1. Who we are. Fund2Build (fund2build.com) is run by Matthew Lerman, doing business as Fund2Build, a small business in Washington State, USA. "We" and "us" mean that business. You can reach us with the "Report a problem" link at the bottom of every page.
2. What these terms cover. These terms apply whenever you use Fund2Build: looking around, signing in, writing or sharing a project, chatting, making demos, buying a build or hosting, or backing a project. Some things also have their own agreement that you accept at the time: a build quote, the hosting terms for an app, the backing rules a creator agrees to, and the agreement you tick when you pledge. If one of those says something different from these terms, that agreement wins for that thing. Our Privacy notice explains what we do with your information.
3. A small pilot. Fund2Build is new and run by a very small team. Features may change, pause or stop. We'll tell you before a change affects money you've already paid or pledged.
4. Who can use Fund2Build. You must be 18 or older and live in the United States. You sign in with your email address, so keep your email and any password you set safe: anyone who can open your sign-in emails can use your account. One person per account. Building and hosting are open by invitation during the pilot.
5. What we sell. Prices are in US dollars.
- Prepaid balance. You add money to your balance with a card, $5 or more at a time. It pays for chats and demos on your projects, and can pay for builds and hosting. We never top it up automatically, and it doesn't expire. If you'd like unused balance back, ask us and we'll refund it to the card it came from.
- Chats and demos. Each reply or demo costs twice what it costs us to make, never more than the maximum you set under Spending. We show what each one cost. Replies and demos are written by AI and can be wrong. If one fails, you aren't charged.
- App builds. We quote a fixed price to build your app to an agreed plan, with a list of checks it must pass. The price covers up to 3 tries. When you approve the quote, that amount is set aside from your balance (or, for a backed project, paid by backers as in section 6). You're charged only if the app passes every check. If it doesn't, the money is released and we pay what the tries cost. Some builds are download only; the quote says so.
- Hosting. We keep an app online for $10 for each 30-day period, unless its hosting offer shows another price. The creator approves an app's hosting before it goes online; nothing is charged at that moment. For a backed app, the project's fund pays each 30 days while it holds at least a full period's price; after that, the creator's prepaid balance pays, as the creator agreed when approving hosting. Money in the fund that is less than a full period's price stays in the fund. Each app's hosting terms explain the email 7 days before each renewal (saying whether the fund or the balance will pay), the 7 days of grace if a renewal can't be paid, suspension, and keeping the app's data for 30 days after hosting stops. If we ever stop hosting apps, we'll give at least 30 days' notice so creators can download their data and code.
- Sales tax. Prices marked "tax included" already include any sales tax we have to collect, so you pay the price shown wherever you live.
6. Backing a project.
- Anyone 18 or older in the United States can back a shared project once its creator opens backing. Pledges start at $5, with no upper limit. We keep your billing state and ZIP code for sales tax records.
- A project's goal is its build price plus its first 30 days online.
- Your card is saved with our payment company, Stripe, when you pledge. Nothing is charged then. It's charged once, for your pledge as you last set it, only after the app is built and passes its checks within 14 days of the build starting. We charge it without asking you again. If the app doesn't pass in time, nothing is charged.
- Until the build starts, you can change or cancel your pledge. When the project is fully backed, backers get a day's notice by email; then the build starts and pledges are locked. If a build try fails, you can still cancel while we decide whether to try again.
- A pledge ends after 30 days if the build hasn't started. Changing it starts the 30 days again.
- If some backers' cards can't be charged, they get an email and 14 days to add another card. The app is released as soon as the money collected covers the build price. If it still doesn't after those 14 days, the app isn't released and everyone who was charged gets all their money back.
- Money beyond the build price goes into the project's fund, which we hold. The fund pays for keeping the app online first, then later builds and changes. It is never paid out as cash, to the creator or anyone else. If the app is deleted for good (after its 30-day keep period), or the project ends or its fund sits unused for 12 months without the app ever going online, what's left is refunded to that round's backers, in proportion to what each paid. A suspension or a grace period doesn't count.
- Backing pays for this project's app to be built and kept online. It isn't an investment, a loan, a donation to the creator or a purchase of any share in the project or the app, and it gives you no ownership or profit.
