Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") form a binding legal agreement between you ("you" or "your") and [YOUR LLC LEGAL NAME], LLC, a California limited liability company with its principal place of business in Temecula, California ("NextStep," "we," "our," or "us"). They govern your access to and use of the NextStep website at joinnextstepai.com, the NextStep browser extension, any associated APIs, and all related services we make available (collectively, the "Service").

By creating an account, clicking "I Agree," or otherwise using the Service, you affirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy and Refund Policy, each of which is incorporated by reference. If you do not agree, do not create an account and do not use the Service.

Important. Section 14 (Dispute Resolution; Binding Arbitration; Class-Action Waiver) requires most disputes to be resolved by individual binding arbitration and waives your right to a jury trial and class action. It includes a 30-day opt-out. Please read it carefully.

1. Definitions

• "Account" means your registered user account on the Service.
• "AI Output" means any text, recommendation, ranking, draft, classification, or other content generated, summarized, or selected by automated systems (including third-party large language models and search providers) and surfaced to you in the Service.
• "Subscription" means a paid plan offered through the Service that recurs on a billing cycle (e.g., monthly).
• "Your Content" means information, files, and materials you submit, upload, generate within, or authorize the Service to access, including résumés, cover letters, job postings you save, notes, drafts, and (with your consent) email-account content read via Microsoft Graph.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old, capable of forming a legally binding contract, and a United States resident to use the Service. The Service is offered for use only in the United States and is not intended for users outside the U.S. By using the Service you represent and warrant that (a) you meet these eligibility requirements, (b) all information you provide is true, current, and complete, (c) you are not located in a country embargoed by the United States and are not on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties, and (d) you will use the Service in compliance with all applicable laws.

3. Your Account

You are responsible for the security of your credentials and for all activity under your Account. You agree to (a) keep your password confidential, (b) use a strong, unique password, (c) immediately notify us at [email protected] of any unauthorized access, and (d) use only one Account per person, unless we expressly permit otherwise. You may not sell, lease, or share your Account.

4. The Service: What It Is and Isn't

NextStep is a software tool designed to help you organize your job search, track applications, optionally classify job-related email from your Microsoft / Outlook inbox (with your authorization), generate AI-assisted drafts of outreach messages and résumé suggestions, and discover publicly-available professional contact information.

The Service is a guidance and automation tool. Decisions about whom to contact, what to send, what to apply for, and what to rely on are yours alone.

5. AI Output: Accuracy, Verification, and Your Responsibility

The Service uses third-party large-language-model providers and third-party search providers to produce AI Output. AI Output is, by its nature, probabilistic and sometimes wrong. AI Output may include statements that are inaccurate, out-of-date, biased, fabricated, mis-attributed, or otherwise unsuitable for your purpose. Search and contact-discovery results may include people who no longer work at the company, duplicates, false positives, or contacts who are not appropriate to message.

You are solely responsible for reviewing AI Output and contact-discovery results before relying on them, sending them, sharing them, or using them in any communication. You agree to verify any factual claim, name, title, employer, email address, phone number, or piece of information that materially affects your decisions. You acknowledge that we do not, and cannot, manually review AI Output before it is shown to you, and we make no warranty, express or implied, that AI Output is accurate, complete, current, non-infringing, or fit for any particular purpose.

AI Output is not a recommendation to take any specific action. AI Output does not constitute professional advice (career, legal, financial, tax, employment, immigration, medical, or otherwise). If you need professional advice, consult a qualified professional. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all liability arising from your use of, or reliance on, AI Output.

6. Acceptable Use

You agree that you will not, and will not permit anyone acting on your behalf to:

• use the Service in violation of any applicable law or regulation, including the CAN-SPAM Act, TCPA, anti-discrimination, anti-stalking, computer-fraud, wiretap, employment, and consumer-protection laws;
• use the Service to send unsolicited bulk or commercial email or to harass, threaten, defame, or invade the privacy of any person;
• impersonate any person or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or organization;
• upload or transmit content that infringes any third-party intellectual-property right, contains malware, or violates another's privacy or publicity rights;
• use the Service to make hiring, lending, housing, insurance, or other decisions about other people in a manner that would require compliance with the FCRA, ECOA, FHA, or similar laws (the Service is not a consumer-reporting agency);
• circumvent, disable, or attempt to defeat any authentication, rate-limiting, billing, entitlement, security, or other protective feature;
• scrape, crawl, harvest, or otherwise extract data from the Service except as expressly permitted, or use the Service to scrape, harvest, or extract data from any third-party site in violation of that site's terms;
• resell, sublicense, lease, or otherwise commercially exploit the Service, or use it to build a competing product;
• reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble any part of the Service, except to the limited extent that this restriction is unenforceable under applicable law;
• use the Service to train any machine-learning model or to populate any third-party database; or
• use the Service to generate, send, or facilitate spam, phishing, fraud, or any deceptive practice.

We may suspend or terminate Accounts that violate this Section, with or without notice, and may cooperate with law-enforcement requests as required by law.

