Privacy Policy

onward/upward (“onward/upward,” “we,” “us”) is a growth network for people in tech, operated by Ron Goldin. This policy explains what we collect when you use onwardupward.io, how we use it, and the choices you have. It applies to members, coaches, hiring managers and visitors.

• Account details. When you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address and profile photo.
• Your profile. Location, role, career stage, background, LinkedIn, portfolio and website links, work history, career highlights, your last role, the dream job, where you hope to grow, industries, AI skills and portfolio images.
• Résumé and portfolio password. If you upload a résumé or add a password for a protected portfolio, we store them so we can read your work and show it as described below.
• References. Names, titles and LinkedIn links for people who can vouch for you. Only add people who are comfortable being listed.
• Coach listings. If you coach: your offering, who you work with, pricing, credentials, booking or contact link, company and newsletter.
• Things you send. Requests to coaches, reviews, claims for a coach listing, and feedback or bug reports.

When you use onward/upward, we record how the product is used, including:

• Pages you view, the coaches you're shown and open, and links and buttons you click
• Filters and searches you use, recorded as general topics rather than the exact words you type
• The page that referred you, and basic device and browser information
• When you're signed in, this activity is associated with your account

Cookies.We use cookies that keep you signed in, and a short-lived cookie when you claim a coach listing. We also use a first-party analytics identifier to understand visits. We don't use advertising cookies or third-party ad trackers.

Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control.If your browser sends a Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal, we don't record analytics about your visit. Cookies needed to sign in, and records needed to run the service (such as limits on how many requests you can send), still apply.

• Your links.When you add a portfolio, website or LinkedIn link, we fetch those pages (and linked pages and images on the same site) to fill in your profile. We can only read what's publicly available, or protected pages you give us the password for.
• Public coach information.Some coach listings are created from publicly available information, such as a coach's name, photo, company, website, description and newsletter. Coaches can claim their listing or ask us to remove it.
• Company logos.To illustrate work history, we look up company logos using public icon services. Those services receive a company's web address, not information about you.

• To run onward/upward: create your account, show your profile, and let you find and contact coaches
• To pre-fill your profile from your links and résumé, and recommend coaches who fit your goals
• To review membership applications and coach listings
• To send you email: account and request emails, plus a weekly digest and product updates you can turn off in Settings → Notifications
• To keep the service safe, enforce our Terms and prevent abuse and spam
• To understand how people use the product and improve it, including research on combined, de-identified usage data

We don't sell your personal information, share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, or use it to show you ads.

We use Claude, an AI model made by Anthropic, to:

• Read your portfolio, résumé and public links and suggest profile content, automatically after sign-up and when you use “Fill with AI”
• Write a short summary of your profile
• Match members with coaches, using your profile and the goals you share
• Group usage data and free text into general topics for product research

AI-generated content can be wrong, so review what it adds to your profile. Anthropic processes this information on our behalf. Under Anthropic's commercial terms, information sent through its API isn't used to train its models.

• Signed-in members can see your profile: name, photo, location, experience, background, links, work history, highlights, industries, portfolio images, where you hope to grow and references.
• Your portfolio password, if you add one, is visible only to coaches on onward/upward and our team, so they can open your portfolio.
• Your résuméis visible only to you and our team, unless you turn on “Make my resume available to coaches and hiring managers,” which shows it to coaches and hiring managers.
• Anyone with your share linkcan view your profile once it's approved. We ask search engines not to list share links.
• Coach listings and reviews are public.Coach pages, including reviews and the reviewer's name and photo, can be viewed by anyone with the link. We currently ask search engines not to list them.
• Coaches you contact receive your message, your email address so they can reply, and a summary of your profile (role, career stage, location, experience, recent role and goals).
• Coaches can write to youwhile “Allow coaches to contact me” is on — it's on by default. Their note reaches you by email from us, so your email address stays private unless you reply. Turn it off any time in Settings → Notifications.
• Our team can see accounts to review applications, provide support and keep the service safe.

Uploaded files (photos, portfolio images and résumés) are stored at hard-to-guess web addresses. Anyone who has a file's direct link can open it, so share those links carefully.

We may also share information if required by law, to protect the rights and safety of our members or others, or as part of a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, in which case this policy continues to apply.

We rely on these companies to run onward/upward. They process information only to provide their services to us:

• Supabase: database, sign-in and file storage
• Vercel: website hosting
• Anthropic: AI processing
• Resend: email delivery
• Google: sign-in

• We keep your account and profile while your account is open.
• If we remove a member from the network, we keep their information archived, not visible to anyone else, unless they ask us to delete it.
• Detailed usage records are kept for up to 25 months, and combined statistics longer.
• When you ask us to delete your account, we delete your information within 30 days, except where we must keep something to meet legal obligations, resolve disputes or prevent abuse. Copies in backups are removed on their normal schedule.

• Edit your profile any time, and choose whether coaches and hiring managers can see your résumé.
• Turn email notifications on or off in Settings → Notifications.
• Turn “Allow coaches to contact me” on or off in Settings → Notifications.
• Use Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control to stop analytics about your visits.
• Email hello@onwardupward.io to see, download, correct or delete your information, or to ask us to remove a coach listing about you.

Depending on where you live, including California, other US states, the UK and the European Union, you may have rights to access, correct, delete or port your information, and to object to or restrict certain uses. We'll respond within 30 days, or sooner where the law requires, and we won't treat you differently for making a request. If you're in the UK or EU, we process your information to provide the service you signed up for, for our legitimate interests in running and improving it, and with your consent where required. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.

We use reasonable safeguards, including encrypted connections and access controls, to protect your information. No online service can be completely secure, so we can't guarantee absolute security.

onward/upward is for people 18 and older. We don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has created an account, contact us and we'll delete it.

We're based in the United States, and our service providers may process information in the US and other countries. Where required, we rely on appropriate safeguards for transfers.

We'll update the date at the top when this policy changes. If a change is significant, we'll tell you by email or on the site before it takes effect.

Ron Goldin
Brooklyn, New York
hello@onwardupward.io