Terms of Use

This platform, Carver, is operated by Carver HK (hereinafter the "Platform", "we", or "us"). Please read these Terms of Use carefully before using any service on the Platform. By registering an account, logging in, or otherwise using the Platform in any manner, you confirm that you have read, understood and agreed to all of the following terms. If you do not agree to any part, please do not use the service.

1. Nature and Scope of the Service

The Platform is a market-intelligence and research aid tool. Its content includes, but is not limited to: curated pain points selected by our team from public online discussions, market analysis, sentiment analysis, startup research briefs generated by artificial intelligence (AI) models, interactive conversations, business-plan templates and related supporting information (hereinafter the "Content").

All Content on the Platform is provided for general reference and research purposes only, and does not constitute, nor should it be regarded as, investment, legal, tax, accounting, financial, medical, psychological, insurance, real-estate, human-resources or any other form of professional advice. Should you require any of the above professional opinions, please consult an appropriately qualified professional on your own.

The pain points and analysis on the Platform are synthesised research into public market phenomena, intended to describe industry and consumer trends. They are not statements directed at any particular business, brand or individual, and we will not deliberately name or single out any specific real business for negative comment. If any business or individual considers that the Content of the Platform improperly identifies, mentions or affects its rights or interests, it may raise the matter by email to hello@carverhk.com. We will review the matter within a reasonable time and remove or amend the relevant content as appropriate.

2. Disclaimer Regarding AI-Generated Content

Some of the Content on the Platform (including but not limited to research briefs, business plans, AI chat replies and market-analysis summaries) is generated automatically by artificial intelligence models. You understand and accept that AI-generated content may contain the following:

• factual errors, outdated information, misleading statements or so-called "hallucinations" (i.e. fabricated information made up out of nothing);
• figures, citations, names of institutions, regulations, market sizes or statistics that have not been independently verified;
• recommended tools, platforms, partners, funding schemes or resources that, at the time you view them, may have ceased operating, changed their terms or no longer apply;
• descriptions of local Hong Kong regulations, tax, licensing or compliance requirements that may be incomplete or out of date;
• content generated for the same pain point at different times that may differ from, or contradict, one another.

You must independently verify every fact, figure, regulation and recommendation before taking any action, and you bear full responsibility for all business, financial, legal and life decisions. The Platform makes no express or implied warranty as to the accuracy, completeness, timeliness or fitness of AI-generated content.

3. Accounts

You confirm that you are at least 18 years old and have the legal capacity to enter into a legally binding contract. The Platform is not intended for persons under the age of 18; if you are under 18, please do not register for or use the service.

You must provide a true, accurate and current email address to register an account. You are responsible for keeping your login credentials secure and for all activity that takes place under your account, whether or not such activity was authorised by you. If you discover any unauthorised use of your account, you must notify us immediately.

We reserve the right to: refuse any registration application; suspend or terminate an account where we reasonably suspect that it is involved in violations, fraud, abuse, money laundering or unlawful use; and disclose user data at the request of law-enforcement authorities.

4. Subscription, Payment and Refunds

The Pro plan operates on a subscription model, renewing automatically on a monthly or annual basis until cancelled. Payments are processed securely by Stripe; we do not store your full credit-card details. You may cancel your subscription at any time on the account page, and after cancellation the service continues until the end of the current billing cycle. For the full arrangements on renewal, cancellation and refunds, please see the Subscription and Refund Policy.

We reserve the right to adjust subscription fees, plan contents, quotas (such as the number of briefs that can be generated each month and the number of ideas that can be saved) and feature sets at any time. Where a change has a material impact on existing subscribers, we will give notice by email a reasonable time in advance.

5. Acceptable Use

When using the Platform, you agree that you will not:

• use any automated means (crawlers, bots, scripts) to bulk-download, copy, scrape or mirror the Platform's Content, pain-point lists, market analysis, business plans or any other data;
• resell, redistribute, publicly publish, embed into third-party products, or use to train artificial intelligence models, any of the Platform's paid Content;
• share login credentials between one account or across multiple accounts;
• attempt to circumvent quota, payment, permission or anti-abuse mechanisms;
• carry out stress testing, penetration testing, vulnerability scanning or any form of unauthorised security research on the Platform;
• upload, submit, or input via the chat function, any content that contains another person's personal data, trade secrets, information covered by a confidentiality agreement, or that is defamatory or unlawful;
• use the Platform to engage in any activity that violates the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or the laws of your jurisdiction.

If you breach any of the above terms, we have the right to terminate your account immediately, retain fees already paid as liquidated damages, and recover all losses arising therefrom.

6. Intellectual Property

The Platform's site architecture, brand, trademarks, software, original market analysis, scoring models, prompt design and research methodology are all owned by Carver and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws.

Paying members are granted a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable right, during the valid period of their subscription, to access and use the relevant Content for the internal research and business-planning purposes of an individual or a single enterprise; this licence does not include any right to resell, publicly publish or commercially redistribute.

As for the data you input (such as notes on saved pain points, chat messages, and the form entries of research briefs), you retain full ownership; you grant us only a limited licence, to the extent necessary to provide the service, to process such content for the purpose of operating, maintaining, storing and improving the functions of the Platform.

