Privacy Policy

Who We Are

start.me B.V., registered in The Netherlands. Our Data Protection Officer is Arjen Robijn (Founder & CEO).

• start.me B.V., Waalsdorperweg 16, 2597 JB, Den Haag, The Netherlands
• privacy@start.me
• DPO: Arjen Robijn (Founder & CEO)

What Data We Collect

When you sign up, we collect your name and email address. When you use Start.me, we automatically collect your IP address, browser type, and usage data (pages visited, clicks, session duration). If you subscribe to a paid plan, our payment processors collect payment information on our behalf.

How We Use Your Data

We use your data to: provide and maintain the service, authenticate your account, send service-related emails, analyze usage to improve the product, display ads to free plan users, and process payments.

AI-Powered Features

Start.me offers optional AI-powered features to help you organize and improve your content. These features are only activated when you explicitly use them. Nothing is sent to an AI provider automatically.

What AI features are available

• Smart Titles: cleans up bookmark titles (sends bookmark titles and URLs)
• Notes AI: improves, shortens, or fixes note text (sends the note content you select)
• Site Suggestions: finds relevant websites based on your query (sends your search query)
• Personalized Onboarding: generates a starter page based on your interests (sends your description)

What data is sent

Only the content needed for the specific feature is sent. For example, bookmark titles and URLs for Smart Titles, or your note text for Notes AI. We never send your email address, password, or other account credentials to AI providers.

How your data is handled

We use OpenAI to process AI requests. As a paid API customer, your data is not used to train or improve AI models. OpenAI may retain prompts and responses for up to 30 days for abuse monitoring, after which they are deleted. For more details, see OpenAI's API data usage policy.

Legal Basis

We process your data based on: (a) your consent (account creation, newsletter), (b) contract performance (providing the service), (c) legitimate interests (security, analytics, fraud prevention).

Third-Party Services

We use the following services that process personal data on our behalf:

Cookies

We use cookies for authentication, preferences, and analytics. Free plan users may see personalized ads from our advertising partners, which use their own cookies. PRO users have all advertising and affiliate cookies removed.

Data Retention

We keep your data as long as your account is active. When you delete your account, all associated data is permanently removed. Server logs are retained for up to 90 days for security purposes.

Your Rights

Under the GDPR, you have the right to:

• Access, correct, or restrict processing of your data
• Have your data deleted (right to erasure)
• Export your data in a portable format (right to data portability)
• Object to processing of your data
• Withdraw consent at any time
• Lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority

To exercise any of these rights, email privacy@start.me. We will respond within 30 days.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes by posting the new policy on this page.

Contact

To exercise any of your rights or ask questions about this policy, contact our Data Protection Officer:

privacy@start.me