Terms of Service

By accessing or using the fobi.com website and services (collectively, the "Services"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree with these Terms, you must not use the Site or Services. These Terms constitute a binding agreement between you and Fobi Inc. (doing business as fobi, referred to as "Company," "we," "us," or "our"). If you use fobi on behalf of a company or other legal entity, you represent that you have the authority to bind that entity to these Terms.

We reserve the right to modify or update these Terms at any time. Changes will be effective immediately upon posting the revised Terms on our Site. It is your responsibility to review the Terms periodically for updates. Your continued use of the Services after any changes constitutes acceptance of the new Terms. If you do not agree to the revised Terms, you should discontinue use of the Services.

fobi provides a subscription-based research platform for frontier-technology sectors. The Services include, without limitation: hand-curated company rosters of approximately 40 companies per sector; weekly synthesized "briefs" per sector; live news ingestion and classification; USPTO patent grant activity (with abstracts and front-page figures); SEC EDGAR filings (Form D, 8-K, 10-Q) and earnings summaries; market-cap data for publicly listed companies; last-round valuations for private companies; AI-generated analytical content (including bull / bear cases, hard-problem taxonomies, funding analysis, founder biographies, sector predictions, and talent-moves digests); aggregated open-role listings sourced from third-party applicant tracking systems (Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workday); curated YouTube channel video lists; reading lists; and a 90-day catalyst calendar.

Currently live sectors include Robotics, Payments & Financial Infrastructure, DevTools & AI Coding, Health Tech, and Creative Tools. Additional sectors may be launched, modified, retired, or replaced at our discretion. The Services are provided for editorial and informational purposes only.

fobi is presently in early access ("Alpha"). Features, sector coverage, and data depth are evolving and may change without notice. Subscribers acknowledge that they are subscribing to a work-in-progress product and not a finished institutional research platform.

You must be at least 18 years old (or the age of majority in your jurisdiction, if higher) to create an account or use the Services. By using the Services, you represent that you meet this age requirement and are legally able to enter into this agreement. The Services are intended for users in jurisdictions where the Services can legally be offered; you are responsible for compliance with any local laws restricting use of the Services.

Certain features of fobi require you to register an account. When creating an account, you agree to:

• Provide accurate information. You will provide truthful, current, and complete information during registration and update it to keep it accurate.
• Protect your login credentials. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account password, magic link, and login information. Notify us at hello@rickyrichards.com if you suspect any unauthorized access to your account.
• Account activity. You accept responsibility for all activities that occur under your account.
• Single account. You will not create multiple accounts or create an account for anyone other than yourself, and you will not sell or transfer your account.
• Company-plan domain capture. If you purchase the Company plan, the buyer designates a work-email domain (e.g. acme.com) at checkout. Anyone who can verify possession of an email address on that domain via magic link gains access to the Services. The buyer is the billing contact and is solely responsible for the conduct of any user accessing the Services through their domain.

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms or that we deem a security risk, without liability or notice to you.

fobi offers free trials and paid subscription plans. The following terms apply:

• Free trials. Every paid plan includes a 7-day free trial. Free trials are available to new subscribers only (one per user). Cancel inside the trial window via the Stripe Customer Portal and you will not be charged. We reserve the right to modify trial terms or cancel trials at any time.
• Paid plans. Current standard plans are Monthly ($10/month), Annual ($99/year, effective $8.25/month), and Company ($100/month or $999/year). Plans, prices, and features are subject to change.
• Founding Member rate. We may, at our discretion, offer a discounted "Founding Member" rate (currently $5/month or $49/year — 50% off standard pricing) to a limited number of early sign-ups (currently the first 100 paid subscribers, counted cumulatively — once 100 distinct paid subscriptions have been activated, the Founding Member cohort closes permanently). The Founding Member rate is tied to a continuously active subscription; switching between monthly and annual while the subscription remains active does not affect Founding Member status. If a Founding Member cancels, allows their subscription to lapse, fails a payment, downgrades, or otherwise interrupts their subscription, the discounted rate is forfeited permanently. Re-subscribing later will be at the then-current standard pricing, not the originally-claimed Founding Member rate. The Founding Member rate is non-portable, non-transferable, and non-restorable.
• Billing and auto-renewal. By providing a payment method, you authorize us (and our payment processors) to charge applicable fees on a recurring basis. Subscriptions automatically renew at the end of each billing cycle unless cancelled before the renewal date.
• No refunds. All fees are non-refundable unless expressly stated otherwise. We do not guarantee refunds or credits for partial use, unused time, or dissatisfaction. If you cancel, the cancellation takes effect at the end of the current paid term and you retain access until then.
• Cancellation. Cancel anytime via the Stripe Customer Portal. Cancellations must be made before the next renewal date to avoid further charges.
• Changes to fees. We may change subscription prices and will provide notice of price changes via the Site or email. Changes apply to the next billing cycle following notice. Continued use after a price change constitutes acceptance.

