Legal

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 22 June 2026

This policy explains how we collect, use and protect your personal data, and the rights you have under UK data protection law. It applies to our website, our events, our community membership, our podcast mailing list and our consulting services.

1. Who we are and how to contact us

FOCUS ON FOUNDERS LTD is the data controller responsible for your personal data. We are a company registered in Scotland under company number SC866544, based in Glasgow. Our website is focusonfounders.co.uk.

If you have any question about this policy or about how we handle your personal data, or if you wish to exercise any of your rights, contact us at matthew@focusonfounders.co.uk.

2. The personal data we collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect and process the following:

Contact and identity details such as your name, email address and the company or business you are associated with.
Membership application details such as information about your business, your role and the answers you give in an application form.
Event registration data collected when you register for an event. Event registration is handled by Luma, and the data you provide is processed through that platform.
Payment data needed to take payment for membership or consulting. Payments are processed by Stripe. We do not see or store your full card number; Stripe handles the card data and shares limited transaction information with us.
Marketing and mailing data such as your email address and engagement with our emails, where you sign up to hear from us. This is managed through Kit.
Correspondence such as the content of emails or messages you send us.
Technical data such as limited information about your device and visit, gathered through our hosting and security provider and any cookies described in our cookie policy.

3. The lawful bases we rely on

We only process your personal data where the law allows us to. The lawful bases we rely on are:

Contract. Where we need to process your data to provide an event ticket, your membership or a consulting engagement, and to take payment for it.
Consent. Where you have given us permission, for example when you sign up to our podcast or marketing emails. You can withdraw your consent at any time.
Legitimate interests. Where it is reasonably necessary for our business and does not override your rights, for example to run and improve our community and events, to keep records, to respond to enquiries, and to keep our website and systems secure.
Legal obligation. Where we must process data to comply with the law, such as keeping accounting and tax records.

4. How we use your personal data

We use your personal data to:

register you for events and admit you on the day;
set up, run, renew and manage your community membership;
deliver and manage consulting and advisory engagements;
take and reconcile payments;
send you service messages relating to your booking, membership or engagement;
send you our podcast updates and marketing where you have asked to receive them;
respond to your enquiries and provide support;
keep proper business records and meet our legal obligations; and
protect, maintain and improve our website, community and services.

5. Third parties who process data for us

We use trusted third-party providers to run our business. These providers process personal data on our behalf, under contract, and only for the purposes we set. They are:

Stripe for payment processing of membership and consulting fees.
Luma for event registration, ticketing and event-day data.
Kit for managing our email lists and sending marketing and podcast emails.
Cloudflare for website hosting, content delivery and security.
Formsubmit for handling form submissions sent from our website.

Each of these providers has its own privacy notice setting out how it handles personal data. We do not sell your personal data, and we do not share it with third parties for their own marketing.

6. How long we keep your data

We keep your personal data only for as long as we need it for the purposes set out in this policy. As a general guide, we keep membership and customer records for the duration of our relationship and for a reasonable period afterwards, and we keep financial and tax records for as long as the law requires. Marketing data is kept until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove you. When we no longer need your data, we delete it or anonymise it securely.

7. International transfers

Some of our providers, such as Stripe, Luma, Kit and Cloudflare, may process data outside the United Kingdom, including in the United States. Where data is transferred outside the UK, we rely on appropriate safeguards recognised under UK data protection law, such as the UK addendum to the European Commission's standard contractual clauses or an adequacy decision, so that your data continues to be protected.

8. Your rights under UK GDPR

Under UK data protection law you have the following rights:

Access. The right to ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Rectification. The right to have inaccurate or incomplete data corrected.
Erasure. The right to ask us to delete your data in certain circumstances.
Restriction. The right to ask us to limit how we use your data in certain circumstances.
Portability. The right to receive certain data in a portable format, or to have it transferred to another controller.
Objection. The right to object to processing based on our legitimate interests, and the right to object to direct marketing at any time.
Withdraw consent. Where we rely on your consent, the right to withdraw it at any time, without affecting processing already carried out.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at matthew@focusonfounders.co.uk. We will respond within the time limits set by the law. We do not charge a fee in normal circumstances, and we may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.

9. Marketing

Where you have signed up to our podcast updates or marketing, we will only send you these with your consent. Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link, and you can opt out at any time by using that link or by contacting us. Opting out of marketing does not stop service messages relating to a booking, membership or engagement.

10. Cookies

Our website itself is a static site and uses minimal cookies, but some third-party features may set cookies. For full details of which cookies may be set and how to control them, please see our Cookie Policy.

11. How to complain

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, please contact us first at matthew@focusonfounders.co.uk so we can try to put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK regulator for data protection. You can contact the ICO at ico.org.uk, by their helpline, or in writing to the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes to our practices or the law. The current version is always the one on this page, with the "Last updated" date shown above. Please check back from time to time.