Terms of Service

Agreement

These Terms of Service (the “Terms”) are an agreement between you and FirmOptic (“FirmOptic,” “we,” or “us”). They govern your use of firmoptic.com, app.firmoptic.com, and the research platform available there (the “Service”).

By creating an account, clicking to accept, or using the Service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you use the Service for an organization, you confirm that you have authority to bind it, and “you” includes that organization. The Service is for business use by people 18 or older. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

The Service

FirmOptic helps searchers, independent sponsors, private equity teams, and family offices define an acquisition thesis, find private companies that fit it, generate AI-assisted research on each company, and track deals in a pipeline. Research output can include company profiles, scorecards, memos, and business contact information for people at the companies.

We may add, change, or remove features. If we make a change that materially reduces a feature of a paid plan, we will give you reasonable notice.

Accounts and organizations

• You can register with your name, email, and a password, or sign in with Google or Microsoft. Give us accurate information and keep your credentials confidential. You are responsible for activity under your account.
• An account is for one person. Do not share logins. Add teammates to your organization instead.
• Each organization has roles: Owner, Member, and Viewer. Owners manage billing, the plan, and the team, and are responsible for their team’s compliance with these Terms.
• Tell us right away at [email protected] if you think someone has used your account without permission.

Plans, credits, and payment

Free plan

The Free plan includes a limited number of research credits each month (currently five). No payment card is required.

Growth plan

The paid plan is Growth, billed monthly. As of the effective date it is $99 per month and includes 25 researched companies per month. The plans and prices shown at checkout govern your purchase and are the current source for pricing, limits, and seats.

Credits

• Researching a company uses one credit. Unlocking a contact’s details can also use credits.
• Monthly credits renew at the start of each billing period (the first of the month on the Free plan). Unused monthly credits do not roll over.
• Top-up credits can be bought separately in fixed pack sizes (for example 20, 50, 100, or 200 credits); the packs and prices available are shown at checkout. They are one-time purchases and are not refundable, except where required by law.
• If a research run fails to start because of an error on our side, we do not charge a credit for it.

Payment and automatic renewal

• Payments are processed by Stripe. We never see or store your full card number.
• Paid plans renew automatically at the end of each billing period at the price then in effect, until you cancel. By subscribing you authorize us, through Stripe, to charge your payment method on each renewal.
• We may change prices with at least 30 days’ notice. A change takes effect at your next renewal.
• If a payment fails, Stripe may retry it. Paid features may be paused until payment succeeds, and if the subscription ends your organization returns to the Free plan.
• Prices do not include taxes unless we say so. You are responsible for any taxes that apply to your purchase.

Cancellation

An Owner can cancel at any time in the app under Settings, “Manage plan & billing.” Cancellation takes effect at the end of the billing period you already paid for. You keep paid access until then, after which the organization returns to the Free plan. A scheduled cancellation can be undone before it takes effect.

Closing your account (Owners only) also schedules cancellation of any active subscription and deactivates your login. If you are the only Owner, you must transfer ownership first. Export anything you need before you close your account. See the Privacy Policy for what happens to your data afterward.

Refunds

Fees are non-refundable. We do not give refunds or credits for partial billing periods, unused credits, or time left in a billing period after you cancel, except where required by law or where we billed you in error. If you think we billed you incorrectly, email [email protected] within 30 days of the charge and we will review it promptly.

Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• use the Service or its data for anything unlawful, or to harass, defraud, or mislead anyone;
• scrape, crawl, harvest, or bulk-export data from the Service by automated means, or access it other than through the features we provide;
• resell, sublicense, or redistribute Service data or output, or use it to build a competing product or database. Sharing results with your own co-investors, lenders, partners, and advisors in the ordinary course of evaluating a transaction is fine;
• create multiple accounts or organizations, use disposable email addresses, or abuse promotions to get around credit limits, the Free plan, or any other usage limit;
• share login credentials or use more seats than your plan includes;
• probe or test the Service for vulnerabilities, bypass rate limits or security controls, or interfere with other users or the Service;
• reverse engineer the Service, except as the law allows;
• use the Service or its output to train, benchmark, or build a competing AI model or dataset;
• upload malware, or upload content you do not have the right to share, including information you are contractually or legally barred from disclosing to third-party service providers.

