Who and what this Policy covers.
Hype Star is responsible for the information described here. This Policy covers visitors, people who analyze, submit, claim, or promote a startup, profile owners, and people who contact us. It does not cover a startup’s website or another service reached through a profile link.
Hype Star is a startup directory, not a data broker. The launch version is designed around public business information, limited operational data, and private human review.
Information we collect.
- Information you provide: a startup URL, profile text and assets, contact email, ownership-verification details, campaign or referral details, and messages you send us.
- Technical and usage information: IP address and user-agent data used to create salted hashes, request headers, timestamps, pages or profiles requested, outbound startup-link events, and ordinary security and server logs.
- Startup information: company name, domain, category, tagline, description, source links, logo or icon candidates, homepage metadata, and review status.
- Future account information: if login is activated, email, display name, identity-provider details, hashed credentials or tokens, session metadata, verification status, and account-security events.
- Future transaction information: if paid features are activated, order amount, SKU, status, timestamps, and a payment-provider reference. The payment provider, not Hype Star, is expected to handle full card details.
We do not need sensitive personal information to create a startup profile. Please do not submit government identifiers, financial account credentials, health information, private login details, or other unnecessary sensitive information.
Public and owner-supplied sources.
We collect information directly from you, from your interaction with Hype Star, from a startup owner or representative, and from publicly available product homepages or approved sources and APIs. We may seed an unclaimed profile with public business information and a source link so founders can discover, correct, claim, or remove it.
The analyzer fetches only the submitted public homepage, checks robots instructions, and may extract structured data, title, meta description, headings, canonical URL, icons, and Open Graph fields. A separate isolated process may capture a fixed-viewport screenshot of that public page. Analyzer results and captures are private review artifacts unless a moderator confirms publication rights.
Why we use information.
- Provide, curate, categorize, review, publish, and maintain startup profiles and links.
- Create private analyzer drafts and communicate about submissions, claims, corrections, removal, or support.
- Verify owners, administer the Founding 250 and referral benefits, prevent duplicate claims, and enforce the public rules.
- Estimate active and daily visitors, deduplicate outbound clicks, produce basic referral reporting, and understand service performance.
- Operate, troubleshoot, secure, and improve the website, API, database, storage, and future shared-account system.
- Process optional paid services when enabled, maintain transaction records, prevent fraud, and meet legal obligations.
- Protect Hype Star, users, startups, rights holders, and the public; investigate misuse; and respond to lawful requests.
Where a legal basis is required, these uses rely as applicable on performing or preparing to perform a contract with you, Hype Star’s legitimate interests in operating a safe and useful directory, your consent, and compliance with legal obligations. You may withdraw consent for future processing where consent is the basis.
A profile is public; review materials are not.
Published startup profiles may show the company name, domain, website link, category, original editorial description, tags, public source information, claim status, disclosed sponsored position, and owner-approved assets. Public profile information can be indexed, copied, or reshared by other people and search engines.
A contact or verification email is not published unless you choose to include it in public profile material. Source descriptions are not republished verbatim as the Hype Star summary. Logo candidates, screenshots, extracted metadata, and provenance remain private during rights and editorial review unless publication is approved.
When information is disclosed.
- Public directory: approved profile information is disclosed as described above.
- Infrastructure providers: hosting, PostgreSQL database, private asset storage, email delivery, security, and similar vendors may process information to provide services to Hype Star.
- Payment provider: when paid features launch, checkout and payment information may be sent to the provider identified at checkout.
- Legal and safety: information may be disclosed when reasonably necessary to comply with law, enforce terms, investigate fraud or abuse, or protect rights and safety.
- Business change: information may be transferred as part of a financing, reorganization, sale, merger, or similar transaction, subject to appropriate confidentiality and notice where required.
The launch version does not use personal information to sell it or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. If that practice changes, we will update this Policy and provide any notice and controls required before the change applies.
Privacy-minded traffic measurement.
For the public traffic counter, Hype Star combines the requesting IP address and user agent with a secret salt and purpose label using a one-way keyed hash. The traffic hash rotates daily, so it is not a durable cross-day identifier. The database stores the hash, day, first- and last-seen times, and a view count. Known bots, previews, prefetches, and similar non-human requests are excluded where detected.
The same approach creates a purpose-separated daily hash to deduplicate clicks to a startup within a 30-minute window and to rate-limit analyzer requests. Hype Star does not use these hashes to follow you across unrelated websites or build an advertising profile. Ordinary hosting and security logs may still briefly contain network information according to provider configuration.
This launch code does not set advertising or third-party analytics cookies. If accounts are enabled, the website will use a secure first-party session mechanism and this Policy will be updated as needed before launch.
Retention and security follow the purpose.
We retain information only while reasonably needed to operate the directory and its counters, review and maintain a profile, provide requested services, document transactions or consent, resolve disputes, prevent abuse, and meet legal obligations. Daily traffic records may be retained to support the lifetime aggregate counter; the rotating hash prevents the counter from using one durable identifier across days. Analyzer jobs and private artifacts may be retained through moderation, rights review, and related disputes.
Retention periods vary because the service is pre-launch and the purpose and legal requirements differ by record. When information is no longer reasonably needed, we delete or de-identify it, subject to backup cycles and lawful preservation requirements.
We use administrative and technical safeguards appropriate to the information, including access controls, hashed tokens and visitor identifiers, private review storage, request limits, and network protections. No system is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Your choices and privacy rights.
You may ask to access, correct, delete, or receive a copy of personal information about you, or to object to or restrict certain processing, where applicable law provides that right. You may also request a correction, claim, or removal of a startup profile. Email hello@hypestar.org with enough detail to locate the relevant information.
We may need to verify your identity, authority, or relationship to a startup before acting. An authorized agent may submit a request where law permits, and we may ask for proof of authorization. You may appeal a denied privacy request by replying to our decision. You will not receive discriminatory treatment for exercising an applicable privacy right.
Because the launch version does not sell personal information or use it for cross-context behavioral advertising, an opt-out preference signal does not change those practices. If Hype Star later performs processing covered by such a signal, we will honor it as required. You may also complain to your local privacy or data protection authority.
Visitors may be in different countries.
Hype Star and its infrastructure providers may process information in countries other than the one where you live. Privacy laws and government-access rules can differ. Where applicable law requires safeguards for a transfer, we will use an approved legal mechanism or another lawful basis.
Hype Star is not directed to children.
The service is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. If you believe a child under 13 has provided personal information, contact us so we can review and delete it as appropriate.
Policy updates and contact.
We may update this Policy as Hype Star launches accounts, payments, mobile clients, or new measurement tools. We will post the revised Policy with a new effective date and provide additional notice when required by law. Material changes apply prospectively unless law permits otherwise.
Privacy questions, requests, and profile correction or removal requests: hello@hypestar.org.