International Collegiate Angels Network LLC (“ICAN,” “we,” “us”) runs icanhub.net, our newsletters, the ICAN Proving Grounds, and the ICAN platform at app.icanhub.net (together, the “Services”). This policy explains what personal information we collect through the Services, how we use it, and the choices you have.
1. Information we collect
Information you give us:
- Contact and newsletter information: your name, email, organization, and job title.
- Application information: your name, email, university affiliation, venture description, and your answers to our application questions.
- Venture information: documents, financial models, contracts, interview notes, links, and other evidence you upload to your Logbook, plus the Key Results, KPI scores, and notes created during the program.
- AI assistant conversations: the questions you ask Dr. D, our AI assistant, and its answers.
- Account information: the email and sign-in details you use for the platform.
- Payment information: our payment processor handles your card details. ICAN does not receive or store your full card number.
- Messages: anything you send us by email or through a form.
Information we collect automatically: your IP address, device and browser type, the pages you view, and your approximate location. We use cookies and similar technologies for this. You can block cookies in your browser settings, though some features may stop working.
Information from public sources: see section 3.
2. How we use information
- To run the Services, including the Proving Grounds, your scores, your Performance Engineer’s reviews, and Dr. D’s answers
- To review applications
- To send newsletters and program updates. You can unsubscribe at any time.
- To process payments
- To respond to your questions and requests
- To keep the Services secure and prevent fraud
- To improve our programs, using de-identified, combined data that can’t identify you or your venture
- To comply with the law
3. How we review applications
When you apply, we use AI research tools to review publicly available information about you and your venture, such as your website, news coverage, public profiles, and public posts on X. A second AI step checks each finding against its source and removes what it can’t support. The results go into a case file that only the ICAN team can see. A person on the ICAN team makes every admission decision. The AI never accepts or declines anyone. You can ask for a copy of your case file at connect@icanhub.net.
4. How we use AI
Dr. D, our AI assistant, reads the files in your Logbook so it can answer questions about your venture. Each founder’s assistant works with that founder’s permissions, so it can read only that founder’s venture. The platform records every action the assistant takes, and the assistant asks you to confirm before it changes anything important.
To generate answers, we send the relevant content to AI model providers, currently OpenAI and xAI. These providers do not use the content we send them to train their models, and we instruct them not to store it. We use Amazon Textract to turn scanned documents into text the assistant can read.
5. Who can see your venture information
- You
- Your Performance Engineer, who reviews your evidence each week
- The ICAN team, to run the program and support you
The other founders in your Cluster see only what you choose to present during Cluster sessions. They cannot open your Logbook.
6. How we share information
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information, and we do not share it with anyone for their own marketing. We share information only with the service providers that help us run the Services, and only for that purpose:
| Provider | What it does for ICAN |
|---|---|
| Amazon Web Services | Hosting, file storage, sign-in, document reading, and email |
| OpenAI | AI models behind Dr. D and file reading |
| xAI | AI web search for application research |
| beehiiv | Newsletter delivery |
| Stripe | Payments |
We may also disclose information to comply with a law, regulation, court order, subpoena, or other legal process; to protect the rights, property, or safety of ICAN, our participants, or others; or as part of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, in which case the new owner must protect your information under this policy.
7. Newsletters
beehiiv delivers our newsletters on our behalf. Every newsletter includes an unsubscribe link.
8. Security
We store platform data in ICAN’s own Amazon Web Services account in the United States. We scan every uploaded file for malware before anyone can open it. Access follows a deny-by-default permission system that applies to people and to the AI assistant alike. We keep API keys in a secrets vault that no person or screen can read back. No system is completely secure, so we can’t guarantee the security of information you send us.
9. Retention and deletion
We keep your venture information for the length of your cohort and 12 months after it ends, then delete it. During those 12 months you can still view and download your Logbook. We delete case files for applicants we don’t accept 12 months after our decision. You can ask us to delete your information sooner at any time. We keep records the law requires, such as payment records, for as long as it requires.
10. Your rights
You can ask us to:
- Show you the personal information we hold about you
- Correct it
- Delete it
- Send you a copy of the venture information you uploaded
- Stop sending you marketing emails
Email connect@icanhub.net. We may need to verify your identity first. We won’t treat you differently for using any of these rights.
If you live in the European Union or the United Kingdom: we process your information to deliver the program you signed up for, for our legitimate interest in reviewing applications and running a secure service, and with your consent for newsletters. You can withdraw consent at any time and complain to your local data protection authority.
11. International users
We process information in the United States. Its data protection laws may differ from those where you live.
12. Age
The Services are not directed to children under 13, and we delete information we learn came from a child under 13. You must be 18 or older to apply to or take part in an ICAN program.
13. Third-party sites
The Services link to sites we don’t control. Their own privacy practices apply.
14. Changes
When we change this policy, we update the effective date at the top. If a change affects how we handle venture information, we email platform users before it takes effect.
15. Contact
Questions about this policy: connect@icanhub.net.