Terms and Conditions

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using Founders Today ("the Platform", "founderstoday.org", "we", "our", "us"), you agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions ("Terms"). These Terms govern your use of all features including the community feed, product launch system, anchor member system, advertising platform, and any related services.

If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not use the platform. Continued use of the platform after any updates to these Terms constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

We reserve the right to update these Terms at any time. When material changes are made, we will notify registered users by email and display a notice on the platform.

2. Eligibility and Account Registration

To create an account on Founders Today, you must:

• Be at least 13 years of age. Users between 13 and 18 should have parental consent.
• Provide accurate, truthful, and current information during registration.
• Maintain the accuracy of your account information over time.
• Not create an account if you have previously been banned from the platform.

2.1 Account Security

You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials. You must not share your password or allow others to access your account. You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account, whether authorised by you or not.

If you believe your account has been compromised, contact us immediately at hello@founderstoday.org.

2.2 One Account Per Person

Each person may maintain only one account. Creating multiple accounts to circumvent restrictions, boost engagement, or misrepresent your presence is prohibited and will result in all accounts being suspended or banned.

3. Content Ownership and Platform Licence

You retain full ownership of all content you create on Founders Today. This includes posts, comments, product launch descriptions, images, and other material you submit.

By posting content on the platform, you grant Founders Today a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to:

• Display and distribute your content to other users of the platform.
• Index your public content for search and discovery features.
• Include your content in social previews, embeds, and SEO indexing.
• Use your content to generate aggregate, anonymised insights about platform trends.

This licence does not allow us to sell your content to third parties or use it outside the context of operating the platform. You may request deletion of your content at any time, subject to Section 13 (Account Termination and Data Retention).

3.1 Content Representations

By posting content, you represent and warrant that:

• You own or have the right to share the content.
• The content does not infringe any third-party intellectual property, privacy, or other rights.
• The content is accurate and not intentionally misleading.

4. Posts: Rules and Conduct

The community feed is for founders, builders, operators, and people who care about meaningful progress. The following rules apply to all posts and comments:

4.1 Required Standards

• Posts must be genuine, relevant to building products or running a startup, and add value to the community.
• Post titles must accurately represent the content. Clickbait, misleading titles, and sensationalised headlines are prohibited.
• External links must be disclosed. Do not embed promotional links without context.
• Posts must be in English or include an English summary for accessibility by the broader community.

4.2 Prohibited Post Content

• Spam or repetitive self-promotion without community value
• Fabricated metrics, false traction, fake testimonials, or misleading product claims
• Hate speech, threats, harassment, or content targeting protected characteristics
• Illegal content, piracy, or promotion of prohibited activities
• Content containing malware, phishing links, or harmful scripts
• Impersonation of any person, company, or brand
• Posting private conversations or personal information without consent
• Adult content, graphic violence, or any content prohibited by law

4.3 Posting Frequency

To protect feed quality, members are limited to a reasonable number of posts per day (currently 3). This limit may be adjusted as the platform evolves.

4.4 Moderation Rights

We reserve the right to remove, edit, or restrict any post or comment that violates these Terms or our Community Guidelines, at our sole discretion and without prior notice.

5. Product Launch Submissions

The Product Launch section allows members to publish their products for community discovery. The following additional rules apply to all product submissions:

5.1 Accuracy Requirements

• Product names, descriptions, taglines, and all fields must accurately reflect the actual product.
• Metrics such as user counts, revenue, waitlist sizes, or funding must be real and verifiable.
• Gallery images and demo videos must show the actual product, not mockups represented as live.
• Pricing information must be current and accurate at the time of submission.

5.2 Submission Integrity

• Each product may only be submitted once. Duplicate submissions will be removed.
• You must be the founder, owner, or an authorised representative of the product you submit.
• Submissions for products you do not control or that do not exist are prohibited.
• You may not submit products primarily designed to harm users, spread misinformation, or facilitate illegal activities.

5.3 Review Process

All product submissions go through a review process. Our team evaluates submissions for compliance with these Terms and our Community Guidelines. We reserve the right to reject, unpublish, or modify any product listing that does not meet our standards. Decisions by the review team are final.

5.4 Updates and Maintenance

You are responsible for keeping your product page accurate and up to date. Products that are discontinued, materially changed, or abandoned should be updated accordingly. We may remove listings for products that are no longer active after reasonable notice to the submitting founder.

6. Anchor Member System

The Anchor Member system allows members to follow ("anchor") other founders whose work they want to follow closely. The following rules apply:

6.1 Authentic Anchoring

• Anchoring must represent genuine interest in another member's work.
• You must not use bots, scripts, or automation to increase your anchor count.
• You must not offer incentives (financial, social, or otherwise) to persuade others to anchor you.
• You must not pressure, spam, or manipulate other members into anchoring you.
• Engagement pods or coordinated mutual-anchoring schemes are prohibited.

6.2 Builders to Anchor (Paid Recommendation)

The paid "Builders to Anchor" advertising feature adds your profile to the onboarding recommendation list shown to new users. This placement must be used in good faith:

• Your profile must be genuine, complete, and represent real work.
• You may not misrepresent your identity, credentials, or achievements to new users.
• Placement in this list does not guarantee any specific number of anchors.

6.3 Anchor Count Integrity

We monitor anchor activity for unusual patterns. Accounts with suspicious anchor growth may be subject to review, anchor count adjustment, or suspension.

