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Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 17, 2026

We collect the minimum personal information needed to run the batch0 program, and we never sell your data. batch0 is operated by Sparkline Youth LLC and was formerly known as Sparkline Youth — the name changed, but the entity holding your data did not.

What we collect

  • Account info: name, email, password (hashed via Supabase Auth).
  • Application info: what you submit on /apply — age, grade, school, phone number, parent email, links.
  • Contact info: a phone number, so we can reach you by call or text about your application and time-sensitive program logistics (e.g. kickoff). Accepted students who applied before we collected it are asked for it separately. We use it only to run the program — we don’t use it for marketing, and we never sell it. See Text messages below.
  • Payment info: we don't store your card. Stripe handles all payment data.
  • Program usage: lesson progress, assignment submissions, links to your team's Google Drive files, and what you post in a webinar's chat or Q&A.
  • batch0 Chat: the messages, files, reactions and pins you post in channels, direct messages and group messages, and which conversations you’ve read. Who can read a channel:
    • #announcements, #general, #wins and #help: every accepted or enrolled student, and every mentor, investor and other account that isn’t a student. Anyone who can read them can see who else can, by name.
    • Your cohort’s channel: your cohort’s enrolled students, and the mentors assigned to any of them.
    • Your team’s channel: your team, and the mentors assigned to anyone on it.
    • The batch0 team reads every channel, and can add people to any channel.
    A direct or group message can be read only by the people in it, until one of them reports a message; reporting hands that conversation to the batch0 team so they can act on it. Students can message each other, and the batch0 team, privately. Mentors, investors and other adults outside the batch0 team can’t message students privately: they talk with students only in channels the batch0 team can read, or in a group that includes someone from the batch0 team. When you edit or delete a message, we keep the earlier version so a report can still be reviewed. When an account is deleted, we blank the messages it posted in Chat and delete their earlier versions and files, and we delete its direct messages and team-thread posts from before Chat, except a message someone reported, or any message in a direct or group conversation someone reported: those we keep, with their earlier versions and files, as evidence of what was reported.
  • Retired features: we still hold what was posted or uploaded in parts of batch0 we have since retired: the team thread (its messages now appear in your team’s channel in Chat, and go when the account that posted them is deleted), lesson comments, discussions, weekly check-ins, office hours bookings and their recap notes, and files uploaded to batch0 before files moved to Google Drive.
  • Call and webinar recordings: 1:1 calls and webinars may be recorded, as video and audio of what is on screen and what is said. The room shows when it is recording. A call’s recording can be watched by the people on that call and by batch0 administrators. A webinar’s recording can be watched by the staff who run events and, after the webinar, by the people it was open to.
  • Support requests: the messages and files you send us when you ask for help, plus technical details recorded with a request — your browser, and the page you were on when you reported a problem. Within batch0, only staff with support access can read them, and reports of a confidential concern are restricted to a small number of senior staff. We keep them for as long as we need to resolve them, and keep refund and privacy requests as a record of what was asked and when.
  • Operational logs: standard server logs (IP, user agent) for security and debugging.
  • Site analytics: pages viewed, referring site, device type, and approximate (city-level) location, via Google Analytics and Vercel Analytics. Used in aggregate to understand which pages help people — never to build an advertising profile.
  • Campaign source: if you arrive through one of our tagged Google Search ads, a first-party cookie remembers the campaign label, landing page path, and visit time for up to 30 days. If you then start an application, we save that source with the application and compare it with actual tuition payments and refunds, including a parent paying on another device. This feature does not send student identity or payment results to an advertising platform, or store advertising click identifiers or search terms.

How we use it

  • To run the application + payment + course flow.
  • To send transactional emails about your account and the program.
  • To contact you — by email or phone — about your application and time-sensitive program logistics.
  • To improve the platform and protect against abuse.

Who we share with

  • Service providers we use to operate the platform: Supabase (database + auth + storage), Stripe (payments), Resend (email), Twilio (text messages), Anthropic (AI co-founder), Vercel (hosting + analytics), Google Analytics (site analytics). They process data on our behalf only.
  • Mentors and investors see what you choose to publish (e.g. a public team profile), and what is posted in the batch0 Chat channels they can read, listed above.

Text messages (SMS)

We text you only about the program you applied to or are enrolled in: application status, kickoff and session logistics, deadline reminders, and anything else time-sensitive. These are the same things we would email you about.

We do not send promotional or marketing texts. We will not start sending them to a number already on file. If we ever add them, they will require a separate opt-in that you actively choose, and declining will have no effect on your application, your place in the program, or anything you pay.

We do not sell, rent, share, or transfer phone numbers, SMS opt-in data, or SMS consent information to any third party — including sponsors, partners, and affiliates — for marketing or any other purpose. A number reaches a third party only when that provider is delivering the message for us.

Stopping texts. Reply STOP to any message, or tell us any other reasonable way — a reply to one of our emails, a request at batch0.org/support, or hello@batch0.org. We act on it within 10 business days and send at most one confirmation message. Message frequency varies with the cohort calendar, and message and data rates may apply. Stopping texts does not remove you from the program — we reach you by email instead.

Turning texts on. Having a number on file is not enough for us to text it: we text a number only after someone ticks a box specifically about texting at batch0.org/dashboard/phone. We don’t offer texts to applicants under 13, and we text from one US toll-free number. See batch0.org/texts for the details.

We keep a record of the number, when and how you gave it to us, and any request to stop, for as long as you are in the program and afterward as needed to show we honored what you asked for. When you turn texts on, that record includes the exact words you agreed to and the IP address and browser you agreed from.

Your rights

You can update your profile in settings. You can’t delete your account there: account deletion, a copy of your data, or a correction to something we hold goes through a request, and our team does it for you. Open one at batch0.org/support and choose “Privacy & my data” — you’ll get a reference number and a dated record of when you asked, which matters for a request with a legal clock on it. Emailing hello@batch0.org works too.

To exercise a data right: open a request at batch0.org/support or email hello@batch0.org — for a copy of your data, a correction, or account deletion. Either way, both sides have a dated record of when you asked.

Minors

Many of our students are under 18. We rely on parental consent captured during application, and every applicant under 18 gives us a parent or guardian email.

A parent or guardian can see what we hold on their student, correct it, ask us to delete it, or tell us to stop calling or texting the student’s number — at batch0.org/support or hello@batch0.org. We treat a request from a parent or guardian the same as one from the student.

Your ideas and IP

Anything you upload — pitch decks, business plans, customer research, code, drafts — belongs to you. batch0 will never sell, license, or share the substance of your idea with third parties for their own use. We don't take equity in your company and we don't claim ownership of your IP. The only public reference we may make is attribution (e.g. "built at batch0"). Full terms are in our Terms of Service.

Contact

Questions about this policy, or about data we hold on you: batch0.org/support, or hello@batch0.org.