Community Guidelines 

Update Effective: January 5, 2026 

Welcome 

ForFounder is a trusted, invitation-only space where founders exchange hard-won insights, seek to make better decisions, and support one another through capitalization events. 

This is our community, for us and by us. Everyone is here because they believe in what we’re building and what we’re protecting.  

We believe in positive candor, mutual uplift, thoughtful growth, accountability, and fairness - all in service of a better founder experience. This is a space where integrity matters, transparency is respected, and founders actively support one another by sharing what they’ve learned. You should participate in good faith, including when you seek or solicit information and otherwise interact with other members. 

These guidelines exist to ensure that our shared space remains safe, candid, and high-value for all. 

By using our services, including any software or features we make available, you agree to abide by these Community Guidelines. Violation of any guideline described below or in our Terms of Service may result in suspension or removal from the community without refund.  We may change these Guidelines from time to time and will post those changes here or on a similarly accessible page. 

ForFounder Community Guidelines 

  1. Honor our Walled Garden 

  2. Member Vetting & Trust 

  3. Respect Deidentification  

  4. Connect Openly via Slack 

  5. Self-Promotion & Expertise 

  6. Content Moderation & Submission 

  7. Use Your Own Judgement 

  8. No Libel, Harassment, or Retaliation 

  9. Don’t Poison our Database 

  10.  Contribute When You Can 

1. Honor our Walled Garden 

ForFounder is not a public forum intended for general audiences.  Everything shared within ForFounder — whether in our platform, during events, or in our Slack space is intended to stay here. This means we expect the following from our members: 

  • No copying or screenshotting of content to share outside ForFounder 

  • No sharing exact quotes, summaries, data, or stats outside the community 

  • No reproduction or inclusion of our or other members’ content into external materials (pitch decks, CIP, CIM, etc.) 

Always respect the confidentiality of what is being shared within ForFounder. 

2. Member Vetting & Trust 

Members of ForFounder go through a rigorous application and interview process to join. While we take reasonable steps to verify that each member is who they say they are and that they are a founder or cofounder with relevant experience, no process is perfect, and we rely on our members to understand the risks associated with any type of information-sharing community.  We also expect that our members maintain high levels of independence from institutional investors to protect the integrity and peer-alignment of our community. 

To be clear, ForFounder members may invest their own capital as angels and may be limited partners within funds, but our eligibility requirements exclude individuals who play active roles within institutional or strategic investment vehicles. 

Misrepresentation of your identity, your experience, or your affiliations will not be tolerated.  If your role, affiliations, or potential conflicts of interest change after joining, you are expected to notify the ForFounder team. Maintaining the integrity of this space depends on transparency and mutual trust — both at the time of joining and throughout your membership. 

Our eligibility and vetting processes filter out certain biases and offer insights from people who have sat in the founder seat and understand the stakes. You're not just in a community. You're among peers. 

3. Respect Deidentification  

You should not seek to determine the identity of members or the source of information you receive through the Seek and Share functions. The ForFounder platform’s Share and Seek functions are designed to support candid, deidentified contributions from founders. While the structured reference system is central, the platform also houses a growing body of real-world insights including: lessons learned from capital raises, acquisitions, and exits; deidentified deal terms; reflections, general wisdom, red flags, and strategic guidance grounded in real founder journeys.  

ForFounder processes this shared content in support of it being:  

  • Deidentified, such that it cannot reasonably be linked to particular individuals, companies, etc. 

  • Structured, so it's searchable and digestible 

  • Submitted with member approval before it’s stored 

  • Audited by quality systems (though not moderated line-by-line) 

Deidentified information should be preserved as such unless both parties explicitly consent to identifying themselves to connect directly.  When connecting directly, any resulting interaction is between those members only and is not moderated, mediated, or monitored by ForFounder. 

This platform is built to move us all forward faster — with the clarity that only comes from honest, protected peer insights. 

