VC Guide Community Guidelines

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These Community Guidelines are meant to help you better understand:

The principles that we think make VC Guide a special place
The rules we expect you to abide by as a VC Guide user
What you can do if you come across inappropriate behavior

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VC Guide is a very special community so we want to highlight some unique rules alongside the Community Guidelines below:

Be honest. This might seem obvious, but truth matters more than ever in an anonymous product like this.
Add context. In a space like VC Guide, there's a thin line we have to walk between being a safe & honest space and a toxic one (it's the trouble with most anonymous products). Context is important to avoid toxic ad hominem attacks. Provide evidence & support for what you say. You can critique the work, behavior, or performance of a person, but direct personal attacks are not welcome here.

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Do’s

VC Guide was designed to be a space for authentic expression—where founders can find help when navigating the venture world. Below are a few guiding principles that we believe are important.

Be yourself. The authenticity of VC Guide begins with the people.
Be respectful. This applies to every review. Please treat others like you want to be treated.
Be responsible. VC Guide, at the end of the day, is a community of individuals trusting in your review. Be accountable for what you say.
Be kind. It’s fine to criticize, but don’t be a bully.
Be inclusive. Tolerate, welcome, and consider diverse people and perspectives.
Be honest. With any content you post on VC Guide, make sure that it is an accurate representation of your experience & knowledge.
Be...lawful. We didn’t think we needed to tell you this, but might as well…you can’t do anything on here you can’t do legally in real life. So don’t try to promote, sell, or buy drugs, guns, ammunitions, explosives, or anything else in that vein.
Be talkative! We are human too. So reach out on social media or at hello@vcguide.co. We know some of these standards are subjective, but you have our word we are doing our absolute best to build the best damn resource on Earth! Or in the universe!

Please note that these principles are intended to be high-level guidelines only. If you’re interested in knowing what can get people kicked off VC Guide, please see the Rules sections below. 🙂

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Don’t’s

When you use VC Guide, you agree to abide by the following rules at all times. You also agree not to encourage others to violate these rules. The latter is taken seriously and can also result in removal from VC Guide.

We won’t tolerate racially charged attacks. There is no room for unnecessary toxicity, hate speech, racism, or abuse/harassment here. Our VC Guide Community Guidelines make this clear, and we have trust and safety procedures in place to address any violation of these rules. Content violating these rules may be blocked, deleted, or censored. People who violate these rules will be warned, suspended, or removed completely from the platform, depending on the severity of the offense. This is a critical area of investment for us as a company and we are working hard to continue building tools and policies that are robust and that account for the unique dynamics of an anonymous forum.

At the same time, we believe that critique is part of robust discourse, so we are working to find a reasonable balance between these two priorities. In all cases, VC Guide does not allow harassment, threats, or support of violence.

As we take these steps, we want to avoid conflating abuse with other things that can feel uncomfortable—like differences in opinion or conversational style. Abuse, racism, religious intolerance, sexism, and hate speech are things we have zero tolerance for. Targeted and coordinated harassment is never okay. But what about general rudeness? Or holding alternative perspectives? While these things might seem jarring, we don’t believe they should be banned.

No abuse, bullying, or harassment. You may not engage in abuse, bullying, or targeted harassment of any person or groups of people, or incite other people to do so. We believe that critique is part of a robust discourse, but we draw the line at harassment and threats. This does not include writing about someone unfavorably, even repeatedly, but does include threatening violence or explicitly organizing others to do so.
No hateful conduct. You may not discriminate against, engage in hateful conduct directed at, or threaten violence or harm against any person or groups of people. It does not include attacks on ideas, ideologies, organizations, or individuals for other reasons, even if those attacks are cruel or unfair.
No violence or nudity. You may not share or promote information (or synthetic or manipulated media) that is intended or likely to cause harm to any person or groups of people, including minors.
No illegal activities. You may not use the service for the purpose of conducting any unauthorized or illegal activities.
No impersonation. You may not impersonate individuals, groups, or organizations in a manner that is intended to or does mislead, confuse, or deceive others.

If you witness a Rules violation, please follow the instructions below to report it.

And, if you have questions, feedback, or suggestions, please let us know at hello@vcguide.co!

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Safety & reporting

We depend on the vigilance of each user and the community to report violations of Rules. If you believe a post has violated a Rule, you can report a Trust & Safety incident.Note: Inappropriate use of the incident reporting system or intentional, false reports are against our rules and are taken seriously.

If you believe you have have identified a Rule violation, please follow the process below.

Identify the objectionable content in question
Determine which Rule (see above) has been violated
Notify hello@vcguide.co with a link or screenshot of the objectionable content along with an explanation and/or evidence on how the objectionable content violates one of the Rules
As the VC Guide internal committee reviews your report, we will mark on the website that the review in question is disputed
Wait for the VC Guide team to review your report and adjudicate

Here’s what you should know about reporting another user or post for a Rule violation:

All reports that are submitted will be reviewed and investigated. The need for and type of corrective or disciplinary action needed will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
We seek to be fair, consistent, and responsive in addressing all reported incidents.
If the violation directly targeted you, we may share certain information about the process and resolution with you (e.g., the stage of investigation, any concerns that you may be at risk for immediate harm, information on how the resolution could impact you).
Intentional, false reports of violations are treated as a violation of the Rules.

If another user has reported you or your post for violating a Rule, here’s what you should know:

If a report has been filed against you or your post, we will investigate the report in question.
Given the anonymous nature of VC Guide, we will adjudicate the merit of the report solely with the reporter. If you notice that your post has been censored and want to appeal a decision, please contact us, including as much context as possible.
Not all decisions made by VC Guide are eligible for appeal.
Any attempt to retaliate against users who participate in reporting or investigation is prohibited.

These are examples of potential consequences for Rules violations (non-exhaustive):

Temporary or permanent censorship of the content
Notification to law enforcement when there is risk of physical harm or a threat to public safety

Consequences for confirmed violations may vary based on the type and severity of the violation, the impact to victim(s).

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Legal note

Finally, please keep in mind this quick legal note on our Community Guidelines, violations, and how we may enforce them:

You are solely responsible for your interactions and content on VC Guide and you agree that we will have no liability or responsibility with respect to those interactions and content.
We understand that not all members will share our views as to what constitutes a violation of these Community Guidelines. However, to operate a functional platform, we reserve the right to determine in our sole discretion what constitutes a violation.
Our failure to enforce these Community Guidelines in each and every instance in which they might apply does not amount to a waiver of our rights under these Community Guidelines.
We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to change portions of these Community Guidelines at any time.

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Contact

We take these Community Guidelines seriously and ask that you follow them in the spirit in which they are intended. We further recognize that these guidelines must continually evolve, so please do contact us with questions, suggestions, or comments at hello@vcguide.co

Thank you for reading, and for helping us build an amazing community! 🙏🏽