Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Venture (“we,” “our,” or “us”) operates the Venture platform at myventure.dev (the “Service”). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website and use our services.

We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your data in an open and transparent manner. This policy applies to all information collected through our Service, as well as any related services, sales, marketing, or events.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Information You Provide Directly

We collect information you voluntarily provide when using our Service:

Account Information

• Email address - Used for account creation, authentication, and communications
• Password - Securely hashed and stored for authentication
• Display name and username - Your public identity on the platform

Profile Information

• Bio - Your personal or professional description
• Avatar/Profile photo - Your profile picture
• Website URL - Your personal or company website
• Social media links - Twitter handle, LinkedIn URL, GitHub URL
• Referral source - How you discovered Venture

Startup Information

• Startup name, tagline, and description
• Logo and branding images
• Website URL
• Category and business model
• Pricing model
• Team size
• Launch date
• Tech stack
• Target audience
• Acquisition channels
• Lessons learned and challenges

Business Metrics

• Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)
• Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)
• Customer count
• User count
• Growth rate
• Churn rate
• Profit

User-Generated Content

• Startup updates - Progress posts and announcements
• Comments and feedback - On startup profiles
• Community posts - Discussions in communities
• Post comments - Replies to community posts
• Feedback submissions - Bug reports and feature requests

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you access the Service, we automatically collect certain information:

Usage and Analytics Data

• Page views - Pages you visit on the Service
• Session data - When sessions start, activity timestamps, page view counts
• Startup views - Which startup profiles you view
• Interaction data - Likes/bookmarks, follows, comments, votes
• Last seen timestamp - When you were last active

Device and Technical Data

• IP address - Hashed for view tracking and security
• Browser type and version
• Device type - Desktop, mobile, tablet
• Operating system
• Referring URL - How you arrived at our Service
• Time zone and locale

2.3 Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to collect and track information:

• Essential cookies - Required for authentication and security
• Session cookies - Maintain your login state
• Preference cookies - Remember your settings and preferences
• Analytics cookies - Help us understand how users interact with the Service

We track your cookie consent preferences and store them securely. You can control cookie preferences through our cookie consent banner or your browser settings.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

3.1 Providing and Improving the Service

• Create and manage your account
• Display your public profile and startup information
• Power the Discover, Trending, and Growth features
• Enable community features (posts, comments, voting)
• Process and display metrics data
• Generate startup rankings and leaderboards
• Track startup views and engagement statistics
• Improve and optimize the Service

3.2 Communications

• Send account verification emails
• Send password reset emails
• Send welcome emails to new users
• Deliver notifications about activity on your content (follows, comments, likes)
• Respond to your support inquiries and feedback
• Send important service announcements

3.3 Analytics and Research

• Analyze usage patterns and trends
• Generate aggregated statistics about the platform
• Understand user behavior to improve features
• Calculate weekly and monthly growth statistics

3.4 Security and Compliance

• Detect, prevent, and address fraud and abuse
• Protect the security of our users and the Service
• Enforce our Terms of Service
• Comply with legal obligations

4. Public Information

Venture is designed for founders who want to build in public. When you publish your profile or startups, the following information becomes publicly visible to all users and visitors:

• Your display name, username, bio, and avatar
• Your social media links (Twitter, LinkedIn, GitHub, website)
• Startup names, descriptions, logos, and categories
• Business metrics you choose to display (MRR, customers, growth, etc.)
• Startup updates and announcements
• Comments and feedback you post
• Community posts and replies
• Your follower and following relationships

You control what becomes public:

• You can set startups as public or private (unpublished)
• You can choose which metrics to display
• You can enable or disable revenue visibility per startup
• You can edit or delete your content at any time

5. Information Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell your personal information. We may share your information in the following circumstances:

5.1 Public Display

Information you choose to make public is visible to all users and visitors of the Service. This is a core feature of the “build in public” philosophy.

5.2 Service Providers

We use third-party service providers to operate the Service. These providers only have access to your information as necessary to perform their functions:

• Supabase - Database, authentication, and storage
• Vercel - Hosting and deployment
• Email service providers - Sending transactional and notification emails
• Analytics providers - Understanding usage patterns

5.3 Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., court order, subpoena, government request).

5.4 Protection of Rights

We may disclose your information to protect our rights, privacy, safety, or property, or that of our users or the public, as required or permitted by law.

5.5 Business Transfers

In the event of a merger, acquisition, reorganization, bankruptcy, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you of any such change in ownership or control.

6. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your information:

• Encryption in transit - All data transmitted using HTTPS/TLS
• Encryption at rest - Data stored encrypted in our databases
• Password hashing - Passwords are securely hashed, never stored in plain text
• Row Level Security (RLS) - Database-level access controls
• Secure authentication - Industry-standard authentication protocols
• Regular security updates - Keeping our systems up to date
• Access controls - Limited access to user data by personnel

However, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

7. Data Retention

We retain your information for as long as necessary to provide the Service and fulfill the purposes described in this Privacy Policy:

• Account data - Retained while your account is active
• Startup data - Retained while your account is active or until you delete the startup
• Metrics data - Retained while your account is active
• Comments and posts - Retained until you delete them or your account is deleted
• Analytics data - Retained for up to 24 months for analysis
• Backup data - May be retained in backups for up to 90 days after deletion

When you delete your account:

• Your personal data will be deleted within 30 days
• Some information may be retained for legal compliance or legitimate business purposes
• Aggregated, anonymized data may be retained indefinitely for analytics
• Content you posted in public communities may remain but will be disassociated from your identity

8. Your Rights and Choices

You have the following rights regarding your personal information:

8.1 Access and Portability

• View your personal information through your profile settings
• Request a copy of your data by contacting us

8.2 Correction

• Update your profile information at any time
• Edit your startup information and metrics
• Modify or delete your comments and posts

8.3 Deletion

• Delete individual startups
• Delete your comments and posts
• Delete your entire account and associated data

8.4 Control Over Public Information

• Set startups as public or private
• Control which metrics are visible
• Choose whether revenue information is displayed

8.5 Communications

• Manage notification preferences
• Opt out of non-essential communications

8.6 Cookies

• Accept or decline non-essential cookies through our consent banner
• Control cookies through your browser settings

9. Children's Privacy

Venture is not intended for children under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately at support@myventure.dev.

If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 18 without verification of parental consent, we will take steps to delete that information promptly.

10. International Data Transfers

Venture is operated from the United States. If you access the Service from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States and other countries where our service providers operate.

By using the Service, you consent to the transfer of your information to the United States and other countries, which may have different data protection laws than your country of residence.

11. European Users (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you have additional rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):

11.1 Legal Basis for Processing

We process your personal data based on the following legal grounds:

• Consent - For optional features like cookies and marketing communications
• Contract - To provide the Service as per our Terms
• Legitimate interests - For analytics, security, and service improvement
• Legal obligation - To comply with applicable laws

11.2 Your GDPR Rights

• Right to access - Request copies of your personal data
• Right to rectification - Request correction of inaccurate data
• Right to erasure - Request deletion of your data (“right to be forgotten”)
• Right to restrict processing - Request limitation of data processing
• Right to data portability - Request transfer of your data
• Right to object - Object to certain processing activities
• Right to withdraw consent - Withdraw consent at any time

To exercise these rights, please contact us at support@myventure.dev. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

12. California Users (CCPA)

If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA):

12.1 Right to Know

You have the right to request that we disclose:

• Categories of personal information we collect
• Sources of personal information
• Business purposes for collecting personal information
• Categories of third parties with whom we share personal information
• Specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you

12.2 Right to Delete

You have the right to request deletion of your personal information, subject to certain exceptions.

12.3 Right to Non-Discrimination

We will not discriminate against you for exercising your CCPA rights.

12.4 Do Not Sell My Personal Information

We do not sell personal information to third parties. We do not have actual knowledge of selling personal information of minors under 16 years of age.

13. Do Not Track

Some browsers have a “Do Not Track” feature that signals to websites that you do not want to have your online activity tracked. Currently, we do not respond to “Do Not Track” signals. If we do so in the future, we will update this Privacy Policy accordingly.

14. Third-Party Links

The Service may contain links to third-party websites, services, or applications. This Privacy Policy does not apply to those third-party services. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party services you access through our Service.

15. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by:

• Posting the updated Privacy Policy on this page
• Updating the “Last updated” date at the top of this policy
• Sending you an email notification for significant changes
• Displaying a prominent notice on the Service

Your continued use of the Service after any changes indicates your acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy.

16. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

• Email: support@myventure.dev
• Website: https://myventure.dev

We will respond to your inquiries within 30 days. For data protection inquiries from EU residents, we will respond within the timeframes required by GDPR.