Founder Spot is a directory for SaaS products featuring a unique dynamic bidding system for securing top rankings. The platform also acts as a premium networking hub for founders, offering paid consultations, product reviews, endorsements, and talent recruitment tools.
Below is the consolidated guide outlining the platform's rules, terms, and procedures.
1. General Platform Rules & Account Management
Domain Verification & Product Ownership
To list a product, users must verify ownership by adding a specific text record (TXT) to their domain's DNS settings.
- Penalty: If this record is removed at any time, the listing is immediately paused and hidden without a refund. Restoring the record will reactivate the listing in its previous spot, provided the week hasn't ended.
Wallet & Refunds
Any refunds issued on the platform (such as from being outbid) are returned to the user's wallet as Store Credit.
- Restriction: Store Credit can exclusively be used for future bidding. It cannot be withdrawn to a bank account and cannot be used to purchase premium services like consultations. This strictly prevents wallet exploitation.
Inactivity Deletion
To maintain a fresh directory, products lacking any community engagement (no upvotes or bids) for 11 consecutive months will receive a warning. If inactivity extends to 12 months (365 days), the listing is permanently deleted.
2. Bidding & Product Ranking System
Instead of relying purely on early upvotes to secure top spots, founders can guarantee high visibility through a dynamic bidding system.
The Draft Phase (Pre-Launch Bidding)
When a new product is submitted, it enters the Draft Phase, competing in a hidden leaderboard for a Top 100 spot in the upcoming week's launch.
- Base Bid: The minimum bid to enter the Top 100 is $10.
- Bidding Multipliers: The cost to outbid others scales exponentially based on how competitive the week is. The higher the rank you target, the larger the multiplier applied to the required bid amount.
- Refund Policy: If you are outbid and pushed out of the Top 100 before the weekly launch, your bid is automatically refunded as Store Credit.
The Live Phase & Weekly Lifecycle
Every Sunday at 00:00 UTC, the Top 100 drafts lock in their bids, go live, and receive their official ranking. Once a product goes live, bid money is officially spent and no refunds are issued.
- Sunday to Tuesday (Static Ranks): During the first three days, rankings remain completely static and strictly honor the financial bids placed during the Draft Phase.
- Wednesday to Saturday (The Shuffle): Starting Wednesday, the ranking system shifts to an engagement-driven model. Rankings shuffle dynamically based on an Engagement Score.
- Formula: Your score is calculated based on your initial bid, heavily boosted by community upvotes (excluding votes from your own team).
- Note: If a paid listing drops below Rank 100 during these shuffle days due to low engagement, no refund is provided, as the listing successfully received guaranteed top visibility earlier in the week.
Free Listings
Founders can opt for a Free Listing by skipping the bidding phase.
- Placement: Free Listings go live after the Sunday launch but are placed entirely outside the Top 100.
- Permanent Lifecycle: After a paid listing finishes its premium week (or falls below Rank 100 during the shuffle), it automatically transitions into a permanent Free Listing, staying on the platform indefinitely.
- Founders with Free Listings can submit a new bid at any time to push their product back into the Top 100 for a future week.
3. Premium Networking Services
Founder Spot facilitates paid Consultations (video calls), Product Reviews, and Personal Endorsements.
Provider Qualifications (The Premium Lock)
To ensure extreme high quality, the ability to provide services and earn money is strictly locked. A user must satisfy ALL THREE of the following conditions simultaneously to unlock these features:
- Account Age: The account must be at least 6 months old.
- Community Backing: The user must have a minimum of 100 upvotes combined across all their listed products.
- Current Top 100 Listing: The user must currently hold a Top 100 Live Ranking for the active week. (Note: If a provider loses Top 100 status in a subsequent week, they cannot accept new requests, but existing booked consultations will still be honored.)
General Financial Rules
- Platform Commission: Founder Spot takes a 20% platform cut from all generated earnings. Providers receive the remaining 80%.
- Escrow System: All service bookings are paid upfront. Funds are securely held in escrow and are only released to the provider's wallet after Admin approval.
- Anti-Fraud: Admins manually audit and approve all payouts before funds become withdrawable to a bank account.
Consultation Procedures & Disputes
- Execution & Proof: The meeting takes place via a provided link. Crucially, the provider must record the session and upload it as a private video link to prove completion. Once an Admin reviews the recording, the payout is released.
- Cancellations and Disputes:
- Requester Cancels (>24 Hours Notice): 100% refund.
- Requester Cancels (<24 Hours Notice): 50% refund. The provider receives the remaining amount as compensation (after the platform cut).
- Requester No-Show: If the requester doesn't join within 15 minutes, the provider records the empty meeting room as proof. The requester gets no refund, and the provider is fully paid.
- Provider Cancels or No-Shows: The requester receives a 100% refund. The provider faces a severe penalty: an immediate 6-month ban from offering consultations.
Review & Endorsement Procedures
- The provider writes and submits the requested review or endorsement. Payout is released upon Admin approval.
- Cancellation: Requesters can manually cancel the request at any time before the provider submits the work to receive a 100% refund.
4. Jobs & Hiring Feature
The Jobs feature allows founders to recruit talent directly from the platform, but capabilities are tied to product success to maintain high-quality listings.
Eligibility
- Strict Gating: Job postings are an exclusive perk for Paid Listings. Free Listings are strictly blocked from posting jobs.
Capacity Constraints
The number of active job postings and the total applications a job can receive scale directly with the product's rank. This rewards founders who secure top spots:
- Rank 1 – 3: Up to 10 Jobs (Max 5,000 applications per job)
- Rank 4 – 10: Up to 5 Jobs (Max 1,000 applications per job)
- Rank 11 – 20: Up to 3 Jobs (Max 500 applications per job)
- Rank 21 – 30: Up to 2 Jobs (Max 100 applications per job)
- Rank 31 – 50: 1 Job (Max 50 applications per job)
- Rank 51 – 100: 1 Job (Max 20 applications per job)
Review Process & Application Workflow
- Admin Audits: To prevent scams, all newly created jobs are held in a pending state. An Admin manually reviews the job details and must approve it before it goes live.
- Applicant Management: Users apply by submitting a cover letter. Employers can view applications securely and manage their hiring pipeline by marking applicants as shortlisted or rejected.
Contact Support
If you have any questions, disputes, or require further clarification regarding our Terms of Service, please reach out to us at: support@founder-spot.com
