Terms of Service

These terms are the agreement between you and Grounded Labs FZCO (Dubai, United Arab Emirates), the company that operates Grounded Labs at groundedlabs.io. By applying to Grounded Labs or joining as a member, you agree to them. We have written them in plain language on purpose.

What Grounded Labs is

The Grounded Labs Community is a private, application-only community for founders and CEOs of tech-enabled startups. Members are open with each other about what they are building, what is working and what is not, behind a closed door and under a confidentiality rule. The community is hosted on Discord, and may also include events, calls and other member spaces we add over time.

Applying, and payment

• Membership is by application. We review every application personally and can accept or decline at our discretion.
• The full membership fee is paid with your application, either upfront or in two monthly instalments of $250 (US dollars). It is fully refundable: if your application is declined, everything you have paid is refunded automatically, and you can withdraw your application and ask for it back at any time before you receive access.
• If you choose instalments, the second $250 is charged to your card 30 days after the first. There are exactly two charges and nothing after.

Membership and pricing

• Membership is $995 (US dollars) for 12 months.
• Founding members join at $500 for 12 months, and that rate is locked: whenever you choose to renew without a lapse in membership, your price will never rise above $500 for 12 months.
• Membership never renews automatically. It is a fixed 12-month term counted from the day you receive access. When it ends, your access ends and no further charge is ever made. Renewing for another 12 months is always a manual choice you make.
• Payments are handled by Stripe. Prices exclude any taxes that apply to you.
• Membership is personal to you. It cannot be shared, transferred or resold, and your access is for you only.

The 7-day guarantee

Your first 7 days of membership are risk free, counted from the day you receive access, not the day you pay. If you join and decide Grounded Labs is not for you within those 7 days, email us and we refund everything you have paid for that year in full, no questions asked.

Renewal and the end of your term

• Membership runs in fixed 12-month terms with no automatic renewal and no automatic charges. We email you before your term ends with the option to renew; if you do nothing, your access ends on your end date and no money moves.
• Renewing is a fresh, manual payment for another 12 months at your applicable rate.
• Outside the 7-day guarantee, membership fees for a started term are not refundable, except where the law says otherwise or where these terms say we will refund you.

Confidentiality: the rule that makes Grounded Labs work

Members share things inside Grounded Labs they would never post publicly. That only works because of one rule: what is shared inside the community stays inside the community.

• Do not share, screenshot, quote or repeat another member's information, numbers, plans or messages outside the community without that member's clear permission.
• You may talk about your own membership and your own contributions freely.
• Breaking the confidentiality rule is treated as the most serious breach of these terms and will normally result in immediate removal.

Conduct

• Be who you said you are in your application: the community is for founders and CEOs, and acceptance is based on what you told us.
• Contribute in good faith. Answer what you can, ask real questions, and be generous with what you have learned.
• No harassment, no spam, and no pitching or selling to members without their invitation.
• Do not use member information for recruiting, lead generation, journalism or competitive research.

Removal

We can remove a member who breaks these terms. If you are removed for a breach, fees already paid for the current year are not refunded. If we ever end someone's membership for reasons that are ours rather than a breach, or if we close the community, we will refund the unused part of the year pro rata, and in the case of closure give at least 30 days' notice by email.

What Grounded Labs is not

Grounded Labs is a community, not a professional service. Things members share, including anything Faisal shares, are experiences and opinions, not legal, financial, tax or investment advice. We do not promise business results, introductions, funding or outcomes of any kind. The community runs on Discord, whose own terms apply to your use of their platform, and features and spaces may change over time.

Ownership

Your business and your ideas stay yours, and the content you post remains yours; you give us permission to display it within the community. Grounded Labs itself, its brand, site and everything that powers it, stays ours.

Liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, our total liability to you for anything arising out of Grounded Labs is limited to the amount you paid us in the year the issue arose. We are not liable for indirect losses such as lost profits, lost data or lost customers, and we are not responsible for the actions of individual members.

Changes to these terms

If we update these terms, we will change the date at the top. For significant changes we will email you before they take effect. Continuing your membership after that means you accept the new terms. We will never raise the locked founding rate for founding members whose membership has stayed continuously active.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the Emirate of Dubai and the applicable federal laws of the United Arab Emirates, and disputes belong to the courts of Dubai.

Contact

Questions about these terms: hello@groundedlabs.io