- We don't add a fee to a pledge: backers pay toward the same build and hosting prices a creator would pay, and those prices are how we earn. We pay the card fees.
- A creator who opens backing agrees to the backing rules shown at the time, and their project then stays shared.
7. Refunds.
- Chats and demos: a failed one isn't charged; a finished one is final.
- Builds: you're charged only after a pass. After that a build isn't refunded, except where we decide, case by case, that a refund is fair.
- Hosting: you can cancel at any time. The app runs to the end of the paid period, and the current period isn't refunded.
- Your balance: if you'd like unused balance back, ask us and we'll refund it to the card it came from.
- Backing: nothing is charged unless the app passes; the shortfall rule and the fund rules in section 6 say when backers get money back. Otherwise a charged pledge isn't refunded, except where we decide, case by case, that a refund is fair. We pay a case-by-case refund ourselves, so the project's fund isn't touched; that backer's share of any later refund from the fund goes down by what they already got back, so nobody gets back more than they paid.
- If we charge you by mistake, we refund it.
- Refunds go back to the card that paid. We pay the card fees: a refund is never reduced by them.
8. If something goes wrong with a payment. Please tell us first: most problems can be put right quickly. If you dispute a charge with your card company instead, we'll show them what you agreed to and our records of the charge (for a pledge, the agreement you ticked and the app's check results). If a top-up is disputed, the balance it added is taken out of your balance while the dispute is decided, and put back if it's decided in your favour.
9. What you write. You own what you write: ideas, answers, project pages, comments and chat messages. You let us store it; show it where you choose (a shared project page is public, a link-only page is visible to anyone with its link, drafts and chats are private); keep backup copies; and send it to the service providers named in our Privacy notice so Fund2Build works (for example, to write chat replies, make demos and build apps). This permission ends when it's deleted, except for backup copies (up to 30 days) and what other people already saw or copied from a public page. Don't post anything you don't have the right to share, other people's private information, or anything illegal, threatening or hateful. We may hide or remove content or projects that break these terms, and we'll tell you if we do.
10. Apps we build. An app is built to its agreed plan and checked against its agreed list. Those checks are what we promise; we don't promise an app has no other faults or suits every use. Once a shared project has a working version, its code will be free for anyone to read and download, as the sharing agreement says; the terms for reusing it come with the code. A creator can always download their own accepted build's code. You're responsible for how you and your app's users use it and the data put into it, including having permission to store other people's details. Don't store payment cards, health information or government ID numbers in a hosted app.
11. Fair use. Don't use Fund2Build to break the law. Don't try to get into accounts or systems that aren't yours, overload or copy the site in bulk, or get around spending limits, the free first message or invitations, including by using more than one account. Don't make apps meant to harm, deceive or track people without their permission. We may suspend or close an account that does these things. If we close an account for any other reason, we'll refund its unused balance.
12. No guarantees, and limits. We work hard to keep Fund2Build running and your information safe, but we provide it as it is, without promising it will always be available or free of errors, except for the specific promises in these terms and your agreements (such as charging only after the checks pass). As far as the law allows, we aren't responsible for indirect losses such as lost profits or lost data, and our total responsibility to you for any claim is limited to the larger of what you paid us in the 12 months before it and $100. Nothing here takes away rights the law says can't be taken away.
13. Changes to these terms. We may update these terms. The version and date are at the top of this page, and we keep every earlier version. For an important change we'll put a notice on the site or email you before it applies. A change never alters what you already agreed to for a pledge, a build quote or a hosting period you've paid for: those keep the terms they were made under.
14. Leaving. You can stop using Fund2Build at any time and ask us to close your account (our Privacy notice explains what is deleted and what must be kept). Closing an account cancels its pledges that aren't locked yet; a locked pledge stays until its build is settled. What these terms say about payments, refunds, backups, limits and disputes still applies afterwards.
15. Disputes and the law. The laws of Washington State apply. If we can't settle a disagreement by talking it through, it goes to the state or federal courts for Kittitas County, Washington, or to small claims court where you live if it qualifies.
16. Contact. Matthew Lerman, doing business as Fund2Build, Washington, USA. Use "Report a problem" at the bottom of any page.