Privacy Policy

Who is responsible for your personal information

Tapwi is responsible for personal information under its control, including information transferred to third-party service providers for processing. We have designated a person responsible for the protection of personal information (our Privacy Officer) who oversees compliance with this Privacy Policy and applicable privacy laws:

What personal information we collect

Personal information is information about an identifiable individual. We collect personal information only for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, and we limit what we collect to what is reasonably necessary for those purposes. Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect:

Information you give us directly

• Contact details, such as your name, email address, phone number, business name, location, and the role you hold, when you join our waitlist, subscribe to The Fire Report, complete a contact or intake form, or reach out to us.
• Founder and business information you choose to share, such as your industry, stage of business, team size, revenue range, funding history, goals and challenges, when you complete an intake questionnaire, participate in an assessment, or engage us for People and Culture advisory, Growth and Scale support, workshops or speaking engagements.
• Information you provide when you book a call or session with us through our scheduling tool, such as your name, email address, time zone and any notes you include.
• Payment and billing information when you purchase a service, template, policy product or other offering. Payments are processed by our third-party payment processor. We do not store your full credit card number on our systems; we receive confirmation of payment, your billing name and address, and the last four digits of your card.
• Content you submit, such as survey responses, feedback, testimonials, questions, and anything you share in emails or messages with us.
• Information about how you identify, such as identifying as an Indigenous, Black, racialized, 2SLGBTQIA+, newcomer, or disabled founder, only where you choose to share it, for example to be considered for programs, grants or advisor matching intended for specific communities. This information is sensitive. We collect it only with your express consent, we use it only for the purpose you provided it, and you may withdraw it at any time.

Information collected automatically

• Device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser type, operating system, referring pages, pages viewed, time spent on pages, and approximate location derived from your IP address.
• Information collected through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, as described in the Cookies section below.
• Email engagement information from our newsletter platform, such as whether an email was opened or a link was clicked.

Information from the Tapwi platform (when available)

Tapwi is building a founder platform that will include features such as an AI Co-Founder, advisor matching, grant matching, a personalized dashboard and advisory briefs. As these features launch, we will collect the information needed to provide them, such as account credentials, your business profile, the goals and questions you enter, and your interactions with the platform. We will update this Privacy Policy, and where required obtain your consent, before any new type of collection begins.

Information from other sources

We may receive limited personal information from third parties, such as a referral from an advisor or partner who introduces you to us, publicly available business information, or event organizers who share attendee lists with your consent.

How we use your personal information

We use personal information for the following purposes:

• To provide the Services, including responding to your inquiries, delivering advisory work, running workshops, managing bookings, processing payments and providing customer support.
• To operate the waitlist and notify you when the Tapwi platform, or features of it, become available.
• To send The Fire Report and other communications you have subscribed to, and to personalize the resources and insights we share with you.
• To match you with advisors, mentors, funding opportunities or grants that fit your stage, needs and, where you have shared it, your identity and community.
• To operate, secure, maintain and improve the Site and Services, including understanding how visitors use the Site and which content is most useful.
• To create aggregated or de-identified insights about founders and the access gap in entrepreneurship. Aggregated or de-identified information does not identify you and may be used for research, reporting, thought leadership and product development.
• To send marketing and promotional messages about our products, services, events and offers, where you have given consent (see Marketing Communications below).
• To comply with legal obligations, enforce our terms, protect our rights and the rights of others, and prevent fraud, abuse or security incidents.

We do not sell personal information, and we do not use personal information for purposes that are unrelated to those described here without first obtaining your consent.

Consent

We collect, use and disclose personal information with your knowledge and consent, except where the law permits or requires otherwise. The form of consent depends on the sensitivity of the information and your reasonable expectations.

• Express consent: We ask for your express consent, such as ticking a box or clicking a sign-up button, before sending you commercial electronic messages, before collecting sensitive information such as identity or community affiliation, and before using non-essential cookies that track or profile you.
• Implied consent: When you provide information to receive a service you have asked for, such as booking a call or purchasing a product, we rely on your implied consent to use that information to deliver the service.