7. Advertising and Sponsored Content

Founders Today offers advertising products to brands and founders. By purchasing or enquiring about advertising, you agree to the following:

• All advertising content must be accurate, non-deceptive, and comply with applicable advertising standards.
• We reserve the right to reject or remove any advertising content that violates our standards, community values, or these Terms, without refund.
• Advertising content must be clearly distinguishable as sponsored where required by law.
• Advertisers may not target users based on sensitive personal characteristics.
• Payment terms and refund policies will be specified at the time of purchase. All sales are final unless we fail to deliver the agreed placement.

All advertising enquiries are subject to approval. We do not guarantee advertising availability and reserve the right to decline any advertiser at our discretion.

8. Prohibited Conduct

The following conduct is strictly prohibited across all features of Founders Today:

• Using the platform in any way that violates applicable local, national, or international laws
• Automated scraping, crawling, or harvesting of user data or content without written permission
• Attempting to circumvent, disable, or interfere with platform security features
• Distributing malware, viruses, or any harmful software through the platform
• Attempting to gain unauthorised access to other user accounts or platform systems
• Using the platform to send unsolicited communications (spam) to other users
• Reverse-engineering, decompiling, or attempting to extract source code from the platform
• Creating a competing platform using content, data, or infrastructure from Founders Today
• Impersonating Founders Today staff, moderators, or administrators
• Any activity designed to manipulate platform metrics, rankings, or content visibility

9. Enforcement, Violations, and Appeals

We take the quality and safety of the Founders Today community seriously. Violations of these Terms or our Community Guidelines will result in moderation action.

9.1 Violation Tiers

Tier 1: Warning or Content Removal: Minor first violations such as a low-quality post, a comment that borderlines harassment, or a missing disclosure. We may remove the content and issue a warning. No account restriction.

Tier 2: Suspension: Moderate or repeated Tier 1 violations, clear rule-breaking, spam activity, manipulated metrics, or behaviour that harms the community experience. The account is temporarily restricted from posting, commenting, and core platform features. Duration is at our discretion (typically 7 to 30 days).

Tier 3: Permanent Ban: Repeated Tier 2 violations, severe single offences (illegal content, coordinated manipulation, hate speech, impersonation of platform staff, serious harassment), or any attempt to circumvent a previous suspension. The account is permanently terminated with no possibility of reinstatement.

9.2 Immediate Bans (Zero Tolerance)

The following will result in an immediate permanent ban without warning:

• Distribution of child sexual abuse material or any content sexualising minors
• Credible threats of violence against specific individuals
• Coordinated inauthentic behaviour at scale (bot networks, purchased engagement rings)
• Doxxing (publishing private personal information to harm someone)
• Impersonating platform administrators or moderators

9.3 Appeals

If you believe a moderation action was taken in error, you may appeal by emailing hello@founderstoday.org with the subject line "Moderation Appeal" and a clear explanation of your case. We aim to review all appeals within 7 business days. Our decision on appeal is final.

9.4 Reporting Violations

If you observe content or behaviour that violates these Terms, please report it via our Report page or by emailing report@founderstoday.org.

10. Intellectual Property

The Founders Today name, logo, design system, and all platform-original content are owned by Founders Today and protected by intellectual property laws. You may not use our branding, trademarks, or proprietary content without written permission.

10.1 DMCA and Copyright Complaints

If you believe your copyright has been infringed by content on Founders Today, please send a DMCA takedown notice to legal@founderstoday.org including:

• A description of the copyrighted work you claim has been infringed
• The URL of the infringing content on our platform
• Your contact information
• A statement that you have a good faith belief the use is not authorised
• A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information is accurate and you are authorised to act on behalf of the copyright owner

We will review all valid DMCA notices and respond within 14 business days.

11. Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability

Founders Today is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, express or implied. We do not warrant that the platform will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free of viruses or harmful components.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law:

• We disclaim all warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.
• We are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the platform.
• Our total liability for any claim arising from these Terms shall not exceed the amount you paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim, or $100 USD, whichever is greater.
• We are not responsible for content posted by users. User-generated content represents the views of individual users, not Founders Today.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or limitations on liability, so the above may not apply fully in your jurisdiction.

12. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Founders Today and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including legal fees) arising out of or in connection with:

• Your use of the platform or violation of these Terms
• Content you post or submit to the platform
• Your violation of any third-party rights, including intellectual property or privacy rights
• Any claim that your content caused damage to a third party

13. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with applicable laws, without regard to conflict of law provisions. Any disputes arising under these Terms shall be resolved through good-faith negotiation first, followed by binding arbitration if negotiation fails, under rules agreed upon in writing by both parties.

If any provision of these Terms is held to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

14. Account Termination and Data Retention

You may delete your account at any time by contacting hello@founderstoday.org.

We may terminate or suspend your account at any time if you violate these Terms. Upon termination:

• Your access to the platform will be revoked immediately.
• Your profile data will be deleted or anonymised within 30 days.
• Posts and product pages you created may be anonymised to preserve community discussion integrity.
• We may retain data required by law or for fraud prevention for up to 2 years.

See our Privacy Policy for full details on data retention after account deletion.

15. Changes to These Terms

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. When we make material changes, we will notify registered users by email at least 14 days before the changes take effect, and display a notice on the platform.

Continued use of the platform after the effective date of changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated Terms.

16. Contact

For questions about these Terms, contact our legal team:

• Email: legal@founderstoday.org
• General support: hello@founderstoday.org

We aim to respond to all legal inquiries within 10 business days.