The short version
- Fastener introduces companies across digital media to each other. Buyers use LINK and receive introductions at no charge. Clients pay under their own agreement with us.
- Some members of our team are AI agents. They are supervised by people and able to make mistakes.
- An introduction opens a door. Any deal that follows is between you and the other company, and the diligence is yours to do.
- M&A and fundraising listings are information. Fastener gives no investment, legal, or tax advice.
- Respect confidential listings, NDAs, and the contact details other people share with you.
The numbered sections below are the binding terms.
1. About these terms
These Terms of Use (the "Terms") are an agreement between you and Fastener.io LLC ("Fastener", "we", "us"). They apply to www.fastener.io, the LINK by Fastener platform at link.fastener.io ("LINK"), our emails, scheduling, and forms, our events, and the introductions and market intelligence we provide (together, the "Services").
By using the Services you accept these Terms. If you use the Services for a company or other organization, you accept these Terms for that organization and confirm that you have the authority to do so. If you do not accept these Terms, please do not use the Services.
Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information.
Clients. If your company has a signed services agreement, order form, or statement of work with Fastener (a "Client Agreement"), that agreement governs your paid engagement. Where a Client Agreement and these Terms conflict, the Client Agreement controls.
2. What Fastener does
Fastener is a lead development partner for digital media. We connect the companies we represent ("Clients") with the publishers, marketers, agencies, technology companies, investors, and acquirers who may want to work with them ("Buyers"). We do this through our team, through The Connective (our curated network of industry professionals), through LINK, and through AI agents that work alongside our team.
Buyers use LINK and receive introductions at no charge. Clients pay Fastener under a Client Agreement.
We may add, change, or retire features of the Services at any time.
3. Eligibility and accounts
- The Services are for business use by people who are at least 18 years old.
- Some parts of LINK require an account. Give us accurate information when you register, keep it current, and keep your sign-in details to yourself.
- You are responsible for activity under your account. Tell us at hello@fastener.io as soon as you suspect someone else has used it.
- A company profile on LINK can be managed by a team. The company is responsible for who it adds to its team and for what its team members do.
4. LINK profiles and listings
Clients publish profiles on LINK that describe their products and services, their advertising supply, companies or assets for sale, and capital raises.
Your profile content
- You are responsible for your profiles and everything in them, including claims, metrics, client names, logos, and materials. Profile content must be accurate, current, lawful, and yours to share.
- Fastener reviews profiles before they are published. We may ask for changes, edit for format and clarity, decline to publish, or remove a profile.
- We may draft or update profile content for you, including with AI tools. Review your profile and tell us promptly if anything in it is inaccurate.
What our review means
Our review and certification process keeps the marketplace relevant and credible. It is not a guarantee, an endorsement, or a warranty of any Client, Buyer, product, or claim. Do your own diligence before you rely on a profile or enter into a deal.
Recommendations and featured placements
LINK and our team recommend profiles based on the goals you share, your activity on LINK, and our judgment about fit. Some placements are promoted, and these appear in areas marked Featured.
5. Introductions, requests, and meetings
Requests on LINK
When you submit a Get Intro, More Info, or access request, you ask Fastener to contact the Client for you. We send your request by email and share your name, title, and company with the Client and with our team. Some Clients approve each request before an introduction is made. We will tell you the outcome by email.
Introductions by our team and agents
Fastener also makes introductions outside LINK: by email, by phone, and at events. An introduction gives each side the other's name, title, company, and work email, along with the reason we think the conversation is worth having.
Scheduling
When you agree to a meeting, you authorize Fastener to propose times, send calendar invitations to the address you give us, and send reminders. An AI agent may handle scheduling.
Outcomes
We work to make introductions that are relevant to both sides. We cannot promise that an introduction will lead to a meeting, a contract, revenue, an investment, or an acquisition.
Fastener is not a party to any agreement between users of the Services. Each side is responsible for its own diligence, its own decisions, and its own obligations to the other.