Subject to your compliance with these Terms and payment of any applicable fees, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to access and use the fobi Services for your personal or internal business purposes.

Prohibited uses. You agree not to:

• Use the Services for any unlawful purpose or in any way that violates applicable laws or regulations, including securities laws, hiring or employment laws, intellectual property laws, or anti-fraud regulations.
• Resell, rent, lease, sublicense, or provide access to the Services to any third party. The Services are for your personal or internal-team use only.
• Use the output, data, or AI-generated synthesis from the Services to operate a competing research, sector-tracking, or similar service.
• Scrape, harvest, "crawl," or use any automated means to systematically retrieve data or content from the Site without our prior written consent. This includes the use of the Services as a data source for retraining or fine-tuning third-party language models or other automated systems.
• Reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract the source code, prompts, embeddings, model outputs, or proprietary classifiers underlying the platform.
• Interfere with or disrupt the Services, transmit viruses or malicious code, or impose an unreasonable load on our infrastructure.
• Circumvent security or access controls, or access (or attempt to access) any data, account, or domain you are not authorized to access.
• Copy, reproduce, distribute, publicly display, or create derivative works from the content, data, or software on the Site except as authorized by these Terms or with our express permission. You may share fobi briefs, charts, or analytical excerpts in the ordinary course of incidental personal or editorial reference (with attribution and a link to fobi.com), but you may not redistribute or republish substantial portions, package fobi-derived data into a product, or use fobi as a source for any paid or commercial service.

Violation of this Acceptable Use section is grounds for immediate termination of your account and may also result in legal action.

All content, software, data compilations, and materials available on the Site or through the Services — including but not limited to text, graphics, logos, button icons, images, editorial copy, the curated company rosters, AI-synthesized briefs, hard-problem taxonomies, bull / bear analyses, founder biographies, classifier output, embeddings, prompts, and software code — are the property of Fobi Inc. or its licensors, and are protected by intellectual property laws. We and our licensors retain all rights, title, and interest in and to the Services and all associated intellectual property.

Underlying public records (USPTO patent text, SEC EDGAR filings, RSS news article excerpts, Google Patents figures, third-party YouTube channel uploads, ATS job listings, etc.) remain the property of their respective owners and are presented under fair use, fair dealing, public-record reproduction, or licensed access where applicable. fobi's curation, classification, synthesis, and editorial layering of those public records is, however, our proprietary work.

Your use of the Services does not grant you ownership of any intellectual property rights in our content or data. You must not remove or obscure any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notices on the Site. "fobi", the fobi swirl mark, and any product or service names or slogans displayed on the Site are trademarks of Fobi Inc. or its affiliates, and you may not use them without our prior written permission.

fobi may allow you to save preferences, follow specific companies, vote on sector priorities (Founding Member feature), or otherwise input content related to your use of the platform ("User Content"). You retain ownership of your User Content. We do not claim ownership over the data you input into your account.

By inputting or storing User Content on fobi, you grant us a limited license to use, store, copy, and process your content solely as needed to operate and provide the Services to you (for example, to back up your data, display it to you, or aggregate anonymized vote tallies). We will not use your saved content for any purpose other than providing and improving the Services, in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

You represent that you have all necessary rights to the User Content you submit and that such content does not infringe or violate the rights of any third party or any laws. We are not responsible for any loss of User Content; you are responsible for backing up any data important to you. If you delete your User Content or terminate your account, we will delete or anonymize your personal data as described under our Privacy Policy.

Feedback.

If you provide us with suggestions, ideas, or feedback about the Services ("Feedback"), you agree that we may use and implement such Feedback without restriction or any obligation to compensate you. Feedback is not confidential.

Your privacy is important to us. Our collection and use of personal information in connection with the Services is described in our Disclosures & methodology page (and forthcoming Privacy Policy), which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. By using the Services, you consent to our data practices as described there.

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical measures to protect your personal information. fobi employees or authorized contractors may access your account data only as necessary to assist you (e.g. customer support) or to maintain and improve the Services.

Data deletion.

You have the right to request deletion of your personal data and account. We will delete your personal data upon request, unless we are required to retain certain information for legal or regulatory reasons. To request deletion, email hello@rickyrichards.com. Deletion is irreversible.