Business contact information

Research output can include names, titles, and business contact details for people at target companies. You are responsible for how you use it. You must follow all laws that apply to your outreach (for example CAN-SPAM, the TCPA, state do-not-call and marketing laws, and, where relevant, GDPR and CASL), and you must honor requests from people who ask you to stop contacting them. You must not use this information to decide a person’s eligibility for credit, insurance, employment, or housing.

We may suspend or end access if you break these rules.

Research output is AI-generated

The Service uses AI models and third-party data sources to produce research. Output can be incomplete, outdated, or wrong. Scores, fit ratings, and evidence levels are aids for prioritizing your own review, not conclusions. We do not verify that a company is for sale or open to a transaction, and contact information may be inaccurate or stale.

FirmOptic is a software and research tool. Nothing in the Service is investment, legal, tax, accounting, or financial advice, and FirmOptic does not act as a broker, finder, or adviser in any transaction. Verify anything important independently before you rely on it, contact an owner, make an offer, or commit capital.

Your content

“Your content” means what you put into the Service: theses and search criteria, messages to the thesis coach, notes, memos, pipeline data, and uploaded documents. You own your content.

You give us a limited, non-exclusive license to host, process, transmit, and display your content, and to send it to our service providers, only as needed to provide, secure, and support the Service for you. We do not use your content to train AI models, and we do not sell it. You are responsible for having the right to upload your content.

Research we generate for you is yours to use for your internal business purposes, subject to these Terms and the third-party data restrictions in them.

Our property

We and our licensors own the Service, including its software, design, prompts, scoring methods, and brand, and the compilations of data we assemble. We give you a limited, revocable, non-transferable right to use the Service while these Terms are in effect. If you send us feedback, we may use it without obligation to you.

Third-party services

The Service relies on third parties for hosting, payments, email, data, and AI processing, and lets you sign in with Google or Microsoft. Their terms apply to your use of their services. We list the main providers in the Privacy Policy.

Disclaimers

THE SERVICE AND ALL OUTPUT ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE.” TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, OR THAT ANY COMPANY, CONTACT, OR FACT IN THE OUTPUT IS CORRECT.

Limitation of liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, FIRMOPTIC WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, LOST DEALS, LOST DATA, OR LOSS OF GOODWILL, EVEN IF WE WERE TOLD THEY WERE POSSIBLE. WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR DECISIONS YOU MAKE ABOUT ACQUISITIONS, OFFERS, OR FINANCING BASED ON THE OUTPUT. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM AND $100.

Some places do not allow these limits, so they apply only as far as the law permits. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

Indemnification

You will defend and indemnify FirmOptic against third-party claims, and the resulting losses and reasonable costs, that arise from your content, your breach of these Terms, or your use of the Service or its output (including your outreach to individuals) in violation of the law.

Term and termination

These Terms apply while you use the Service. You can stop at any time (see Cancellation). We may suspend or end your access for breach of these Terms, non-payment, abuse, or legal or security risk, and we will tell you when practical. When access ends, your right to use the Service ends. Sections that by their nature should survive (including ownership, disclaimers, liability limits, indemnification, and governing law) will survive.

Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. We will post the new version with a new effective date, and for material changes we will notify you by email or in the Service before they take effect. If you keep using the Service after a change takes effect, you accept it. If you do not agree, cancel before then.

Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by United States federal law and the laws of the state where FirmOptic has its principal place of business, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in that state, and each party consents to those courts’ jurisdiction. Before filing a claim, each party agrees to first try to resolve the dispute informally for 30 days by written notice to the other.

General

These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between us about the Service. If a provision is unenforceable, the rest stays in effect. A failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. Neither party is liable for delays caused by events beyond its reasonable control. We may give you notice by email or through the Service. There are no third-party beneficiaries.

Contact

Questions about these Terms: [email protected].