4. Connect Openly via Slack 

Our Connect function occurs within our Slack workspace and is designed for real-time, peer-to-peer discussion — under your name; please share thoughtfully. Because identities are attached, we ask that you: 

  • Speak respectfully and constructively. 

  • Avoid referencing specific investor, advisor or professional names unless contextually necessary. 

  • Use threads to keep discussion organized. 

  • Do not quote or screenshot anyone's messages outside of Slack. 

  • Keep sensitive or confidential information entirely out of open channels (especially reference information, deal terms, cap table specifics, personnel concerns). 

  • Use ForFounder’s platform, and not our Connect function, for more sensitive topics like the above. 

  • Ask clearly and answer generously. 

5. Self-Promotion & Expertise 

The Expert Exchange is the only place within ForFounder where members may directly promote themselves, their services, firms, or offerings — whether for hiring, fundraising, advisory work, or professional services. Please do not: 

  • Promote your own work within Connect, our Slack channels or through your Share contributions 

  • Solicit clients, investors, or hires directly from the community without invitation 

  • Use unlocked references as lead lists or outreach tools 

  • Engage in spam or similar behavior, such as providing unknown third-party links  

Let your expertise show through your helpfulness — not hard sells. 

6. Content Moderation & Submission 

Content submitted via the ForFounder platform: 

  • Is approved by the submitting member before it’s saved 

  • Is audited by our platform quality-control systems for limited purposes (e.g., duplicate detection, obscenity filters, and flagging tools) 

  • Is not reviewed for accuracy or authenticity. 

Content submissions are NOT moderated line-by-line prior to being available to Seek. Content will be reviewed when flagged or when unusual patterns or potential obscenity are detected. We rely on member integrity — and your peer review — to keep our data strong.   

Please flag potentially inappropriate content. 

7. Use Your Own Judgement 

While ForFounder applies certain quality controls, this platform is built on member-submitted insights. 

When Sharing, you should: 

  • Honor contractual and legal obligations, including to maintain confidentiality of information you have access to and the proprietary information of others 

  • Share useful content with only its necessary context 

  • Avoid improper use of names, dates, locations, specific values, or unique terms that may challenge confidentiality or potentially identify information about a person or business 

When Seeking, you should: 

  • Use ForFounder content as only one of many inputs in your decision-making 

  • Exercise your own judgment when acting on shared information 

  • Never rely on a single reference or piece of content as definitive proof, but rather consider it one member’s perspective 

ForFounder does not provide legal, financial, or investment advice. 

8. No Libel, Harassment, or Retaliation 

ForFounder has zero tolerance for: 

  • Harassment, liable, slander, threats, or discrimination 

  • False or retaliatory references or content 

  • Malicious reporting or misuse of the flagging system 

We believe in candor, especially Positive Candor.  Members should behave with positive intent. 

9. Don’t Poison our Database 

The value of ForFounder relies on trusted, accurate, and fair data. Do not: 

  • Submit information that you did not verify for accuracy (including fake, secondhand, or misleading references or information) 

  • Share significantly unstructured, disorganized, confusing, or off-topic content 

  • Withhold critical context to mislead others 

  • Inflate or deflate scores or commentary for personal or strategic reasons 

  • Upload any content that could pose a threat to our or our members’ security (including content and other materials containing viruses, malware, etc.) 

This database exists to help other founders make better decisions — not to manipulate perception. 

10. Contribute When You Can 

There’s no perfect pace or script for your participation. Some seasons, you may have more to offer than ask. Other times, you’ll be the one seeking help. Both are welcome, and all members are expected to contribute meaningfully when they can. We ask every member to: 

  • Be generous with what you’ve learned 

  • Seek help when you need it 

  • Don’t hesitate to ask for help or to volunteer it when you can 

  • Flag concerns discreetly and foster trust of the system 

  • Help us protect what we’re building together 

This is your space — and the more you give, the stronger it becomes. These guidelines lay the foundation and expectations for how we build that together. 

Thank you for being a part of ForFounder’s mission to uplift the founder community.