You may withdraw your consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice, by contacting our Privacy Officer or by using the unsubscribe link in any email. Withdrawing consent may mean we can no longer provide certain Services to you. We will explain the consequences of withdrawing consent when you ask.

Providing personal information to us is voluntary. However, some Services cannot be delivered without certain information, and we will tell you when information is required.

Marketing communications and CASL

We send The Fire Report and other commercial electronic messages only to people who have opted in. Every marketing email we send identifies Tapwi, includes our contact information and includes an unsubscribe link that works within ten business days, as required by CASL. You can also unsubscribe at any time by emailing bobbie@tapwi.com. Unsubscribing from marketing does not affect transactional or service messages, such as booking confirmations, receipts or responses to your requests.

Cookies and similar technologies

We use cookies, pixels, tags and similar technologies on the Site. Cookies are small data files placed on your device. We use them for the following purposes:

Strictly necessary cookies that make the Site work, such as remembering your cookie preferences and keeping forms functional. These do not require consent.

Analytics cookies, including Google Analytics, that help us understand how visitors use the Site, which pages are popular and where visitors come from. Google may set cookies and receive your IP address and usage information. Learn more at policies.google.com/privacy.

Advertising and social media cookies, including the Meta Pixel, that allow us to measure the performance of our content and campaigns, and to show relevant content to people who have visited our Site on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Meta may receive your IP address, browser information and actions taken on the Site. Learn more at www.facebook.com/privacy/policy.

Analytics and advertising cookies are not activated until you accept them through our cookie banner. You can change your choices at any time through the cookie settings on the Site or through your browser settings. Disabling cookies may limit some features of the Site. You may also opt out of Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, and manage Meta advertising preferences in your Facebook or Instagram account settings.

Who we share your personal information with

We do not sell, rent or trade personal information. We share personal information only in the following circumstances:

Service providers

We use trusted third-party service providers to help us operate the Site and Services. These providers may access personal information only to perform services on our behalf, and they are contractually required to protect it and to use it only for the purposes we specify. Our current providers include:

• Kit, which hosts our email list and sends The Fire Report and other email communications.
• Google (Google Analytics), which provides website analytics.
• Meta (Meta Pixel), which provides measurement and advertising services.
• LinkedIn (LinkedIn Pixel), which provides measurement and advertising services.
• A scheduling platform, which manages call and session bookings.
• A payment processor, which processes payments on our behalf.
• Our website hosting and form providers, cloud storage, email and document tools, and customer support tools.

We will update this list as our providers change. You may ask our Privacy Officer for the current list at any time.

Advisors, mentors and partners

If you ask to be connected with an advisor, mentor, funding program or partner through Tapwi, we will share the information needed to make that introduction, and we will tell you what we are sharing before we do so. Once you are connected, that person or organization is responsible for their own handling of your information.

Legal and safety

We may disclose personal information when required or permitted by law, including to comply with a subpoena, warrant, court order or lawful request by a Canadian or foreign authority; to protect the rights, property or safety of Tapwi, our clients or others; to investigate fraud or security incidents; or to enforce our agreements.

Business transactions

If Tapwi is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization or sale of assets, personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will require the receiving party to protect personal information in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy, and we will notify you of any material change in how your information is handled.

With your consent

We may share personal information for other purposes with your consent, for example if you agree to have a testimonial or story published.

Where your personal information is stored and transfers outside Canada

Tapwi is located in Alberta, Canada. Some of our service providers, including Kit, Google, Meta, our scheduling platform and our payment processor, are located in the United States or other countries, or store information on servers outside Canada. As a result, your personal information may be transferred to, stored in and processed outside Canada, including in the United States.

While outside Canada, personal information is subject to the laws of that jurisdiction and may be accessible to foreign courts, law enforcement and national security authorities under those laws.