6. Confidential listings, NDAs, and materials
- Confidential listings. A confidential listing hides the owner's name, logo, website, and contacts until the owner approves your access request. When you request access, the owner sees your name, title, and company.
- NDAs. An owner may require a non-disclosure agreement (an "NDA") before sharing more. The NDA is an agreement between you and the owner. Fastener passes the NDA along, collects the signed copy, and records its status. Fastener is not a party to the NDA and does not advise either side on it.
- Materials. Decks, files, and links shared through LINK ("Materials") belong to the party that shared them. Use Materials only to evaluate the opportunity they describe. Keep them inside your organization unless the owner agrees otherwise, and follow any NDA and confidentiality markings that apply.
- Owners. You choose what is visible before approval. Keep anything that identifies you out of Materials that are open to every viewer.
7. M&A, fundraising, and investment listings
LINK includes listings from companies that are for sale, looking to acquire, raising capital, or looking to invest. For these listings:
- Listings are for information only. Nothing on the Services is an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any security or business.
- Fastener makes introductions and shares market information. Fastener is not a registered broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not provide investment, legal, tax, accounting, or valuation advice.
- Financial information, metrics, and forward-looking statements in a listing come from the listing owner. Fastener has not audited or independently verified them.
- Any transaction happens directly between the parties, under their own agreements and with their own advisers. You are responsible for your own diligence and for complying with the laws that apply to you, including securities laws and investor eligibility rules.
8. AI agents and automation
AI agents do part of Fastener's work. They are software that Fastener operates and supervises. Agents research companies, match Buyers and Clients, draft and send email, schedule meetings, take notes on calls, and prepare reports.
- Agents speak for Fastener. Some agents have their own names and email addresses. A message from an agent is a message from Fastener.
- People stay responsible. Fastener's team sets what agents do, reviews their work, and answers for the Services. You can ask for a person at any time by replying to the agent or emailing hello@fastener.io.
- AI output can be wrong. Summaries, recommendations, research, and drafts produced with AI may be inaccurate, incomplete, or out of date. Check anything important before you rely on it. AI output from the Services is not professional advice.
- Calls may be recorded. Calls and video meetings with Fastener may be recorded and transcribed by an AI notetaker so that we keep accurate notes. We let participants know when a notetaker is present. Tell us if you prefer no recording and we will turn it off.
- Your replies are instructions. When you reply to an agent, you authorize Fastener to act on your reply, for example by booking the time you chose or forwarding your request.
9. Market intelligence and feedback
- Fastener provides Clients and LINK users with market intelligence, including signals, category views, and reports. Intelligence draws on conversations, public information, third-party data, and AI analysis. It is for your internal business use. Please do not resell or publish it.
- When you speak with Fastener about a Client or its offering, we may pass your feedback and your level of interest to that Client. Tell us if you want a comment kept in confidence or passed along without your name, and we will follow your instruction.
- Fastener may use what it learns across the Services to produce aggregated or de-identified insights about the market.
10. Your content
"Your Content" means anything you submit to the Services: profiles, logos, Materials, requests, messages, and form responses.
- You keep ownership of Your Content.
- You grant Fastener a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, copy, format, display, and distribute Your Content in order to operate, provide, and promote the Services. This includes showing your profile to LINK users, including it in introduction emails, recommendations, and roundups, and processing it with AI tools.
- If you are a Client, we may identify you by name and logo as a company we work with or that is listed on LINK, subject to your Client Agreement and to the confidentiality settings you choose.
- You confirm that you have the rights needed to submit Your Content, and that sharing it breaks no law and no duty of confidentiality you owe to anyone else.
- If you send us ideas or suggestions about the Services, we may use them without restriction or payment.
