Terms of Service

1. About these terms

These Terms of Service are the agreement between you and us about your use of Startup Compass, a web application available at startupcompass.tech. Please read them carefully. They contain important information about your rights and our rights, including limitations of liability and the ways we can suspend or end your access to the service.

These terms apply each time you use Startup Compass and form a binding contract between you and us.

2. Who operates Startup Compass

Startup Compass is operated by Hieland Road Pty Ltd (ABN 50 665 485 941) trading as The Product Bus. References in these terms to "we", "us" and "our" mean Hieland Road Pty Ltd trading as The Product Bus. References to "you" and "your" mean the person using Startup Compass.

You can contact us at hello@theproductbus.com.

3. Acceptance of these terms

By creating an account on Startup Compass, by clicking a button or link that indicates acceptance of these terms, or by otherwise using Startup Compass, you agree to be bound by these terms and by our Privacy Policy. This applies whether you create your account using email and password, Google Sign-In, or any other sign-in provider we offer from time to time.

If you do not agree to these terms, do not use Startup Compass.

If you are entering into these terms on behalf of a company or other legal entity, you represent that you have authority to bind that entity to these terms, and references to "you" include that entity.

4. Eligibility to use Startup Compass

To use Startup Compass, you must be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a binding contract under Australian law. Startup Compass is designed for founders, operators, and others involved in building or supporting early-stage ventures.

Startup Compass is currently intended for users located in Australia. If you access the service from outside Australia, you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for complying with any applicable local laws.

5. Creating and managing your account

5.1 Creating your account

You can create a Startup Compass account using email and password, or using a third-party sign-in provider that we make available, including Google. When you create an account you must provide accurate, current and complete information and keep that information up to date.

5.2 One account per user

You may hold only one Startup Compass account. We may take steps to prevent duplicate accounts, including by linking sign-up attempts to existing accounts that share the same email address.

5.3 Linking and unlinking sign-in providers

If you have an existing Startup Compass account, you can link a third-party sign-in provider such as Google as an additional way to sign in. Linking does not change your existing account or transfer ownership. You can unlink a third-party provider at any time from your account settings, provided you have at least one valid sign-in method remaining.

5.4 Account security

You are responsible for keeping your sign-in credentials and access tokens secure. You must not share your account with anyone else. If you become aware of any unauthorised use of your account, you must notify us promptly so that we can take steps to protect the account.

6. Sign-in via Google and other providers

Where you choose to create or access your Startup Compass account using a third-party sign-in provider such as Google, your use of that provider is also subject to the terms and policies of the provider. We are not responsible for the practices of any third-party sign-in provider, and we have no control over the data they collect or how they use it. Information about the data we receive from Google is set out in our Privacy Policy.

7. Your responsibilities and acceptable use

When you use Startup Compass, you agree that you will not:

• use the service for any unlawful purpose, or in any way that breaches these terms;
• interfere with or disrupt the operation of the service or the servers and networks that support it;
• attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the service, any account other than your own, or any system that supports the service;
• scrape, harvest, copy, or extract data from the service by automated means;
• reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to derive the source code or underlying ideas of the service, except to the extent permitted by law;
• submit content that is misleading, defamatory, infringing, harmful, or that you do not have the right to submit;
• impersonate any person or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity;
• use the service in a way that could damage, disable, overburden or impair our infrastructure or that of our service providers.

We may take any action we reasonably consider appropriate in response to a breach of this section, including suspending or terminating your account.

8. Content, intellectual property and the Index

8.1 Our intellectual property

All intellectual property in Startup Compass, including the platform itself, its design, code, content, branding, frameworks and methodologies, is owned by us or our licensors. Nothing in these terms transfers any intellectual property rights to you.

8.2 Your licence to use Startup Compass

We grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to access and use Startup Compass for your own internal business or personal purposes, in accordance with these terms. This licence ends if your account is terminated or if these terms are otherwise ended.

8.3 Your content

You retain ownership of the information you submit to Startup Compass, including your assessment responses, founder profile information, and other content you provide. You grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to host, store, process, display, and use that information for the purpose of operating the service, providing it to you, and improving the platform on an aggregated, non-identifying basis. This licence is limited to what is reasonably necessary to provide and operate the service.

8.4 The Index

Startup Compass includes an Index of opportunities relevant to early-stage founders. Information in the Index is sourced from public materials and other sources we consider relevant. It is provided for general information only. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness or currency of information in the Index, and we are not the operator or sponsor of the opportunities it lists. Your dealings with any third party in relation to an opportunity surfaced in the Index are solely between you and that third party.

Information in the Index is not financial, legal, tax, investment or other professional advice. If you intend to act on information in the Index, you should obtain advice appropriate to your circumstances.

9. Compass Plus

9.1 Subscription

Compass Plus is the paid subscription tier of Startup Compass. By starting a Compass Plus subscription, you agree to pay the subscription fee at the rate displayed at the time of subscription.