7. Disclaimer of Warranties

The Platform and all of its Content, functions, AI-generated results and third-party links are provided on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis, without any express or implied warranty. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, we expressly exclude all implied warranties, including but not limited to: merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, accuracy, completeness, reliability, uninterrupted operation, timeliness, freedom from viruses and freedom from errors.

We do not warrant that: (i) the Platform will be continuously available or operated in perpetuity; (ii) any specific business recommendation, pain point or market analysis will bring commercial success, profit, traffic or any form of return; or (iii) the quality or results of third-party tools, government funding, incubation programmes, partners or consultants.

8. Limitation of Liability

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including but not limited to: death or personal injury caused by our negligence, our fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, and any liability that may not be excluded under the Control of Exemption Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 71) of Hong Kong or other applicable law. The remainder of this Clause 8 shall be read and applied subject to the foregoing reservation.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Carver, its founders, employees, contractors, advisers and related parties shall not be liable to you or any third party for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, punitive, exemplary or consequential loss arising from your use of, or inability to use, the Platform. This exclusion includes but is not limited to:

• startup failure, business losses, business interruption, loss of anticipated profits, and damage to goodwill;
• losses arising from investment, contract, lease, employment, procurement or other business decisions made in reliance on the Platform's Content (including AI-generated briefs, market analysis, pain-point scores, government-funding information and tool recommendations);
• losses arising from service interruptions, changes of terms or data breaches of third-party platforms (such as Stripe, AI model providers, government funding schemes and third-party tools);
• losses from decisions caused by AI-generated content containing errors, omissions, misleading statements or outdated information;
• fines, litigation, claims or compensation incurred as a result of your breach of law, contract, intellectual property, tax or licensing requirements;
• losses arising from data loss, account compromise, or unauthorised third-party access to your account.

To the extent permitted by law (and subject to the reservation regarding non-excludable liability at the opening of this Clause), our aggregate total liability to you, whether based on any legal theory (contract, tort, strict liability or otherwise), shall in no event exceed: (a) the total amount of fees actually paid by you to Carver in the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim; or (b) one thousand Hong Kong dollars (HKD 1,000), whichever is the greater.

You understand and agree that the subscription fees of the Platform are set on the basis of the foregoing limitation of liability and disclaimer of warranties; without such limitations, the Platform could not provide the service at this price.

9. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Carver, its founders, employees, contractors and related parties against any and all claims, proceedings, losses, damages, fines, liabilities, costs and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from the following:

• your startup activities, business decisions, products, services, marketing, or any content you publish externally;
• your breach of these Terms of Use, the Privacy Policy, the Subscription and Refund Policy, or any applicable law;
• your infringement of any third party's intellectual property rights, privacy rights, contractual rights or other rights;
• any dispute arising from a claim by your customers, partners, employees or contractors.

10. Third-Party Services and External Links

The Platform may link to or mention third-party websites, tools, government funding schemes, incubation programmes, co-working spaces and consultancy services. We neither own nor control such third parties and are not responsible for their content, terms, privacy policies, availability, pricing, application outcomes or service quality. All transactions, applications and collaborations are matters between you and the relevant third party and have nothing to do with the Platform.

11. Termination

You may cancel your subscription or request deletion of your account at any time on the account page. We also reserve the right to unilaterally suspend or terminate your account, without prior notice or refund, in the following circumstances: breach of these Terms, prolonged inactivity, reasonable suspicion of fraud or abuse, at the request of law-enforcement or regulatory authorities, or the overall termination of the Platform's service.

After an account is terminated, the provisions on Limitation of Liability (Clause 8), Indemnification (Clause 9), Intellectual Property (Clause 6) and Governing Law (Clause 13) shall remain in effect.

12. Amendments to the Terms

We may amend these Terms at any time. In the case of a material amendment, we will update the "Last updated" date on this page and give notice by email or in a prominent position on the website. Your continued use of the Platform after an amendment takes effect constitutes acceptance of the new version of the Terms. If you do not agree to an amendment, you must stop using the Platform and cancel your subscription before the amendment's effective date.

13. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (without regard to conflict-of-laws principles). Any dispute arising out of these Terms or the Platform shall first be resolved by the parties through good-faith negotiation; failing settlement, it shall be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

14. General Provisions

(a) Severability: If any part of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining parts shall continue in full force and effect.

(b) No Waiver: Our failure to exercise any right immediately does not constitute a waiver of that right.

(c) Entire Agreement: These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and the "Subscription and Refund Policy", constitute the entire agreement between you and us in respect of the Platform, and supersede all prior oral or written understandings.

(d) Non-Assignment: You may not assign any right or obligation under these Terms to any third party. We may, upon notice, assign these Terms to any successor entity (for example, in a business reorganisation or acquisition).

(e) Language: These Terms are written in Traditional Chinese; in the event of any English translation, the Traditional Chinese version shall prevail.

(f) Force Majeure: We shall not be liable for any delay in, interruption of, or failure to perform the service that is caused directly or indirectly by events beyond our reasonable control (including but not limited to natural disasters, fire, epidemics, war, riots, strikes, governmental or regulatory acts, power or network outages, and the failure or interruption of third-party service providers — such as hosting, payment or artificial-intelligence services).

15. Contact

If you have any questions about these Terms, please email hello@carverhk.com.