Your agreement with Hype Star.
By accessing or using Hype Star, you agree to these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you use Hype Star for a company or another organization, you confirm that you are authorized to accept these Terms for it. If you do not agree, do not use the service.
You must be legally able to enter this agreement where you live. The service is not directed to children under 13. Additional terms shown at checkout or for a specific promotion form part of these Terms for that transaction or promotion. If they conflict, the more specific terms control.
A curated directory, not an endorsement.
Hype Star publishes editorial startup profiles, categories, and direct links. We may create unclaimed seed profiles from publicly available business information. A profile, category position, badge, summary, or link is not an endorsement, certification, investment recommendation, or guarantee about a startup.
We may accept, edit, label, recategorize, decline, unpublish, or remove a profile to protect quality, accuracy, rights, safety, or the integrity of the directory. Startup owners and rights holders may request a correction, claim, or removal at hello@hypestar.org.
You keep your work and permit us to display it.
You retain ownership of material you submit. You give Hype Star a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, copy, format, resize, display, and distribute that material only as reasonably needed to review, operate, promote, and share your Hype Star listing and the service. This license ends when the material is removed, except for reasonable backup, legal, and already-shared promotional copies.
- You must have authority to submit the startup and its text, marks, images, and links.
- Your submission must be accurate and must not infringe, mislead, impersonate, or violate law.
- You are responsible for keeping claimed profile information current.
- Feedback about Hype Star may be used without restriction or payment to you.
The analyzer produces a private review draft from one public homepage. Its extracted metadata, logo candidate, and screenshot do not publish automatically. We prefer owner-supplied assets and may use an original summary or neutral lettermark until rights are confirmed.
A standard profile and link cost $0.
An accepted standard profile includes an editorial page and a direct website link without requiring payment, a share, or a reciprocal link. Free does not mean automatic acceptance or permanent availability. We do not guarantee publication timing, search-engine indexing, link treatment by search engines, traffic, leads, rank, or any SEO result.
Editorial acceptance is separate from paid review speed and sponsored placement. See the current profile rules before submitting.
Payment buys a disclosed service or position.
Hype Star may offer fast-track review and, after its published activation gates are met, weekly sponsored category positions. Prices, timing, labels, SKU rules, and material limits shown at the time of purchase apply. Payment does not guarantee editorial acceptance or an organic ranking.
- A third-party payment provider may process payment details; Hype Star expects to retain transaction references rather than full card numbers.
- You authorize the displayed charge and are responsible for applicable taxes or fees identified at checkout.
- A rejected pre-publication listing is refunded. A compliant service or placement already delivered is non-refundable except where law requires otherwise.
- Listing and boost activation take effect only after payment is verified via webhook. No auctions or automatic rebids.
Paid features are not live until Hype Star presents a functioning checkout or expressly says otherwise. The detailed pricing rules are incorporated into these Terms.
Sharing is optional and must be honest.
The Founding 250 promotion may waive fast-track fees or award stated benefits after owner verification and a qualifying public share. A positive endorsement is never required. If you receive a benefit for sharing, you must make that connection clear and follow the rules of the platform where you post.
Purchased engagement, automated posting, deceptive claims, duplicate claims, referral manipulation, or other abuse can void unused benefits and lead to removal. Your posts remain your own; Hype Star is not responsible for statements you choose to publish.
Rankings and counters are transparent estimates.
Directory browse is free; paid listings and boosts are separate. Boosted positions are labeled and, when active, follow the public weekly SKU rules. Traffic and outbound-click counts are estimates that may exclude bots, previews, prefetches, duplicates, suspicious traffic, and technical failures. We may correct measurement errors or invalidate manipulated activity.
Counters and rankings are provided for discovery and basic reporting, not as audited analytics, billing records, or a promise of commercial performance.
Use the service without harming it or others.
- Do not submit unlawful, infringing, fraudulent, deceptive, malicious, or adult content.
- Do not impersonate an owner, manipulate counts, buy fake engagement, or evade verification and rate limits.
- Do not probe, disrupt, overload, reverse engineer, or gain unauthorized access to Hype Star, its data, or another person’s account.
- Do not use the service or API to distribute malware, spam, mass solicitations, or harvested personal information.
- Respect API documentation, robots instructions, technical limits, and third-party rights.
We may limit access, reject requests, suspend future accounts, or remove content when reasonably necessary to enforce these Terms, comply with law, or protect the service and its users.
Third-party sites remain third-party sites.
Profiles link to websites and services Hype Star does not control. Their content, availability, security, products, terms, and privacy practices are their responsibility. Third-party names, logos, and marks belong to their respective owners; their appearance does not imply sponsorship or endorsement of Hype Star.
If you believe content on Hype Star violates your copyright, trademark, privacy, or other rights, send enough detail for us to identify and assess it to hello@hypestar.org.
The service will change as it launches.
Hype Star may add, change, pause, or discontinue features, API routes, categories, prices, promotions, or the service itself. We may impose reasonable limits to protect security and reliability. Future account and mobile-client support will use the same service accounts only after authentication is enabled and documented.
We aim to operate Hype Star carefully, but do not promise that it will always be available, uninterrupted, secure, or error-free. You should keep copies of material you submit.
Reasonable limits on responsibility.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Hype Star is provided “as is” and “as available,” without implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, or any guarantee of ranking, traffic, revenue, or results.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Hype Star will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, data, goodwill, or business opportunities. Hype Star’s total liability arising from the service will not exceed the greater of US $100 or the amount you paid Hype Star in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim. These limits do not apply where applicable law does not permit them.
If permitted by law, you will defend and indemnify Hype Star from third-party claims caused by material you submit, your business or promotion, or your violation of these Terms or another person’s rights. Nothing in these Terms limits non-waivable consumer rights.
Updates, separation, and contact.
We may update these Terms as the service changes. We will post the revised version and effective date, and provide additional notice when required by law. Continued use after the new effective date means the updated Terms apply; if you do not agree, stop using the service.
If a provision cannot be enforced, it will be limited to the minimum extent necessary and the rest will remain in effect. A failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and applicable specific offer terms, are the entire agreement about the service.
Questions, disputes, correction requests, and rights notices: hello@hypestar.org.