9.2 Fees and billing

Compass Plus is offered at $39 per month or approximately $350 per year in Australian dollars, including GST. Fees are billed in advance on a recurring basis until you cancel. We may change fees from time to time. Any fee change will only apply to your next billing cycle and we will give you reasonable notice before the change takes effect.

9.3 Cancellation

You can cancel your Compass Plus subscription at any time from your account settings. Cancelling stops the next charge. Your subscription remains active until the end of the current billing period, and you will not be charged for the next period. After that your account returns to Compass, the free tier, and the content you have saved is retained. We do not provide pro-rata refunds of fees already paid, except as set out in clause 9.5 or where required by law.

9.4 Failure to pay

If a scheduled payment is not successful, your Compass Plus membership stays active while we retry the payment over the following 14 days, and we will email you when a payment fails. If the payment has not succeeded after 14 days, we may pause your access to Compass Plus until it does. If the payment has not succeeded 30 days after the first failed attempt, we may cancel the subscription and will stop attempting to charge you. Pausing or cancelling for non-payment does not delete your account or the content you have saved.

9.5 Refund within 7 days

If you cancel within 7 days of your first Compass Plus payment and have not attended a live session in that time, we will refund that payment in full. Live sessions are Masterclass, Live Build, Studio, Clinic and Commit. If you have attended a live session, cancelling stops future payments and your access continues until the end of the paid period, but the first payment is not refunded. This clause does not limit your rights under the Australian Consumer Law.

10. Privacy

Our handling of your personal information is described in our Privacy Policy, available at startupcompass.tech/privacy. The Privacy Policy is incorporated into these terms by reference. By using Startup Compass, you confirm that you have read and understood our Privacy Policy.

11. Third-party services

Startup Compass integrates with third-party services, including Google for sign-in and the infrastructure providers described in our Privacy Policy. Where you use a third-party service through Startup Compass, your relationship with that third party is direct and is governed by the third party's own terms and policies. We are not responsible for any act or omission of a third-party service provider.

12. Disclaimers and consumer guarantees

Our goods and services come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any right, guarantee, warranty or remedy that applies to you under the Australian Consumer Law, the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), or any other law where doing so would be unlawful.

To the extent permitted by law, and other than as set out in the paragraph above, Startup Compass is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. We do not warrant that the service will be uninterrupted, error-free, free of viruses or other harmful components, or that it will meet your particular requirements. Information provided through the service, including content in the Index, is for general information only and is not financial, legal, tax, investment or other professional advice.

13. Limitation of liability

Where the Australian Consumer Law applies and a consumer guarantee has not been met in relation to a service that is not ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use or consumption, our liability is limited, at our option, to:

• supplying the service again; or
• paying the cost of having the service supplied again.

To the extent permitted by law, and other than in respect of liability that cannot be excluded or limited, our total liability to you for any loss or damage arising out of or in connection with these terms or your use of Startup Compass is limited to the amount you have paid to us in the 12 months immediately before the event giving rise to the liability, or one hundred Australian dollars (AUD $100) if you have not paid us anything in that period.

To the extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive loss or damage, or for any loss of profits, revenue, business, goodwill, opportunity, anticipated savings, data or use, however arising, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such loss.

14. Suspension and termination

14.1 Closing your account

You can close your account at any time from your account settings, or by contacting us. When you close your account, your access to the service will end and your personal information will be handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

14.2 Suspension or termination by us

We may suspend or terminate your account if you breach these terms, if we reasonably believe your use of the service creates a risk to us, to other users, or to the integrity or security of the service, or if required by law. Where it is reasonable to do so, we will give you notice and an opportunity to remedy a breach before terminating your account.

14.3 Effect of termination

On termination of your account, your right to access and use Startup Compass ends. Sections of these terms that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including provisions relating to intellectual property, disclaimers, limitation of liability, and governing law.

15. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. If we make changes that materially affect your rights or obligations, we will notify you through the platform or by email before the changes take effect. Your continued use of Startup Compass after the changes take effect means you accept the updated terms. If you do not accept the updated terms, you should stop using the service and close your account.

16. Governing law and jurisdiction

These terms are governed by the laws of Victoria, Australia. You and we submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Victoria, Australia, and the courts competent to hear appeals from them, for any dispute arising out of or in connection with these terms.

17. General

17.1 Entire agreement

These terms, together with our Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and us about your use of Startup Compass. They replace any prior agreement or understanding on that subject.

17.2 Severability

If any part of these terms is found to be invalid, unenforceable or illegal, that part will be severed and the rest of the terms will continue in force.

17.3 No waiver

If we do not enforce a right under these terms, that is not a waiver of that right.

17.4 Assignment

You may not transfer or assign your rights or obligations under these terms without our prior written consent. We may transfer or assign our rights and obligations under these terms to any related entity or to a successor to our business.

18. How to contact us

If you have any questions about these terms, please contact us at hello@theproductbus.com.