Terms of Service

Version: TERMS-2026-09-16

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your use of buildthedamnthing.com (the "Site") and the products, services, content, newsletters, and programs offered there by Genius Guild LLC ("Genius Guild," "BUILD," "we," "us," or "our"), including the Builder Quiz, free resources, BUILD guides, and the BUILD Sprint (together, the "Services"). By using the Site or any Service, you agree to these Terms. If you don't agree, please don't use the Site or the Services.

1. Who we are

BUILD is operated by Genius Guild LLC, a Delaware limited liability company.

Contact: support@buildthedamnthing.com
Mailing address: Genius Guild LLC, 818 East 63rd St, #157, Chicago, IL 60637

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old to buy any paid Service or enter into a contract with us. By using the Site, you confirm that you meet this requirement and have the legal authority to agree to these Terms. The Site is not intended for anyone under 13.

3. Your information and your account

Some Services ask for your name, email address, or other information. You agree to give accurate, current information and keep it up to date. Where a Service uses a sign-in code sent to your email, you're responsible for keeping access to that email secure and for activity that happens through it.

4. Free Services: the Builder Quiz and free resources

The Builder Quiz, your quiz result, and our free resources are provided at no cost. Your quiz result is yours to keep and is delivered in full, whether or not you buy anything. Free Services may change or end at any time.

5. Purchases and payments

Paid Services are sold at the price shown at checkout, in U.S. dollars unless stated otherwise. Payments are processed by Stripe, Inc. BUILD doesn't receive your full card number. By making a purchase, you authorize us and Stripe to charge your payment method for the amount shown at checkout, plus any applicable taxes. If a charge is declined, we may hold back the paid Service until payment is resolved.

6. Refunds

BUILD guides. Individual BUILD guide purchases are final once the guide has been delivered.

The BUILD Sprint. Sprint registrations follow the rules in Section 7.

Billing errors and your legal rights. For any purchase, BUILD will correct duplicate charges and verified billing errors. If you think you were charged in error, email support@buildthedamnthing.com with your purchase email, the date, and the charge details. Don't send your full card number by email. Nothing in these Terms takes away a refund or remedy you're entitled to by law.

7. The BUILD Sprint

7.1 This section controls for Sprints

This Section 7 applies to your registration for a BUILD Sprint. If anything else in these Terms conflicts with this section about a Sprint, this section controls.

7.2 What you're buying

A seat in one live, online BUILD Sprint on the date and time you selected at registration: a group workshop led by Kathryn Finney, delivered over Zoom together with your BUILD Sprint Workspace, for the length shown at registration.

Your seat is confirmed only when BUILD receives successful payment and sends your confirmation, or records an authorized complimentary seat. When you start checkout, BUILD holds a seat for you for about 30 minutes. A hold that expires before payment isn't a registration. Registration for a Sprint closes 3 hours before it starts, or sooner if it sells out.

7.3 One Sprint, one pass

Each registration covers one pass through the Sprint. Once you confirm a stage (your idea, name, brand direction, or MVP scope), that choice is final for that Sprint. If you want to make different choices, you can register for another Sprint.

7.4 Sprint sales are final for reasons on your side

Except where a refund is required by law, you can't get a refund or move to another date if:

• you change your mind or have a scheduling conflict;
• you miss the Sprint or arrive after entry closes;
• you have trouble with your own device, internet connection, software, or accounts; or
• you join at the wrong time because of a time zone mistake.

Your seat is yours. You can't transfer or give your registration to anyone else.

7.5 Arriving late

The Zoom room opens 15 minutes before the Sprint starts. Entry closes 15 minutes after the Sprint begins. If you arrive late but before entry closes, you'll be let in, but the session won't be restarted and you won't receive a recap or extra time.

7.6 If BUILD fails to deliver your Sprint

BUILD has failed to deliver your Sprint if:

• (a) BUILD cancels your Sprint, or changes its date or start time;
• (b) the Sprint doesn't start within 30 minutes of its scheduled start because of a problem on BUILD's side;
• (c) after it starts, the Sprint is interrupted for more than 15 minutes because of a problem on BUILD's side; or
• (d) a problem on BUILD's side makes it impossible to complete the core Sprint.

If any of these happens, you choose one of these:

• a full refund of what you paid for that Sprint, to your original payment method; or
• a seat in another scheduled BUILD Sprint, at no extra cost. You pick the date. BUILD will add you even if that Sprint is full, at the Producer's discretion. If there isn't room, you can pick another date.