We strive to keep fobi available continuously and to maintain a reliable, secure service. However, we do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free availability of the Site. The Services may occasionally be down for maintenance, upgrades, or due to unexpected outages, and — given fobi's early-access status — may also be temporarily unavailable due to feature deployments, schema migrations, third-party API outages (USPTO, SEC EDGAR, ATS providers, market-data feeds, language-model APIs), or ingestion-pipeline failures.

You acknowledge that occasional downtime, ingestion delays, and stale or temporarily-missing data are normal during fobi's alpha-stage operation, and agree that such interruptions are not grounds for a refund or credit in most cases. No credits or refunds will be issued for downtime except in the event that the Site is unavailable for more than 24 consecutive hours in a given calendar month, in which case we may, at our discretion, issue a prorated credit or extension of your subscription for the affected period.

We shall not be liable for any losses or damages due to Service unavailability, slow performance, ingestion lag, or other technical issues, including any loss of data or missed opportunities resulting from such events.

All information, data, and content provided through fobi — including but not limited to market-cap data, last-round valuations, AI-generated bull / bear cases, funding analysis, hard-problem taxonomies, investment theses, sector predictions, founder biographies, talent-moves digests, news classifications, and weekly briefs — are provided for informational and editorial purposes only.

fobi is not a registered investment advisor, broker / dealer, financial advisor, fiduciary, hiring consultant, employment agency, recruitment agency, legal counsel, tax advisor, or accounting firm. No content on the Site constitutes professional investment, financial, hiring, employment, legal, tax, accounting, regulatory, or compliance advice.

We do not make recommendations to buy, sell, hold, short, fund, hire from, refuse employment with, transact with, or avoid any company, security, candidate, or third party. Nothing on fobi should be construed as an offer, endorsement, or solicitation to make any financial, hiring, or business decision. AI-generated content reflects probabilistic synthesis of public-source data and may contain factual errors, misclassifications, hallucinations, omissions, or interpretive bias.

You are solely responsible for your decisions. Past performance of any company, sector, or strategy as presented on fobi is not indicative of future results. fobi's analytics and curated rosters are tools to aid your own research and should not be the sole basis for any decision. Always verify materially relevant information through cited primary sources, and consider seeking advice from a qualified professional before making investment, hiring, or other consequential decisions.

By using our Services, you agree that we have not provided you with any personalized advice or recommendations, and you release us from any claim arising from your reliance on information obtained through fobi.

fobi is provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" without any warranties of any kind, either express or implied. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we expressly disclaim all warranties and representations, whether express, implied, or statutory, including but not limited to any implied warranties of accuracy, completeness, reliability, non-infringement, merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose.

In particular, we do not warrant that:

• The Services will meet your specific requirements or expectations.
• The Services will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free at all times.
• The data, analyses, classifications, or results obtained from the Services will be accurate, complete, current, or reliable. Funding records, patent grants, headcount estimates, market caps, news classifications, AI-generated synthesis, and other content may contain errors, omissions, or staleness, and we are not liable for any inaccuracies.
• Any defects or bugs in the Service will be corrected, though we strive to fix issues quickly.
• The Site and servers are free of viruses or other harmful components.

Your use of the Services is at your own risk. You understand that any content downloaded or obtained through fobi is provided without any guarantee. If you are dissatisfied with the Services, your sole remedy is to stop using them. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so some of the above disclaimers may not apply to you, but will apply to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Fobi Inc. (fobi) and its affiliates, officers, employees, agents, partners, and licensors shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages whatsoever, including but not limited to damages for lost profits, lost opportunities, missed investments, missed hires, lost data, business interruption, or other intangible losses arising out of or related to your use of (or inability to use) the Services. This limitation applies even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages and regardless of the legal theory (contract, tort, negligence, strict liability, etc.).

Our maximum aggregate liability to you for all claims arising from or related to the Services or these Terms shall not exceed the greater of: (a) US $100, or (b) the total fees you have paid to us for the Services in the six (6) months prior to the event giving rise to the liability. If applicable law does not allow certain liability limitations, our liability will be limited to the smallest amount permitted by law.

This limitation of liability is a fundamental part of the agreement between you and us and reflects a fair allocation of risk. The Services would not be provided without these limitations.

User's responsibility.

You acknowledge that fobi presents data scraped, ingested, or synthesized from public sources and that such data may contain errors. By using fobi, you agree that we cannot be held liable for any harm or losses resulting from inaccurate, incomplete, or stale data, AI-generated misstatements, or your reliance on the Services. You assume all risks for any decisions made based on information from fobi.

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Fobi Inc. (and its officers, directors, employees, and agents) from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or in any way connected with: (a) your use or misuse of the Services, (b) your violation of these Terms, or (c) your violation of any applicable law or regulation. This includes any claim by a third party that your use of the Services (or any data you obtained through the Services) violates someone's rights or has caused harm.

