Terms of Service

The platform is in beta

This is the platform's first season, and we're continuing to refine it based on how participants, judges, and organizers use it. Features and pages may be adjusted or reorganized as we improve them. As with any important work, we recommend keeping your own copies of the files you submit. Your feedback helps shape the platform: email the WVIC organizers at hello@wisconsin.ventures.

If anything on the platform gets in the way of a deadline or a submission, let the organizers know right away. They decide how to handle it, including granting extensions.

Your account

• Anyone with a verified email address can create a community account.
• Competing on a team requires a university email address on the organizers' approved list, or an invitation from the organizers.
• Use your real name and keep your profile accurate. One person, one account. Don't share your sign-in links.
• You're responsible for what happens under your account. Tell the organizers if you think someone else has used it.

Acceptable use

When you use the platform, don't:

• Create fake or duplicate accounts, or try to manipulate votes, likes, rankings, or other community activity.
• Try to see another team's private materials, or another judge's scores.
• Harass, threaten, or impersonate anyone, or post hateful, explicit, or unlawful content.
• Upload content you don't have the right to share, such as someone else's confidential information or copyrighted work without permission.
• Upload malware, or try to disrupt, overload, or get around the platform's security.
• Scrape the platform or use it to send spam.

The organizers may remove content, archive accounts, or disqualify teams that violate these terms or the competition rules.

Your ideas and content

• Your team owns its work. Uploading to the platform doesn't transfer ownership of your ideas, company, or materials to WVIC.
• You give WVIC permission to store your content and to show it to the people who need it to run the competition. Your public company profile fields may also appear on public team pages, in galleries, and in WVIC materials and events about the competition.
• Private profile fields and data room submissions are shared only with your team, your assigned judges, and admins, as described in our Privacy & Security page.
• Judges and admins are asked to keep data room materials confidential and to use them only for the competition. They don't sign individual non-disclosure agreements, so don't upload anything you couldn't share with them, such as trade secrets you can't afford to disclose.

Judging and results

• Advancement is decided only by judges' scores, normalized so that every judging panel is fair.
• Community votes, likes, and the fan game never affect who advances. They feed separate awards only.
• Any AI review is advisory notes for judges. It never sets a score or decides an outcome.
• Questions about results go to the organizers, whose decisions are final.

Archiving and ending access

You can archive your account at any time from your profile. Captains need to hand captaincy to a teammate first. The organizers may archive accounts that violate these terms or are no longer needed. Records are kept as described in our privacy page.

Disclaimers

The platform is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind. To the fullest extent allowed by law, WVIC and its organizers aren't liable for indirect or consequential losses arising from your use of the platform, including service interruptions or the conduct of other users. Nothing on the platform is investment, legal, or financial advice.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms, especially while the platform is in beta. When we do, we'll change the date at the top. If you keep using the platform after an update, you accept the new terms. For questions, email the WVIC organizers at hello@wisconsin.ventures.