Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Welcome to Stage One ("we," "our," or "us"). We are a hiring marketplace committed to bringing the human signal back to recruitment while strictly protecting your privacy.

This Privacy Policy explains how Stage One Inc. collects, uses, discloses, and safeguards your information when you visit our website joinstageone.com.

2. Information We Collect

A. Information You Provide to Us

• Account Data: When you sign up via LinkedIn, we collect your name, profile photo, job title, and employment history.
• Audio Pitches: We collect and store the 90-second audio recordings you create. These are treated as confidential communications intended solely for the recipient.
• Verification Data (Referrers Only): To verify your employment status, we may request your work email address. This is used strictly for verification and is not displayed publicly.
• Payment Information: We use a third-party processor (Stripe) to handle "Pay-to-Pitch" transactions. Stage One does not store your credit card details.

B. Information Collected Automatically

• Usage Data: We track how you interact with the website (e.g., listening duration, successful pitches) to improve our matching algorithms.
• Device & Browser Data: We collect technical information such as your IP address, browser type, and operating system to ensure website security and prevent fraud.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your data to:

• Facilitate Connections: Deliver your audio pitch to the specific Verified Referrer you selected.
• Verify Identity: Ensure that Referrers actually work at the companies they claim to represent.
• Prevent Spam: Use payment verification and account history to filter out bad actors.
• Process Transactions: Facilitate the payment of pitch fees via Stripe.
• Communication: Send you transactional emails (e.g., "Your pitch was listened to").

4. How We Share Your Information

We are not a data broker. We do not sell your personal data. We only share information in the following specific scenarios:

• With the Recipient (Seeker to Referrer): When a Candidate sends a pitch, the Referrer receives the audio file and the Candidate's public professional profile (Name, Headline, LinkedIn URL).
• With Service Providers: We use trusted third parties for hosting (e.g., AWS/Google Cloud), payment processing (Stripe), and analytics.
• Legal Obligations: If required by law (e.g., a subpoena), we may disclose information to law enforcement.

5. Audio Data Specifics

• Retention: Audio pitches are stored securely on our servers. You (the Candidate) retain the right to delete your audio pitches from our system at any time.
• Access: Audio files are accessible only to the sender and the designated recipient. We do not use your voice data to train public AI models without your explicit consent.

6. Your Rights (Control & Deletion)

You have the right to:

• Access: Request a copy of the data we hold about you.
• Deletion: Request that we delete your account and all associated data (including audio files).
• Correction: Update your profile information via the settings dashboard.

To exercise these rights, please contact us at: hellostageoneteam@gmail.com

7. Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures (encryption at rest and in transit) to protect your data. However, no transmission over the internet is 100% secure.

8. International Data Transfers

Stage One is based in Canada. If you access our platform from outside Canada, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in Canada or the United States where our servers are located.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will notify you of any significant changes by posting the new policy on this page and updating the "Last Updated" date.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

Stage One Inc.
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Email: hellostageoneteam@gmail.com