Before transferring personal information outside Canada, we take reasonable steps to ensure it will receive protection comparable to that required under Canadian law, including contractual commitments from our providers. For residents of Quebec, we conduct a privacy impact assessment before communicating personal information outside Quebec as required by Law 25. If you have questions about our transfers outside Canada, please contact our Privacy Officer.

How long we keep your personal information

We keep personal information only as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, to meet legal, accounting or reporting requirements, or to resolve disputes. As a general guide:

• Newsletter and waitlist information is kept until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete it, after which it is removed from our active list.
• Client engagement and advisory records are kept for the duration of the engagement and for up to seven years afterward to meet tax and legal obligations.
• Analytics data is retained according to the settings of our analytics provider and is aggregated or deleted after that period.
• Contact form inquiries that do not lead to an engagement are deleted within two years.

When personal information is no longer needed, we securely delete or anonymize it. Information that has been anonymized so that it can no longer identify you may be kept for research and reporting.

How we protect your personal information

We use physical, organizational and technological safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information to protect personal information against loss, theft, unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification. These safeguards include encrypted connections to the Site, access controls that limit personal information to team members and contractors who need it to perform their work, secure password practices, and contractual requirements for our service providers. Team members and contractors who handle personal information are required to keep it confidential.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. If you believe your interaction with us is no longer secure, please contact us immediately.

Privacy breaches

If a breach of security safeguards involving personal information under our control creates a real risk of significant harm to an individual, we will notify the affected individuals and report the breach to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, and to the Commission d'accès à l'information for residents of Quebec, as required by law. We keep records of all breaches involving personal information.

Automated decision-making and artificial intelligence

Some Tapwi platform features, such as the AI Co-Founder, grant matching and advisory briefs, use artificial intelligence and automated processing to generate suggestions, content and matches based on the information you provide. These features are designed to support your decisions, not to replace human judgment, and matches and recommendations are reviewed by our team where they affect access to programs, advisors or funding.

If we ever make a decision about you based exclusively on automated processing, we will tell you at the time or before the decision, explain the personal information and main factors used, and give you the opportunity to have the decision reviewed by a person and to submit your comments, as required by Law 25 and applicable privacy laws.

We do not use your personal information or the content you enter into Tapwi platform features to train third-party AI models without your express consent. Where we use third-party AI providers to deliver a feature, we require them to protect your information and to use it only to provide the feature to you.

Your rights

Subject to limited exceptions under applicable law, you have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you and learn how it has been used and to whom it has been disclosed.
• Request correction of personal information that is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date.
• Withdraw your consent to our collection, use or disclosure of your personal information.
• Ask us to delete personal information, or, for residents of Quebec, to cease disseminating it or to de-index it, where the law permits.
• For residents of Quebec, receive computerized personal information you provided to us in a structured, commonly used technological format, or have it transferred to another organization (data portability).
• Ask questions or make a complaint about our privacy practices.

To exercise any of these rights, contact our Privacy Officer at bobbie@tapwi.com. We may need to verify your identity before responding. We will respond within 60 days, or tell you if we need more time and why. There is no charge to access your information, except that we may charge a minimal fee for copies where the law allows, and we will tell you the cost in advance.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (www.priv.gc.ca), the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta (www.oipc.ab.ca) or, for residents of Quebec, the Commission d'accès à l'information (www.cai.gouv.qc.ca).

Children's privacy

The Site and Services are intended for adults who are founders, business leaders and people interested in entrepreneurship. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 18. If you believe a minor has provided us with personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer and we will delete it.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technologies or legal requirements. When we make changes, we will post the updated policy on the Site and revise the date at the top. If a change materially affects how we use your personal information, we will notify you by email or through a prominent notice on the Site, and where required we will ask for your consent before the change takes effect. Your continued use of the Site or Services after an update means you have read the updated Privacy Policy.

Contact us

If you have questions, concerns or requests relating to this Privacy Policy or your personal information, please contact: