Privacy Policy

Information you provide directly

When you subscribe to our newsletter, submit a story pitch, fill out our contact form, or create an account, we collect information such as your name, email address, company name, job title, and any content you choose to share with us.

Information collected automatically

When you visit StoryOfFounder.com, we automatically collect certain technical information including your IP address, browser type and version, operating system, referral URLs, pages visited, time spent on pages, and device identifiers. This information is collected through cookies and similar tracking technologies.

Information from third parties

We may receive information about you from third-party services such as social media platforms (if you choose to share our content or interact with our social accounts), analytics providers, and advertising partners. This information is used only in accordance with the permissions you have granted those third parties.

To deliver our services

We use your email address and name to send you The Founder Brief newsletter (if subscribed), transactional emails such as submission confirmations and responses to your enquiries, and notifications about content relevant to your interests.

To improve our platform

We analyse aggregated, anonymised data about how readers interact with our content to identify what is most useful, improve our editorial coverage, and develop new features. This analysis never identifies you as an individual.

To communicate with you

If you submit a story pitch or contact us, we use your information to respond to your request. We may also reach out to founders who have been covered in our publication for follow-up interviews or updates, where we believe it serves a legitimate editorial purpose.

To comply with legal obligations

We retain and process certain information as required by applicable law, including for tax, accounting, and anti-fraud purposes.

What cookies we use

We use essential cookies required for the website to function (such as session cookies), analytics cookies to understand how readers use the site (via services like Google Analytics), and preference cookies to remember your settings. We do not use advertising cookies to build profiles for third-party ad targeting.

Your cookie choices

You may disable non-essential cookies through your browser settings or via the Cookie Settings link in our footer. Disabling cookies may affect the functionality of certain features on the site. We honour browser Do Not Track signals where technically feasible.

We do not sell your data

StoryOfFounder.com does not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for their own marketing purposes. Full stop.

Service providers

We share limited information with trusted service providers who help us operate our platform — including our email delivery provider (used to send the newsletter), cloud hosting infrastructure, and analytics tools. These providers are contractually bound to process your data only on our behalf and in accordance with our instructions.

Editorial publication

If you submit a story pitch and we choose to cover your story, any information you have explicitly shared for publication — your name, company, quotes, and professional background — will be published on StoryOfFounder.com and may be indexed by search engines. We will always notify you before publishing.

Legal requirements

We may disclose your information if required by law, court order, or governmental authority, or if we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of StoryOfFounder.com, our readers, or the public.

How long we keep your data

We retain your email address and newsletter preferences for as long as you remain subscribed, and for up to 12 months after unsubscription to comply with legal obligations and prevent re-subscription errors. Story pitch submissions and contact form messages are retained for up to 3 years for editorial record-keeping. Automatically collected technical data is typically retained for 26 months.

Deletion requests

You may request deletion of your personal data at any time by emailing us at privacy@storyoffounder.com. We will action your request within 30 days, subject to any legal retention obligations that may apply.

Access and portability

You have the right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you, in a commonly used, machine-readable format.

Correction

If any information we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete, you have the right to request that we correct it.

Deletion

You have the right to request that we delete your personal data, subject to any legal obligations that require us to retain it.

Objection and restriction

You have the right to object to certain types of processing, including direct marketing. You may also request that we restrict processing of your data while a complaint is being resolved.

Withdrawing consent

Where processing is based on your consent (such as newsletter subscriptions), you may withdraw that consent at any time. Every newsletter email contains a one-click unsubscribe link.

How to exercise your rights

To exercise any of these rights, please email us at privacy@storyoffounder.com. We will respond within 30 days. If you are located in the European Union or United Kingdom, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

How we protect your data

We implement industry-standard technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information, including TLS encryption for data in transit, access controls limiting who within our organisation can access personal data, and regular security assessments of our infrastructure.

Breach notification

In the event of a data breach that affects your personal information, we will notify you and relevant regulatory authorities as required by applicable law, without undue delay.

Our website contains links to third-party websites, including founder companies, investors, and partner publications. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of any third-party site you visit.

StoryOfFounder.com is not directed to individuals under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at privacy@storyoffounder.com and we will delete it promptly.

StoryOfFounder.com operates globally. Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your country of residence. Where we transfer personal data from the European Economic Area or United Kingdom, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the relevant authority.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will notify newsletter subscribers by email and post a prominent notice on the site for at least 30 days. The 'Last Updated' date at the top of this page reflects when the most recent changes were made. Continued use of StoryOfFounder.com after the effective date of any changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our handling of your personal data, please contact our Privacy Team at privacy@storyoffounder.com. We aim to respond to all privacy enquiries within 5 business days.