First, we wanted to think about how we could improve our testing methodology - how do we ensure we get the most accurate results from the most reputable labs for the most important products? What do people care about seeing on labs? What do they love, and what's missing?

Second, we wanted to come up with a plan to keep afloat financially. How can we continue operating and serving the community without compromising on our values, while also making enough money to be cash-flow positive? How can you all help support us financially in ways other than simply donating (which, frankly, people don't do)? Is it possible to monetize in a way that avoids a perverse incentive system and maintains public trust in our results?

Let's look at what we came up with.

New Testing Methodology

First and foremost, we will continue testing the most relevant products in the space. There are major two improvements to the testing process that we are excited to share today.

Pseudo Testing

First, both Cora and Anresco are now able to test for pseudo, which has been a long-awaited capability. Going forward, all lab results will show how much pseudo a product has.

We will also start factoring in the amount of pseudo a product has to their letter grade, as well as releasing grades for pseudo-only products (which we previously gave a letter grade of "n/a"). This is all in an effort to uphold honesty and transparency across products in the space.

Adulterant Testing

In addition, Cora (but not yet Anresco) is able to run a full adulterant panel to test for really dangerous chemicals such as fentanyl and amphetamines. We've received feedback that certain products are causing concerning side effects that suggest they might contain adulterants, and in those cases we have run this special test in additional to the usual potency and solvent panels.

This test is quite a bit more expensive than the standard panel, so we are only doing adulterant testing on the very popular brands and on some smaller brands that we have received specific feedback for. However, we hope to be more financially secure soon to the point that we can run adulterant testing on every product.

Affiliate Program

When we first came up with the vision for TestMyKratom last summer, we didn’t think too hard about how to monetize. We set aside some money for this project, and figured that when we ran out of money we would just shut things down. Hopefully, we thought, by the time we had to shut down, we would have already done our part in helping the space.

What we didn’t anticipate was the outpouring of support for our project from you all. As a result, we’ve tried very hard to stretch our budget as long as we could and brainstorm ways to stay afloat. We’ve decided that the best path forward for us is to establish an affiliate program. You can read more about it here.