · Claim Price $875 |
| Lattice Graph retakes #1 | $50 | Lattice Graph $875 holds · Northwind $850 · Claim Price $900 |
Every dollar stays on the board. Northwind's $850 keeps counting; taking the top spot back would cost it $50, not $900.
Standing stakes
If you don't want to watch the board, set a standing stake at checkout: a Cap on your Total Stake. When you are passed, we charge the difference needed to go one tick above the new holder and you keep the top spot, as long as the result is within your Cap. If a reclaim would go above the Cap, nothing is charged; you stay at your rank and we tell you.
When two companies both have standing stakes, the board doesn't ping-pong. It settles in one step: the higher Cap holds, charged to one tick above the other Cap, never above its own. The other company isn't charged. Equal Caps go to whoever set theirs first.
WORKED EXAMPLE · STANDING STAKES
| Step | Charged | Board |
|---|---|---|
| Lattice Graph sets a Cap of $1,500 | — | Lattice Graph $875 holds |
| Northwind pays the Claim Price | $50 (Northwind) | Northwind $900 for a moment… |
| Standing stake reclaims | $50 (Lattice Graph) | Lattice Graph $925 holds · Northwind $900 · Claim Price $950 |
| Northwind sets a Cap of $1,200 | $300 (Lattice Graph) | Settled in one step: Lattice Graph $1,225 holds · Northwind $900, not charged |
Receipts for every charge. Each standing stake email shows the amount, your new Total Stake, your rank and the room left under your Cap, with a link to raise, lower or cancel it.
Invoices, holds and awaiting payment
Under $5,000, checkout is by card and the price is held for 15 minutes while you pay. At $5,000 or more you can take a Stripe invoice instead, payable by ACH within 3 business days. An invoice doesn't hold the top spot: if another company moves first, your payment still counts toward your Total Stake and retaking the top spot costs only the difference. An unpaid invoice is cancelled and nothing is owed.
Withdrawing, and delisting
A company can withdraw from a category at any time. Its placement and listing go, its Total Stake resets to zero, and the Claim Price stays where it was until someone pays it. Nothing is refunded.
A placement is delisted only when a payment is reversed after it counted: a chargeback we lose or a returned bank payment. The category is marked delisted, the only red on the board, until the next Stake Payment in it. There are no editorial removals for being unfashionable, and no category is ever retired from sale.
Money
- No refunds. Every Stake Payment is a fee for placement and is fully earned when paid: when you're passed, when you withdraw, when a category changes.
- No renewals. Nothing expires. The only way to spend more is to be passed and choose to retake.
- Public by design. Holders, Total Stakes, Claim Prices and history are public, on the board and in the feed.
- Late payments aren't refunded either. We hold them as credit toward your next Stake Payment.
- Taxes are excluded from prices.
What this is not
The board borrows the look and vocabulary of an exchange because that is the clearest way to show what a placement costs and who holds it. A placement is advertising: a limited right to have your name shown in a spot on the board. It isn't a security, a token, a deposit or a prize. It doesn't change in value, it doesn't pay out, and it can't be sold, transferred or held for someone else. Prices reflect what advertisers have paid for placement, nothing more.
The full terms are in the Sponsorship Agreement. Questions: desk@uptickboard.com.