7. Your Content

You retain ownership of Your Content. You grant NextStep a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable license to host, store, reproduce, transmit, display, modify (only as needed for technical operation, e.g., format conversion), and create derivative works of Your Content solely (a) to operate, secure, and improve the Service for you, and (b) to deliver Your Content to the sub-processors disclosed in our Privacy Policy as needed to provide the Service. This license terminates when you delete Your Content or your Account, except that we may retain de-identified, aggregated, or backup copies as described in the Privacy Policy and as required by law.

Representations. You represent and warrant that (a) you own or have all necessary rights to Your Content and to grant the license above, (b) Your Content does not violate any law or third-party right, and (c) any email content you authorize us to access is content you are entitled to access and process.

Feedback. If you send us suggestions, ideas, or feedback, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use them for any purpose without compensation or attribution to you.

Copyright / DMCA. If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright, please send a notice that complies with 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3) to [email protected]. Notices must include identification of the work, the allegedly infringing material, your contact information, a good-faith statement, a statement under penalty of perjury that you are authorized to act, and your physical or electronic signature. We will respond to properly-submitted notices and may terminate repeat infringers.

8. Email and Calendar Integrations

If you connect a Microsoft / Outlook account, you authorize us to access your inbox using the read-scoped Microsoft Graph permissions you grant. We classify, extract, and store structured data plus short excerpts necessary to render the application timeline. We do not send email from your account without an explicit user action. You may disconnect at any time from Settings → Email & Integrations, which also revokes our stored OAuth tokens. Your use of Microsoft services through the Service is also subject to Microsoft's terms.

9. Subscriptions, Billing, and Automatic Renewal

Auto-renewal disclosure (California Bus. & Prof. Code § 17600 et seq.):

Authorization. By starting a Subscription you authorize us, through our payment processor Stripe, Inc., to charge your payment method on a recurring basis as described above until you cancel. You authorize Stripe to retain your payment-method details for this purpose; we do not see, store, or transmit your card details.

Failed payments. If a charge fails, we may retry the charge, downgrade or suspend paid features after a short grace period, and ultimately cancel the Subscription. You remain responsible for amounts owed for service already provided. We may use third-party services to recover failed charges.

Taxes. Prices shown may exclude taxes. We use Stripe Tax to compute applicable U.S. state and local taxes based on your billing address; those taxes are added at checkout and collected by Stripe.

No partial-period refunds on cancellation. Subject to the Refund Policy, fees for the current period are non-refundable when you cancel; your access continues through the end of the period you have already paid for.

10. Free Plan, Beta Features, and Plan Changes

We may offer a free plan, free trials, or features marked as "beta," "preview," or "early access." Such offerings are provided as-is, may be changed or discontinued at any time, may be subject to additional terms presented in-product, and are excluded from any performance commitments or warranties (whether express, implied, or otherwise).

11. Changes to the Service or These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. For non-material changes (typo fixes, formatting, clarification), we will update the "Last updated" date and the version in this document and the change takes effect on posting. For material changes (changes that materially affect your rights or obligations), we will give at least 30 days' advance notice by email or in-app notice, and we will require you to affirmatively re-accept the updated Terms before continuing to use the Service. If you do not agree, you must stop using the Service and cancel any active Subscription before the change takes effect; your continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

Service changes. We may add, change, or remove features, plan limits, or AI providers. Material adverse changes to a paid plan will be communicated with at least 30 days' advance notice and you may cancel before the change takes effect.

12. Suspension and Termination

You may stop using the Service at any time and may delete your Account from Settings → Account. Deleting your Account cancels any active Subscription at the end of the current period and removes your personal data in accordance with the Privacy Policy. We may suspend or terminate your Account, with or without notice, for (a) violation of these Terms, (b) suspected fraud, abuse, or security risk, (c) extended inactivity, (d) non-payment, or (e) legal requirement. Sections 5, 6, 7 (license back), 9 (for amounts owed), 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 survive termination.

13. Disclaimers

EXCEPT WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW, THE SERVICE AND ALL AI OUTPUT ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE. WE SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ANY WARRANTY ARISING OUT OF COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT (A) THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE, (B) DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, (C) THE SERVICE OR THE SERVERS THAT MAKE IT AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS, OR (D) AI OUTPUT, CONTACT DATA, JOB POSTINGS, OR ANY OTHER INFORMATION OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICE WILL BE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, CURRENT, OR RELIABLE.

WE MAKE NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY THAT YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE WILL RESULT IN ANY INTERVIEW, OFFER, EMPLOYMENT, RESPONSE, INTRODUCTION, OR ECONOMIC OUTCOME OF ANY KIND.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties. To the extent such an exclusion is not permitted, the affected warranty is limited to the minimum scope and duration permitted by law.

14. Dispute Resolution; Binding Arbitration; Class-Action Waiver

Please read this Section carefully. It limits how disputes between you and us can be resolved and includes a 30-day opt-out.

