The privacy letter.

The short version

• We show ads via Google AdSense, which sets third-party cookies to serve and measure ads. You can opt out of personalised ads at Google Ads Settings.
• We measure traffic with Google Analytics (gtag.js) and Vercel Analytics. Both set cookies or identifiers used to count and group visits.
• Email only if you give it — when you subscribe to The Briefing, submit a founder pitch, or contact the desk.
• We never sell your personal data and we never share it with anyone outside the processors named below.
• One-click removal — email info@theentrepreneurstory.com and we delete everything we hold on you within 30 days.

Third-party advertising (Google AdSense)

We use Google AdSense to display ads on this site. Google and its advertising partners (including third-party vendors) use cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies to:

• Serve ads based on your prior visits to this and other websites
• Measure ad performance and detect invalid traffic
• Personalise the ads you see (where you have not opted out)

Google's use of advertising cookies is governed by Google's policies. For full detail on what is collected and how it is used, see Google's advertising technology policies and Google Privacy Policy.

You can opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings or, for participating vendors, the Digital Advertising Alliance opt-out page. You will still see ads, but they will not be personalised.

If you are visiting from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we surface a consent prompt before any advertising or non-essential analytics cookies are set, in line with Google's certified consent management requirements. You can withdraw consent at any time by clearing site data or contacting us.

Analytics

We use two analytics services to understand how the site is used:

• Google Analytics via the gtag.js script. This sets first-party cookies (typically _ga and _ga_*) and reports aggregated information to Google about pages viewed, session duration, country, device, and referral source. Data is processed under Google's standard data-processing terms.
• Vercel Analytics — privacy-friendly aggregate page-view counts. No persistent cross-site identifiers.

You can opt out of Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

Cookies we use

• Essential first-party cookies — to remember your reading preferences and your cookie-consent choice. Required for the site to function.
• Analytics cookies — set by Google Analytics (see above).
• Advertising cookies — set by Google AdSense and its partners on .doubleclick.net, .googlesyndication.com, and related domains.

What we collect directly

Reading

When you read a page, our servers log the URL, the timestamp, the country derived from CDN headers (not stored past 90 days), and the user-agent string. We do not store IP addresses past the rolling 24 hours used for spam control.

Subscribing

When you subscribe to The Briefing, we store your email address, the time you subscribed, the page that referred you, and your stated role if you supplied one. We use this only to send the newsletter and to measure aggregate open / click rates.

Submissions

When you pitch a founder via /founders/submit, we store the submitted information for editorial review. If we don't cover the founder within 12 months, the submission is purged.

Payments

We use Stripe for all paid transactions (paid founder features, print issue orders, ad slot purchases). We never see or store your card details. Stripe's privacy notice governs that data.

Processors we share data with

• Google — AdSense, Analytics. Governed by Google's privacy policy.
• Vercel — hosting and aggregate analytics.
• Stripe — payment processing.
• Resend — transactional and newsletter email delivery.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data to any party. We do not share data with processors not listed above.

Children

This site is intended for a general adult audience. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your jurisdiction). If you believe a child has provided information, contact us and we will delete it.

Your rights (GDPR · CCPA · similar)

Regardless of where you live, you can ask us to:

• Show you everything we have on you. We will send a JSON export within 30 days.
• Correct anything that's wrong.
• Delete it all. One email, gone in 30 days.
• Take it elsewhere (data portability).
• Opt out of personalised advertising (see the Google links above) or withdraw consent in the EEA / UK consent prompt.

California residents have the additional right under the CCPA to know what categories of personal information are collected, to request deletion, and to opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of personal information. We do not sell personal information; the sharing of pseudonymous identifiers with Google for ad measurement may constitute “sharing” under the CCPA, and you can opt out by emailing us or using Google's opt-out linked above.

Contact

For anything privacy-related, email info@theentrepreneurstory.com. For editorial, the desk is at info@theentrepreneurstory.com.

We'll update this page when we change anything material; the “Last updated” line at the top will reflect that.