We reserve the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you (at your expense), and you agree to cooperate with our defense. You agree not to settle any such matter without our prior written consent. Your indemnification obligation will survive any termination of your account or of the Services.

We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to suspend or terminate your access to the Services (or any part thereof) at any time for any reason, including but not limited to your actual or suspected violation of these Terms, misuse of the platform, or engagement in activities that may cause legal liability or harm to us or others. Such suspension or termination may occur with or without prior notice. We shall not be liable to you or any third party for any termination of your access to the Services.

If your account is terminated or suspended, you remain bound by these Terms to the extent they by nature survive (such as Disclaimers, Limitation of Liability, Indemnification, Dispute Resolution, etc.). We may delete your User Content or data upon termination. We are not required to provide copies of your data after termination, so please ensure you have backups of any records important to you.

Founding Member termination.

As described in §6, terminating a Founding Member subscription — whether by your cancellation, by us for cause, by failed payment, or by lapse — permanently forfeits the locked-in Founding Member rate ($5/month or $49/year). Re-subscribing later is at then-current standard pricing.

You have the right to terminate your own account at any time via the Stripe Customer Portal, by emailing hello@rickyrichards.com, or via any account-deletion function we provide. Termination does not relieve you of any obligation to pay outstanding fees.

These Terms and any dispute arising out of or in connection with them or the Services will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Delaware, USA, without regard to its conflict of law principles. We recognize that certain consumer protection laws may apply to you if you reside in a different jurisdiction; nothing in this section is intended to limit any rights you have under mandatory law of your country or state of residence.

Most concerns or disputes can be resolved informally through our support team. If we cannot resolve a dispute with you informally, the following provisions will apply:

Binding arbitration.

You and the Company agree that any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or your use of the Services shall be resolved by binding arbitration on an individual basis, and not in a court of general jurisdiction. The arbitration will be administered by the American Arbitration Association ("AAA") under its Commercial Arbitration Rules and, if the claimant is an individual, the AAA's Consumer Arbitration Rules. The arbitration will take place in Wilmington, Delaware, or another mutually agreed location (or, if practicable, by telephone or online). Each party will bear its own costs and attorneys' fees, unless the arbitrator awards fees under applicable law or these Terms.

Class action and jury trial waiver.

You expressly waive any right to participate in class action lawsuits or class-wide arbitrations against us, and you waive the right to a trial by jury. Claims may be brought only in your individual capacity. The arbitrator shall not have authority to consolidate or join the claims of other persons or parties. If this class-action waiver is found to be unenforceable, then the entirety of this Dispute Resolution section (except for this sentence) shall be null and void, and the dispute must be brought in court rather than arbitration.

Exceptions.

Either party may seek relief in a small-claims court for eligible disputes, or injunctive or equitable relief in a court of competent jurisdiction to prevent or enjoin infringement or misuse of intellectual property or confidential information. Such actions are not deemed incompatible with the agreement to arbitrate.

Governing law for arbitration.

The Federal Arbitration Act (9 U.S.C. §1 et seq.) will govern the interpretation and enforcement of this arbitration agreement, and the arbitrator will apply Delaware law to any claims, consistent with §17 above.

By agreeing to these Terms, you acknowledge that you understand and agree to the arbitration and class-action waiver provisions, and that you are waiving your rights to a jury trial and to participate in a class action for any disputes relating to these Terms or the Services.

Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable by a court or arbitrator of competent jurisdiction, that provision shall be enforced to the maximum extent permissible and the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

No waiver. Our failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of that right or provision. Any waiver must be in writing and signed by an authorized representative of Fobi Inc..

Assignment. You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms to any third party without our prior written consent. We may freely assign or transfer these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, sale of assets, or by operation of law.

Entire agreement. These Terms (along with any policies or agreements expressly incorporated by reference, including the Disclosures page and any Privacy Policy) constitute the entire agreement between you and us regarding the use of the fobi Services and supersede all prior or contemporaneous communications and proposals between you and us. In case of a conflict between these Terms and any other policy, these Terms control.

No third-party beneficiaries. These Terms are for the benefit of you and the Company (including our successors and assigns) only.

Relationship of parties. You and the Company are independent contractors. These Terms do not create any joint venture, partnership, employment, or agency relationship.

Headings. Section headings are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect.

Survival. Provisions which by their nature should survive termination (including disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnification, dispute resolution, intellectual-property terms, and Founding Member forfeiture) shall survive any termination or expiration of these Terms.

If you have any questions, concerns, or comments about these Terms or the Services, please email hello@rickyrichards.com. We will respond at our earliest convenience. Using the Services or contacting us does not create any confidential or fiduciary relationship beyond that described in these Terms.