11. Acceptable use
When you use the Services, do not:
- copy, scrape, or harvest profiles, contacts, or other data, whether by automated means or by hand at scale;
- use contact details obtained through the Services for unsolicited marketing, or for any purpose other than the opportunity they were shared for;
- misrepresent who you are, who you work for, or your interest in an opportunity;
- get around access controls, approval steps, or the confidentiality of a listing;
- upload malware, probe or disrupt the Services, or overload our systems;
- reverse engineer the Services or use them to build a competing product;
- try to manipulate our AI agents into ignoring their instructions, revealing information about other users, or acting outside their role;
- post content that is unlawful, misleading, defamatory, or that infringes someone else's rights;
- share your account or resell access to the Services.
12. Fastener's intellectual property
The Services, including our software, design, text, graphics, and reports, and the Fastener, LINK by Fastener, The Connective, and Fastener Pregame names and logos, belong to Fastener or its licensors. We grant you a limited, revocable, non-transferable right to use the Services for their intended business purpose under these Terms.
Company names and logos shown on the Services belong to their owners.
13. Third-party services
The Services use and link to services run by other companies, such as form, event registration, scheduling, video meeting, and social media providers. Their terms and privacy policies apply to your use of them. Fastener is not responsible for third-party services or for content on sites we link to.
14. Events
Fastener hosts Pregames and other gatherings. Registration is handled by a third-party event platform. Space is limited and attendance is at our discretion. We may refuse or remove anyone whose conduct is unsafe or disruptive. You attend at your own risk and are responsible for your own conduct, travel, and belongings.
15. Communications
- Service emails. By creating an account or submitting a request, you agree to receive the emails needed to run the Services, such as request confirmations, approvals, NDAs, and scheduling messages.
- Outreach and updates. We contact business professionals about opportunities relevant to their role, and we send updates such as roundups and event invitations. You can opt out of these at any time with the unsubscribe link, by replying, or by emailing hello@fastener.io.
16. Disclaimers
The Services are provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent the law allows, Fastener disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement.
In particular, Fastener makes no warranty about:
- the accuracy or completeness of any profile, listing, Material, recommendation, market intelligence, or AI output;
- the identity, intentions, or conduct of any Client or Buyer;
- the results of any introduction;
- uninterrupted or error-free operation of the Services.
17. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent the law allows, Fastener and its members, employees, contractors, and representatives will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data, goodwill, or business opportunities, arising from or related to the Services or these Terms.
Fastener's total liability for all claims arising from or related to the Services or these Terms is limited to the greater of (a) the amount you paid Fastener for the Services in the 12 months before the claim arose and (b) US $100.
These limits apply to every kind of claim, whether in contract, tort, or any other theory, and even if a remedy fails of its essential purpose. Some laws restrict limits of this kind, so parts of this section may not apply to you.
18. Indemnity
You will defend and indemnify Fastener against any third-party claim, and the related losses and reasonable legal fees, arising from Your Content, your breach of these Terms, your violation of law, or your dealings with another user of the Services.
19. Suspension and termination
- You can stop using the Services at any time. To close a LINK account, email hello@fastener.io.
- We may suspend or end your access if you break these Terms, if your use creates risk for other users or for Fastener, or if we stop offering the Services. Where it is reasonable, we will tell you first.
- The sections on confidential listings and Materials, market intelligence, Your Content, intellectual property, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnity, and disputes continue to apply after your access ends.
20. Governing law and disputes
Before filing a claim, contact us at hello@fastener.io and give us 30 days to work it out with you.
California law governs these Terms, without regard to its conflict of laws rules. Any dispute that we cannot resolve together will be heard only in the state or federal courts that serve Santa Cruz County, California, and you and Fastener consent to their jurisdiction.
21. Changes to these terms
We may update these Terms. The date at the top of this page shows when they last changed. If a change is material, we will give notice by email or on the Services before it takes effect. Using the Services after the effective date means you accept the updated Terms.
22. General
- These Terms, together with any Client Agreement, are the entire agreement between you and Fastener about the Services.
- If a court finds part of these Terms unenforceable, the rest stays in effect.
- A delay in enforcing a provision is not a waiver of it.
- You may not assign these Terms without our consent. We may assign them to an affiliate or to a successor in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
- These Terms create no partnership, employment, or agency relationship between you and Fastener.