BUILD will email you at your registration address when the failure happens. You have 30 days from that email to tell BUILD your choice. BUILD will send you a reminder on day 14. If you don't choose within 30 days, you give up both the refund and the replacement seat.

If you registered with a complimentary seat, your remedy is a seat in another Sprint only. Complimentary seats don't receive a cash refund.

If you choose a refund, BUILD will refund you within 7 business days of your choice. Your bank controls when the credit appears.

7.7 Recording, and how BUILD uses it

The live Zoom session.

• Every Sprint is recorded. When recording starts, Zoom asks you to agree to be recorded. You can agree and stay, or leave the session.
• BUILD keeps the recording and its transcript and may edit the recording and use it in BUILD's marketing, promotion, social media, and other content. The transcript is for BUILD's internal use only.
• BUILD never uses your voice in anything it shares.
• BUILD won't show your face in anything it shares unless you give separate permission. BUILD also won't use your name, your project (your idea, business name, brand, or website), or a quote from you as a testimonial without that permission. If a clip would show your name on screen, BUILD will blur or crop it out.
• You don't have to be seen or heard. You can keep your camera off, stay muted, and change your Zoom display name, and still take full part in the Sprint.
• You won't receive a replay, a download, or a transcript of the session.

Optional permission. At registration you can choose, in a separate box that's never required, to let BUILD show your face, name, and project, and quote what you share about your Sprint in writing, in its marketing. BUILD never uses your voice either way. You can say no and still take the Sprint, and you can change your mind for future use by emailing support@buildthedamnthing.com.

Voice answers inside BUILD. When you answer a question by voice in the Sprint Workspace, BUILD turns your audio into text and doesn't keep the audio.

7.8 What you bring, and what BUILD does with it

You keep ownership of the business information, text, images, files, and other materials you provide ("Sprint inputs"). You confirm you have the right to provide them.

You give BUILD a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, copy, transmit, display, and modify your Sprint inputs only as needed to deliver and support your Sprint, create and hand off your Sprint work, keep the Service secure, meet legal obligations, and use service providers acting for BUILD for those purposes. This license doesn't let BUILD use your name, likeness, story, business details, or Sprint results in marketing. That needs the optional permission in Section 7.7.

You're responsible for what you say about yourself and your business. BUILD doesn't review or verify claims you make about yourself, your experience, or your business, and doesn't add claims about you that you didn't provide.

Don't upload passwords, private keys, payment card data, government ID numbers, health information, or other sensitive information.

7.9 AI-assisted work

The Sprint uses AI tools and third-party services to help generate ideas, names, brand materials, business plans, and your website. AI-assisted material can be incomplete, inaccurate, similar to material produced for others, or subject to third-party rights. You're responsible for reviewing your results before you rely on them or publish them.

7.10 Your finished materials, access, and handoff

Your Sprint package is three things: your brand document, your website, and your business plan.

• Access: you can open and download your finished materials for 90 days, starting when BUILD confirms your complete package is ready. Download links may expire sooner, but you can sign in and get a fresh link at any time during those 90 days.
• Your website: you can transfer it to Lovable or download it to GitHub. Some transfers need you to set up or sign in to your own account on that platform. Handoff doesn't include ongoing hosting, development, or support, and some third-party features or history may not transfer.
• Working files: temporary working drafts are deleted 24 hours after your Sprint starts. Brand files you upload are kept for 90 days after your Sprint starts. The text of your first "dream" answer is deleted 30 days after your Sprint starts.

The Privacy Policy explains what other records BUILD keeps and why.

7.11 What the Sprint doesn't promise

The Sprint is an educational working session. Your MVP is a functional first version, not a finished, production-ready, fully secure, or guaranteed commercial product. It may need more testing, design, development, legal review, or security work. BUILD doesn't guarantee revenue, funding, customers, or any business result.

7.12 Conduct in the Sprint

Don't disrupt the session, harass anyone, share another participant's confidential information, introduce malware, attempt unauthorized access, or ask for unlawful or infringing work. BUILD may remove anyone who does.

8. Newsletters and email

When you sign up for a newsletter, including the Build the Damn Thing newsletter, you agree to receive those emails. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in any newsletter email. If you register for a Sprint or buy a guide, you'll still receive the transactional emails needed to deliver it, such as confirmations, reminders, access codes, and delivery notices.

