FILE 04 · ABOUT Plano, TX · 2026 · small on purpose
A small practice
that signs its work.
ASSAY is the verification practice of JourdanLabs. JourdanLabs is a research and engineering shop in Plano, Texas. We stood ASSAY up as its own practice in 2026 because verification work is different from engineering work — different clock, different deliverable, different failure mode — and pretending otherwise makes both worse.
The practice is deliberately small. We take engagements we can name a reviewer for. We keep the standard checklist public. We publish the tool. When a check gets standardized enough to hand off, we hand it off — to a script, or to another firm — and we go find the next one.
The people who sign the receipts
-
01
Leland Jourdan II — Founder, CEO & CTO
Signs verdicts. Designed and wrote the engines the practice runs. -
02
Charles Jourdan — Chief Strategy Officer
Leads the ASSAY practice. Scoping, engagement letters, delivery. -
03
Chuck Hessel — Chief Operating Officer & Chief Legal Officer
Houston trial and appellate attorney. Nine years as an executive officer and general counsel. -
04
Lee Jourdan — Chairman
Former Chevron officer; independent director, PROS Holdings, 2021–2025. -
05
Outside counsel & licensed reviewers
Named per-engagement when a receipt requires them. Not on staff.
What JourdanLabs is
JourdanLabs is a small independent lab. We build tools — the kind that either work or don’t — and we do a specific kind of engineering that the market calls “research” because it doesn’t know where else to put it. ASSAY is our public-facing verification practice. Other JourdanLabs work is under NDA or under construction.
We are located in Plano, TX. Hiring follows the current round. When it opens, it opens on this page first.
Numbers on the practice
| Client engagements sealed | 0 |
| Unsolicited verifications sealed (unpaid) | 1 |
| Prices published | 2026-09 |
| Self-audits run on our own tool | 1 |
| Self-audits our own tool certified | 0 / 1 |
| Receipts published | 2 |
| Public benchmark boards, losses included | donttrustme.ai |
Numbers current as of 2026-09-18. The practice opened for engagements this month; these prices are published, not booked. Recomputed from the receipt ledger as receipts exist; the ledger is the source of truth.
What are you trying to verify?