Privacy Policy
Effective: September 27, 2026
1. Introduction
Trusted Cofounder operates a platform where founders and cofounders find each other. The platform is free for individuals with open registration. Trusted Cofounder is operated by Curtis Thomas, trading via UKKO Light Entrepreneur (Business ID 3642844-7), the data controller for the purposes of this policy. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, and share your personal information. Your trust is paramount to us.
2. Information Collection
a. Direct Information
Identity: Name and email address from your login provider, plus a profile photo (either one you upload or a default illustrated avatar).
Professional: Your role (founder or cofounder), skills, seniority, and a free-text “Looking for” description you write yourself.
Source links: Optional plain links you add yourself (GitHub, personal website, writing, portfolio, Semantic Scholar). We display these links as-is and do not fetch, scrape, or verify their contents.
AI assistants: What your public profile shows in the directory is also served, read-only, to AI assistants through our directory connector, with the same visibility settings: if your name and photo are hidden from anonymous visitors, they are hidden from assistants too. No contact details are ever served this way.
Messages: Conversation content you exchange with other users, and the opening message you send with an interest request. All of it is stored encrypted at rest and is readable only by you and the person you are writing to.
Recommended tools: When you open the recommended tools screen or click a deal, we record which tool, when, which link you arrived from (for example the suggestion in the directory), and the profile fields you had declared at that moment (such as role, specialization and stage), against your account, to learn which recommendations suit which kind of founder. We also record the day the directory showed you that suggestion. This is deleted with your account.
b. Automated Data
Standard web server request data (such as IP address and referring page) as part of normal hosting operation. We do not run any analytics or event-tracking software, and we do not use this data to score, rank, or algorithmically match your profile against anyone else’s.
3. Third-Party Data Processors
We use a small number of third-party services to run the platform. Each only receives the data it needs to perform its function:
Auth0: Handles sign-in and session authentication. Receives your email address and, if you sign in with GitHub, your GitHub identity.
Resend: Sends transactional emails you trigger yourself (a new message notification, a new interest notification). Receives your email address and the notification content. We do not send any marketing or outreach email.
Hetzner (object storage): Stores and serves the photos and files you upload (profile photo, pitch documents, logos) via a content delivery network.
Sentry: Monitors the site for errors so we can fix them. Hosted in the EU. When something breaks it receives the error, the page address, your browser and device type, and the technical trace of where the fault happened. It never receives your messages, your name, your email address or a recording of your screen.
Secret (joinsecret.com): Links on the recommended tools screen go to Secret and carry an affiliate identifier. Secret's own cookies and privacy policy apply on their site. Nothing from Secret is loaded on ours.
4. Security & Contact
Your messages are readable only by you and the person you are writing to. That covers the whole conversation and the opening message you send with an interest request. They are encrypted at rest, and no one else can read them: not us, not support, and not as part of reviewing a report. When someone reports an account we look at their profile, how the account has behaved, and information about messages such as how many were sent, how quickly, and to how many different people. We do not read the messages themselves. To exercise your data rights (access, correction, deletion), email us at hello@trustedcofounder.com or reach out via LinkedIn:
CONTACT VIA LINKEDIN