Who we are
V. Steward Group LLC runs this site and the evaluation service described on it. We are based in New York. Questions about this policy go to vernon@vstewardgroup.com.
What we collect
What you give us
- The evaluation form. Your name, email, company or project name, website, your answers about the venture, any link you give us to a deck or document, and the time you sent it.
- Booking a call. The calendar on the contact page is Google Calendar. Google collects what you type there under its own policy, and we see the name, email, and time you book.
- Email. If you write to us, we keep the email and reply from our Google account.
What we gather ourselves
During an evaluation we research your company and its market from public sources: your website, press coverage, reviews, social profiles, filings, and the same for competitors. That research becomes part of the evaluation record and is kept and deleted with it.
What is collected automatically
- Google Analytics. We use it to see which pages are read and where visitors come from. It records the pages you view, how long you stay, the site that sent you, your approximate location from your IP address (Google discards the full address), and your device and browser. It sets a cookie with a random identifier so it can tell one visit from the next; it does not know your name. We keep the advertising features off and do not use it to build profiles or show ads. You can block it with your browser's cookie settings or with Google's opt-out add-on, and the site works the same without it.
- Server logs. The site is hosted on GitHub Pages, which keeps standard logs (IP address and pages requested) under GitHub's policy. We do not receive or use them.
Cookies
This site sets two cookies, both from Google Analytics: _ga and _ga_*, which hold the random visit identifier for up to two years. The booking calendar on the contact page is an embedded Google page and may set Google's own cookies while you use it. We set no advertising cookies and do not track you across other sites. We do not respond to browser "Do Not Track" signals because there is no agreed standard for them; blocking cookies works instead.
Where it goes
When you send the evaluation form, this is exactly what happens:
- It is stored in a Google Sheet in our Google account, and a copy is emailed to us with your answers attached. A confirmation email goes to you.
- Our computers pick it up, create a project folder for your venture, and send a short message to our phone with your name and the venture name.
- During the evaluation we send parts of what you shared, alongside the public information we gather, to AI model providers (Anthropic and OpenAI) to help with research, drafting, and an independent review. They process it to produce our work. We do not train models on your material, and where a provider lets us choose, we use the settings that stop them from training on it either.
- The finished evaluation is delivered to you as documents and, if you want a web version, as a private page hosted on GitHub Pages behind a passphrase. That page is hidden from search engines but readable by anyone who has the link and the passphrase, so share both carefully.
We do not sell your information and we do not share it for advertising. We share it only with the providers below and with the people at our company doing the work, or when the law requires it.
The providers we use
| Provider | What it does for us | Where the data sits | Their policy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google (Sheets, Gmail, Calendar, Analytics) | Stores form submissions, sends and receives our email, hosts the booking calendar, and runs site analytics. | United States | Read |
| GitHub | Hosts this site and, if you want one, your private evaluation page. | United States | Read |
| Anthropic | AI models we use for research and drafting during an evaluation. | United States | Read |
| OpenAI | AI models we use for an independent review of each evaluation. | United States | Read |
| Apple (iMessage) | Carries the short notification to our phone when a form arrives: your name and the venture name. | United States | Read |
Why we use it
To run the evaluation you asked for, to reply to you, to schedule calls, to understand which pages on this site are useful, and to keep a record of the work we did together. We may also email you from time to time about our services; every such email has an unsubscribe link, and you can tell us to stop at any time. We may reuse what we learn across evaluations in anonymized form, meaning patterns and lessons with nothing that identifies you, your company, or your idea.
AI tools assist our research and drafting. A person reads the evidence, makes every judgment, and writes every verdict. No decision about you is made automatically.
How we protect it
Your information lives in the provider accounts named above, protected by their standard account security, and on computers under our control. Spreadsheets and project folders are shared only with the people doing the work. Your evaluation page, if you have one, carries a passphrase and is kept out of search engines; we tell you plainly that this is a barrier, not a vault, and we take the page down when you ask.
If we learn of a breach that affects your information, we will email you within 72 hours of learning about it and tell you what happened and what we are doing.
How long we keep it
| What | How long |
|---|---|
| Evaluation form and everything we produce from it | Three years after our last contact with you, then deleted |
| Public research we gather about your company and its competitors | Same as the evaluation it belongs to |
| Three years after the last message in the thread | |
| Booking details | Kept by Google Calendar under Google’s policy; our copy follows the email rule |
| Google Analytics data | 14 months, then deleted by Google |
| Server logs | Kept by GitHub under its policy; we do not receive them |
We keep the evaluation for three years so we can pick the work back up if you return. Ask sooner and we delete sooner.
Your choices
- Ask what we hold. Email us and we will send you a copy of what we have about you within 30 days.
- Correct it. Tell us what is wrong and we will fix it.
- Delete it. Email vernon@vstewardgroup.com with the subject line "Delete my data". Within 14 days we remove your row from the Sheet, the emails, the project folder, and any hosted page. Copies in routine backups can persist for up to 30 days more before they are overwritten. Deleting your data ends any evaluation still in progress.
- Object. Tell us to stop using your information for a purpose and we will, unless the law requires us to keep it.
We will never treat you differently for using these rights.
If you are in the European Union or the United Kingdom
We handle the evaluation form and email because you asked us to (performance of a contract or steps before one), and analytics and occasional emails about our services under our legitimate interest, which you can object to at any time. Your information is processed in the United States; the providers above hold it under their standard contractual terms for transfers. You also have the rights to receive your information in a portable form and to complain to your data protection authority.
If you are in California
You have the rights to know what we collect and why, to delete it, to correct it, and not to be discriminated against for asking. We do not sell personal information and do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. To use these rights, email us; we may ask you to confirm the email address you used with us.
Who this is for
This site and the evaluation are for people running or considering a business. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18; if we learn we have, we delete it.
Changes
If we change this policy, we update the date at the top. If a change affects how we handle something you have already sent us, we will email you before it takes effect.
See also our terms.