14.1 Informal resolution. Before filing any claim, you and NextStep agree to first attempt to resolve the dispute informally by sending a written notice describing the dispute and the relief sought to [email protected]. If we cannot resolve the dispute within 60 days, either party may proceed under Section 14.2.

14.2 Binding individual arbitration. Except for (a) claims that qualify for small-claims court in Riverside County, California, (b) claims for injunctive or equitable relief regarding intellectual-property rights, and (c) public injunctive relief as preserved in Section 14.5, any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will be resolved by final, binding, individual arbitration administered by JAMS under its applicable Streamlined or Comprehensive Arbitration Rules in effect at the time, with the arbitration seat in Riverside County, California. The arbitrator (not any court) has exclusive authority to resolve threshold issues including arbitrability, except that whether the class-action waiver in Section 14.3 is enforceable is for a court to decide. Judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction. The Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. §§ 1–16, governs the interpretation and enforcement of this Section 14.

14.3 Class-action waiver. You and NextStep agree to bring claims only in an individual capacity and not as a plaintiff or class member in any class, collective, consolidated, mass, or representative action. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims or preside over any form of representative or class proceeding. If this Section 14.3 is found unenforceable as to a particular claim or remedy, the unenforceable portion is severed and the remainder of Section 14 will continue to apply; any non-arbitrable portion will proceed in court under Section 15.

14.4 30-day opt-out. You may opt out of Section 14 by emailing [email protected] from the email address on your Account, with the subject line "Arbitration Opt-Out", within 30 days after first accepting these Terms. Your notice must include your full name and a clear statement that you decline arbitration. Opting out does not affect any other Section of these Terms.

14.5 Public injunctive relief. Nothing in this Section 14 prevents you from seeking public injunctive relief in court to the extent that such relief cannot be waived under California law (see McGill v. Citibank, N.A., 2 Cal. 5th 945 (2017)). All other claims must be arbitrated.

14.6 Costs and fees. Each party will pay its own attorneys' fees and costs except where the arbitrator determines a claim is frivolous or permits fee-shifting under applicable law. Filing fees and arbitration costs are governed by the JAMS rules and the JAMS Consumer Minimum Standards where applicable.

15. Governing Law and Forum

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles, except that the Federal Arbitration Act governs Section 14. For any dispute not subject to arbitration, you and NextStep consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the state and federal courts located in Riverside County, California, and waive any objection to that venue.

16. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL NEXTSTEP, ITS AFFILIATES, OR ITS OR THEIR OFFICERS, MEMBERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, OR LICENSORS (COLLECTIVELY, THE "NEXTSTEP PARTIES") BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUES, DATA, GOODWILL, EMPLOYMENT, BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES, OR SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE, WHETHER BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY, OR ANY OTHER THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

THE NEXTSTEP PARTIES' TOTAL CUMULATIVE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE TOTAL AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS (USD $100.00).

THE FOREGOING LIMITATIONS APPLY EVEN IF ANY LIMITED REMEDY FAILS OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES; IN THOSE JURISDICTIONS THE FOREGOING LIMITATIONS APPLY TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

17. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the NextStep Parties from and against any third-party claims, demands, losses, damages, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to (a) Your Content, (b) your use or misuse of the Service, (c) your violation of these Terms or applicable law, (d) your violation of any third-party right (including intellectual property, privacy, or publicity), or (e) any communication you send using the Service or relying on AI Output. We will give you prompt written notice of any such claim and reasonable cooperation in the defense at your expense; we may assume sole control of the defense and settlement.

18. Third-Party Services

The Service interoperates with third-party services, including Stripe (payments), Microsoft (Outlook / Graph), and various AI and search providers. Your use of those services is governed by their own terms and privacy policies. We are not responsible for third-party services or content, and links from within the Service do not imply endorsement.

19. Force Majeure

We are not liable for any failure or delay in performance caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including acts of God, natural disasters, war, terrorism, civil unrest, government action, labor disputes, internet or utility outages, denial-of- service attacks, third-party-service outages, or pandemics.

20. Notices

We may give you notice through the email address on your Account, by in-app notice, or by posting on the Service. You consent to receive electronic communications from us, and you agree that all agreements, notices, disclosures, and other communications we provide electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing. Legal notices to us must be sent to [email protected] or by mail to the address in Section 22.

21. Miscellaneous

Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and Refund Policy, are the entire agreement between you and NextStep regarding the Service and supersede any prior agreements. Severability. If any provision is held invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full force and effect. No waiver. Our failure to enforce any right is not a waiver of that right. Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our written consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets. Independent contractors. Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, employment, agency, or fiduciary relationship. Headings. Section headings are for convenience only. Export controls. You may not access or use the Service in violation of U.S. export-control or sanctions laws.

22. Contact Us

For questions about these Terms or to send any notice required under these Terms, contact us at [email protected] or by mail at:

California consumers — § 1789.3 notice. California Civil Code § 1789.3 requires us to provide the following notice: the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs may be contacted in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, CA 95834, or by telephone at (800) 952-5210. Our current price for the Service is shown on our pricing page at joinnextstepai.com/upgrade.