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Terms of Service

Last updated: August 22, 2026

1. Acceptance of terms

By creating an account or using StartupBar, you agree to these Terms of Service.

2. The service

StartupBar is a mutual traffic-exchange network for software founders. Members embed a widget on their site that displays another member's startup. In return, their own startup is displayed on other members' sites. Taking part in the exchange is free. We also offer optional paid products: additional startup listings and a Featured spot promotion, described in section 12 and on our Pricing page.

3. Eligibility

  • You must be 13 years of age or older.
  • You must be the owner or authorised representative of the startup you submit.
  • Your startup must have a live, publicly accessible website.

4. Application & approval

All submissions are reviewed before going live. We reserve the right to approve or reject any application at our sole discretion.

5. Widget obligation

By joining, you agree to keep the StartupBar embed script active on your site while your startup is in the network. Removing the widget while still receiving impressions from other members violates these terms. This obligation does not apply to startups on an active Supporter membership (section 13), which fund the network instead of displaying the bar.

6. Acceptable use

You may not submit content promoting illegal products, adult content, gambling, hate speech, spam, or anything violating Google's or Apple's developer policies. Artificially inflating impression or click counts is grounds for immediate removal.

7. Intellectual property

You retain ownership of your startup name, logo, and description. By submitting them, you grant StartupBar a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to display them within the network, on StartupBar pages, and in featured placements you purchase.

8. No warranties

The Service is provided "as is". We do not guarantee a specific volume of impressions, clicks, visits, signups, or revenue, for free listings or for paid featured placements.

9. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, StartupBar shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages. Where liability cannot be excluded, it is limited to the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim.

10. Termination

You may remove your startup at any time from your Account page. To close your account entirely, email hello@startupbar.co and we'll delete it for you. If we remove a startup for a breach of these terms, any active featured subscription for that startup is cancelled without refund.

11. Paid listings

Your first startup listing is free. Each additional listing on the same account is a one-time payment of $9.99 USD, charged before the listing is submitted for review. Payment does not guarantee approval; if we reject a paid listing on grounds other than a breach of these terms, we will apply the payment to a replacement listing.

12. Featured spot promotion

  • A Featured spot is an optional paid promotion that costs $79 USD and renews automatically every 30 days until cancelled.
  • There are 8 spots in total. Spots are booked on a first come, first served basis and one account may hold one active featured subscription at a time.
  • A featured startup appears as a sidebar card on StartupBar pages and is highlighted in the network list and leaderboard for the paid period.
  • A featured spot affects presentation on StartupBar pages only. It does not change widget delivery on member sites, reciprocity weighting, leaderboard position, or recorded impression and click counts.
  • Your startup must be approved and remain compliant with these terms for the spot to stay live.
  • You may cancel at any time from your dashboard or Account page. Cancellation stops the next renewal; the spot stays live until the end of the period already paid for.
  • We may end a featured spot early and refund the unused period on a pro rata basis if we need to remove the placement for legal, security, or policy reasons.
  • We may change featured pricing, the number of spots, or where featured cards appear. Changes apply from your next renewal.

13. Supporter membership

  • Supporter membership is an optional annual subscription of $1,999 USD that lets an approved startup stay in the network without displaying the StartupBar bar on its own website. It renews yearly until cancelled and replaces the widget obligation in section 5 for that startup while it is active.
  • A Supporter is delivered across member sites at an average contributing member’s share: never more than the average, and never starved. Paying replaces contributing traffic; it does not stack with it.
  • Supporter listings are highlighted in gold on the network page and the leaderboard and carry a Supporter tag. This is a visual treatment only. It does not change delivery volume, reciprocity weighting, leaderboard ranking, featured spots or StartupBid.
  • An optional analytics script may be placed on your site. It displays nothing to your visitors and only unlocks your own visitor map and on-site statistics. Your listing stays active whether or not you install it.
  • You may switch back to the free bar, or cancel renewal, at any time from your dashboard or Account page. Cancellation stops the next renewal; the paid year continues to the end of the term. Switching back to the bar early does not create a refund.
  • When the paid term ends without renewal, the startup returns to the normal free membership and the widget obligation in section 5 applies again.
  • Payments are final and non-refundable except as stated in section 15. We may change Supporter pricing or terms; changes apply from your next renewal.

14. StartupBid

  • StartupBid is a separate, optional paid product at /startupbid. It is not part of the traffic-exchange network and requires no widget install, no application review, and no account.
  • Anyone may submit a website or social handle and pay to have it listed on the board. New listings start from $5 USD; an entry already on the board can be topped up from $1 USD.
  • Ranking is determined solely by cumulative total spend on an entry. Multiple payments for the same domain or handle are merged into one entry and added together. Anyone can outbid any entry at any time, so a position is never guaranteed or permanent.
  • StartupBid is a paid advertising placement. It is not a contest, prize draw, lottery, sweepstake or game of chance: there is no prize, no random element, and every payment buys a listing whose position is determined solely by the total amount paid. Your listing goes live as soon as payment is confirmed.
  • Bids are one-time payments, not subscriptions. Because the listing is delivered immediately, we do not offer refunds for a change of mind, for being outbid, or for a position falling. Payments are processed by Dodo Payments as merchant of record and any refund request is handled under their policy; where a payment is refunded or charged back, the corresponding amount is removed from the entry total and the entry may be delisted.
  • By submitting an entry you confirm you have the right to promote that site or handle, and you grant us a licence to display its name, icon, description and URL on the board. Entries whose destination breaches section 6 (acceptable use), is unreachable, or misleads about the site being promoted may be removed without refund.
  • Descriptions and icons are fetched automatically from the destination site's public metadata. We do not guarantee this data is complete or accurate.
  • Click counts shown on the board are our own measurements and may differ from your analytics. We do not guarantee any volume of clicks, visits or conversions from a bid.
  • Outbound links from the board carry StartupBar attribution parameters. We may change pricing, minimum amounts, board layout, or discontinue StartupBid at any time; entries already paid for stay on the board while it operates.

15. Billing & refunds

Payments are processed by Dodo Payments, our merchant of record. Prices are in US dollars and applicable taxes are shown at checkout. Payments are final and we do not offer refunds, except where stated in section 12, where Dodo Payments grants a refund under its own merchant-of-record policy, or where required by law. Full details are on the Pricing page.

16. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms at any time. Continued use constitutes acceptance.

17. Contact

Questions? Email hello@startupbar.co.