9. Intellectual property

All content on the Site and in the Services, including essays, frameworks, tools, templates, guides, downloads, video, audio, images, and the Build the Damn Thing methodology, is owned by Genius Guild LLC, Kathryn Finney, or our licensors, and is protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws.

As long as you follow these Terms, we give you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Site and the Services for your own personal use. For paid Services, that license extends to using what you create through the Service in your own business.

You may not:

• copy, reproduce, distribute, publish, display, or create derivative works from our content without our written permission;
• resell, sublicense, or share access to any paid Service;
• use our content to train, fine-tune, or develop any artificial intelligence model or machine learning system;
• remove or change any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notice; or
• use our trademarks, name, or likeness without our written permission.

10. Comments and conduct on the Site

If you send us comments, questions, or feedback, you give Genius Guild a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use that feedback to operate and improve the Site and the Services. We won't publish your name, likeness, or words as a testimonial without your permission. Sprint inputs are covered by Section 7.8, not this section. You confirm you have the right to send what you send.

You agree not to:

• use the Site or Services for any unlawful purpose;
• harass, threaten, defame, or harm anyone;
• submit content that's false, misleading, defamatory, obscene, or infringing;
• attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Site, our systems, or anyone's account;
• interfere with, disrupt, or attack the Site or its security; or
• scrape, crawl, or use automated tools to extract data from the Site without our written permission.

11. Third-party services

The Site and Services use and link to third parties, including Stripe, Zoom, Lovable, GitHub, Substack, Amazon, Penguin Random House, LinkedIn, and Instagram. We don't control them and aren't responsible for their content, products, or practices. Your use of them is governed by their own terms and policies.

12. Disclaimers

The Site, the Services, and all content provided through them are offered "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied. To the fullest extent the law allows, we disclaim all warranties, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and warranties arising from course of dealing or usage of trade.

Our information, frameworks, tools, and content are for educational and informational purposes only. They aren't legal, financial, tax, investment, medical, or other professional advice. Your results depend on many things outside our control, including your effort, market conditions, and your circumstances. We don't guarantee any specific result, revenue, growth, or business outcome from using any Service.

13. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, Genius Guild LLC, Kathryn Finney, and our affiliates, officers, employees, and agents won't be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary, or punitive damages, including lost profits, lost revenue, lost data, or business interruption, arising out of or related to your use of the Site or the Services, even if we've been told such damages are possible.

Our total liability for any claim arising out of or related to these Terms, the Site, or the Services won't exceed the greater of (a) the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) $100.

Nothing in this section limits the Sprint remedy in Section 7.6 or any liability the law doesn't allow us to limit.

14. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Genius Guild LLC, Kathryn Finney, and our affiliates, officers, employees, and agents from any claims, damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from your use of the Site or the Services, what you submit, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of anyone else's rights or the law.

15. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or end your access to the Site or any Service, in whole or in part, including for violation of these Terms. If we end a paid Service for reasons that aren't your fault, we'll handle it under Section 6 or Section 7.6. Provisions that by their nature should survive will continue, including intellectual property, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnification, and dispute resolution.

16. Governing law and venue

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to its conflict of laws principles. Any dispute arising out of or related to these Terms, the Site, or the Services that isn't subject to arbitration under Section 17 will be brought only in the state or federal courts located in Delaware, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.

17. Dispute resolution and arbitration

Please read this section carefully. It affects your legal rights.

Most disputes can be resolved informally. Before filing a formal claim, you agree to first contact us at support@buildthedamnthing.com and try to resolve the dispute in good faith for at least 30 days.

If we can't resolve a dispute informally, you and Genius Guild agree that any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms, the Site, or the Services will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules. The arbitration will take place in Delaware or, if you choose, in your home state. Judgment on the award may be entered in any court with jurisdiction.

Class action waiver. You and Genius Guild agree that disputes will be resolved on an individual basis only. Neither party may bring or participate in a class, collective, or representative action.

This section doesn't stop either party from asking a court for injunctive or equitable relief for intellectual property infringement or unauthorized access to the Site.

18. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we'll change the "Last updated" date at the top. If a change is material, we'll give additional notice, such as an email or a notice on the Site. Your continued use of the Site or the Services after changes take effect means you accept the updated Terms. The version of Section 7 that you accepted when you registered for a Sprint governs that registration.

19. General

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and Genius Guild about the Site and the Services. If any provision is found invalid or unenforceable, the rest stays in effect. Our failure to enforce a right isn't a waiver of it. You may not assign these Terms without our written consent. We may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets.

20. Contact

Questions about these Terms: