Legal · Business customers

Business Terms of Use.

Version terms-2026-07-28-v2 · Effective July 28, 2026

1. Agreement and contracting entity

These Business Terms of Use (“Terms”) are a binding agreement between Sky Hood Ventures LLC, an Arizona limited liability company doing business as Next Standard Systems (“NSS,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), and the person or business using the Services (“Customer,” “you,” or “your”). By checking the acceptance box, creating an account, purchasing, or using a paid Service, you agree to these Terms and our Privacy Policy.

If you act for a company or other organization, “Customer” means that organization and you represent that you are at least 18 years old and authorized to bind it. If you lack that authority or do not agree, do not create an account, purchase, or use the Services.

2. Business-only, United States service

The Services are offered only for legitimate business use by customers located in the United States. They are not intended for personal, family, or household use, children, or use subject to specialized regulatory requirements unless NSS agrees in a separate signed writing. Do not use the Services to store or process protected health information, payment-card numbers, Social Security numbers, government identification numbers, biometric data, consumer credit data, export-controlled data, or similarly sensitive or regulated information.

3. The Services

The “Services” include the Business Operating Assessment, Business Operating Analysis, startup Business Blueprint, account and saved operating records, the Next Standard OS subscription and its dashboard, plans, trackers, reassessments, and internal AI-powered Operating Assistant, plus Foundation implementation services and the customer-facing AI Customer Information Assistant described in an accepted implementation Order.

Assessment and Blueprint outputs are generated from the information you provide. Scores, maturity labels, priorities, plans, comparisons, estimates, and recommendations are directional decision aids. They are not an audit, appraisal, certification, due-diligence report, or prediction of business value or performance. NSS may improve the Services, provided changes do not materially reduce a paid Service during its then-current billing period.

4. Accounts and security

You must provide accurate information, use a unique password, keep credentials confidential, and promptly report suspected unauthorized access. One OS subscription covers one business and one owner seat unless a written order says otherwise. You may not share an account, impersonate another person, or access another customer’s data. You are responsible for activity under your credentials except to the extent caused by NSS’s breach of these Terms.

5. Free assessments and saved records

A free assessment or Blueprint may be saved to an account without purchasing. NSS does not promise that a free feature will remain available indefinitely. We may modify or discontinue a free feature after reasonable notice where practical. Customers should retain their own copies of important business records; the Services are not an archival or disaster-recovery service.

6. Next Standard OS subscription

6.1 Price and automatic renewal

Next Standard OS is $79.00 USD per month, plus applicable tax. At checkout you must separately authorize the recurring charge. The subscription begins when Stripe confirms payment and automatically renews each month until canceled. We will not increase the price for an existing subscriber without advance notice and a new authorization where required by law.

6.2 Cancellation

You may cancel at any time from your authenticated account using the direct cancellation control or billing portal. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current paid billing period and stops later renewals; access continues through that period unless access must be suspended for misuse or security reasons. Save the confirmation displayed after cancellation. You may also contact support@nextstandardsystems.com if the control is unavailable.

6.3 Refunds

Subscription fees already charged are nonrefundable and are not prorated, except where required by law or where NSS expressly agrees in writing. This does not limit rights that cannot lawfully be waived.

7. Fees, taxes, and payment processing

Prices are displayed before payment and charged in U.S. dollars. You authorize NSS and Stripe, our payment processor, to collect the displayed amount and applicable taxes using the payment method you provide. Stripe—not NSS—receives and processes complete card details. You are responsible for legally applicable sales, use, transaction, and similar taxes, excluding taxes on NSS’s net income. You must provide accurate billing and tax information. Failed or reversed payments may result in suspension.

8. Implementation services

Foundation is a $5,000 one-time implementation purchase governed by the Implementation Services Agreement accepted with the exact Order summary before checkout. That agreement identifies scope, AI Customer Information Assistant boundaries, exclusions, price, revisions, ownership, dependencies, cancellation, and refunds. If it conflicts with these Terms on an implementation-specific subject, that agreement controls for that subject. No implementation work begins solely because a marketing page is viewed or an intake form is started.

Foundation includes the implementation-client OS workspace access described in its accepted Order and does not create a recurring $79 charge. Any later recurring subscription requires a separate checkout and separate recurring-payment authorization.

9. AI features

9.1 Internal Operating Assistant

The Operating Assistant uses an Anthropic model to generate responses from a limited business context that may include your assessment or Blueprint, priorities, plan, actions, KPIs, check-ins, business profile, and recent conversation. AI output can be incomplete, outdated, inaccurate, or unsuitable. You must review it and remain responsible for decisions, communications, and actions. The Assistant does not act in external systems and is not a substitute for a qualified professional.

Do not enter confidential credentials, personal information about employees or customers, regulated data, or information you lack authority to share. NSS may apply usage limits and safety controls. Additional details appear in the Privacy Policy.

9.2 Foundation Customer Information Assistant

A Foundation Order may include one customer-facing AI Customer Information Assistant for one compatible Customer-controlled website. It must be clearly identified as an AI assistant and provide a human contact path. It is designed for automated around-the-clock availability, subject to hosting, model, network, maintenance, usage-limit, and safety-control interruptions; it is not 24/7 human support and no uptime service level applies unless a separate signed Order expressly states one.

The Customer Information Assistant is limited to routine information about Customer’s business from Customer-approved sources. It may not bind Customer, make warranties, accept payment, finally confirm prices or availability, make high-impact decisions, provide licensed-professional advice, or solicit sensitive or regulated information. Customer is responsible for accurate source material, acceptance testing, visitor-facing privacy disclosures, a working human escalation channel, and prompt updates when business information changes. NSS may pause or disable an unsafe, misleading, or unlawful configuration.

10. No professional advice; no guaranteed results

NSS does not provide legal, tax, accounting, investment, lending, insurance, human-resources, employment, medical, cybersecurity-audit, or other licensed-professional advice. Consult an appropriate professional for those matters. Business outcomes depend on market conditions, customer action, data quality, third parties, and many factors outside NSS’s control. NSS does not guarantee rankings, traffic, leads, sales, conversion, revenue, profit, funding, compliance, or any other result.

11. Customer data and permissions

As between the parties, you retain ownership of information, content, marks, and materials you submit (“Customer Data”). You grant NSS and its service providers a nonexclusive, worldwide, limited license to host, copy, transmit, format, analyze, and otherwise use Customer Data only to provide, secure, support, and improve the Services, comply with law, and enforce this agreement. You represent that you have all rights and notices necessary to provide Customer Data and permit this use.

You are responsible for the accuracy, legality, and backup of Customer Data. Do not submit testimonials, photos, logos, mailing lists, or personal information unless you have the necessary permission. NSS will not publicly use your business name, logo, or testimonial as an endorsement without separate written authorization.

12. NSS intellectual property

NSS and its licensors own the Services and all related software, interfaces, scoring methods, prompts, templates, playbooks, taxonomies, designs, documentation, names, and other technology, including Next Standard Systems, Next Standard OS, Business Operating Assessment, Business Operating Analysis, and Next Step Next, except for Customer Data and implementation deliverables expressly assigned under the Implementation Services Agreement. No ownership is transferred by these Terms.

Subject to these Terms and payment of applicable fees, NSS grants you a limited, nonexclusive, nontransferable, non-sublicensable right to use the Services internally for your business during the applicable term. Feedback may be used without restriction or payment, but NSS will not identify you publicly as its source without permission.

13. Acceptable use

You may not, and may not help others to:

• use the Services unlawfully, deceptively, abusively, or to violate another person’s rights;
• probe, scan, overload, disrupt, bypass, or defeat security, rate limits, access controls, or usage limits;
• reverse engineer, decompile, scrape, copy, frame, resell, rent, or commercially exploit the Services except where law forbids that restriction;
• introduce malware or submit content that is infringing, defamatory, fraudulent, or harmful;
• use outputs as the sole basis for decisions producing legal or similarly significant effects on an individual; or
• use the Services or outputs to develop or train a competing model, product, assessment, or service.

14. Third-party services

The Services depend on third parties such as Stripe, Netlify, Supabase, Resend, Anthropic, customer-selected website or AI providers, and browser-delivered font services. Their products, charges, usage limits, and terms may apply separately. NSS is not responsible for third-party products, outages, policy changes, or acts outside NSS’s reasonable control, but will use commercially reasonable efforts to select and manage providers and restore affected Services within NSS’s control.

15. Confidentiality

Each party may receive nonpublic information that a reasonable person would understand is confidential. The receiving party will use it only to perform or receive the Services, protect it with reasonable care, and disclose it only to personnel, contractors, professional advisers, and service providers who need it and are bound to protect it. This does not cover information that is public without breach, already lawfully known, independently developed, or lawfully received without restriction. A legally compelled disclosure is permitted after notice where lawful.

16. Privacy and security

Our Privacy Policy explains personal-information practices. NSS will maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards appropriate to the nature of the Services. No online service is completely secure, and NSS does not warrant that unauthorized access or loss can never occur. You must promptly notify NSS of a suspected incident involving your account.

17. Suspension and termination

You may stop using free Services at any time and cancel a subscription as described above. NSS may suspend access immediately when reasonably necessary to address a security threat, unlawful use, material breach, nonpayment, or harm to NSS, a provider, or another person. Where practical, NSS will give notice and an opportunity to cure. NSS may terminate for an uncured material breach after 10 days’ written notice, or immediately for fraud, illegal conduct, repeated security abuse, or insolvency.

On termination, the license in Section 12 ends. Sections that by nature should survive—including payment obligations, ownership, confidentiality, disclaimers, liability limits, indemnity, disputes, and general terms—survive. NSS may retain or delete data as described in the Privacy Policy and applicable law.

18. Disclaimers

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE SERVICES, ASSESSMENTS, OUTPUTS, AND CONTENT ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE.” NSS DISCLAIMS ALL EXPRESS, IMPLIED, AND STATUTORY WARRANTIES, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, QUIET ENJOYMENT, AND WARRANTIES ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE. NSS DOES NOT WARRANT UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE OPERATION, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT ANY OUTPUT OR RESULT WILL BE ACCURATE OR ACHIEVED.

19. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, NEITHER PARTY WILL BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, REVENUE, GOODWILL, BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY, OR DATA, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY.

EXCEPT FOR EXCLUDED CLAIMS BELOW, EACH PARTY’S TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICES OR THESE TERMS WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNTS CUSTOMER PAID NSS FOR THE SERVICE GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM DURING THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT, OR (B) $100 IF CUSTOMER USED ONLY FREE SERVICES.

“Excluded Claims” are a party’s fraud, willful misconduct, gross negligence, breach of confidentiality, infringement or misappropriation of the other party’s intellectual property, Customer’s payment obligations, or Customer’s indemnity obligations. Nothing limits liability that applicable law does not permit the parties to limit. These allocations are an essential basis of the bargain.

20. Indemnification

You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless NSS and its managers, members, employees, and contractors from third-party claims, damages, judgments, costs, and reasonable attorneys’ fees arising from (a) Customer Data; (b) your unlawful or unauthorized use; (c) your products, services, marketing, employment practices, or customer relationships; or (d) your breach of Sections 2, 11, or 13. NSS will promptly notify you and reasonably cooperate; you may control the defense, but may not admit NSS fault or impose obligations on NSS without written consent.

NSS will defend a third-party claim that a paid Service, as provided by NSS and used as authorized, directly infringes a United States patent, copyright, or trademark, and will pay finally awarded damages or an NSS-approved settlement. NSS may modify or replace the affected Service or terminate it and refund prepaid unused subscription fees. This does not cover Customer Data, combinations not supplied by NSS, unauthorized changes or use, continued use after notice, or third-party materials. This paragraph states NSS’s entire obligation for intellectual-property claims.

21. Disputes; Arizona law; jury waiver

Before filing a claim, a party will send a written description to the other and allow 30 days for good-faith informal resolution, unless immediate injunctive relief is reasonably necessary. Arizona law governs without regard to conflict-of-law rules. The state and federal courts located in Maricopa County, Arizona have exclusive jurisdiction, and each party consents to personal jurisdiction and venue there.

TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, EACH PARTY KNOWINGLY AND VOLUNTARILY WAIVES TRIAL BY JURY FOR ANY DISPUTE ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICES. Either party may seek injunctive relief for misuse of intellectual property, confidential information, or security credentials. The prevailing party in an action to enforce these Terms may recover reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs to the extent permitted by Arizona law.

22. Changes to these Terms

The version accepted at the time of a transaction governs that transaction unless the parties agree otherwise. NSS may update these Terms prospectively. For a material change affecting an existing paid Service, NSS will provide reasonable advance notice and request new assent when required. Continued use after the effective date of a nonmaterial update constitutes acceptance. Changes do not retroactively reduce accrued rights or increase already-accepted charges.

23. General terms

Neither party is liable for delay caused by events beyond reasonable control, except payment obligations. You may not assign these Terms without NSS’s written consent; NSS may assign them in connection with a merger, financing, reorganization, or sale of substantially all relevant assets, with notice. The parties are independent contractors; these Terms create no partnership, franchise, fiduciary, agency, or employment relationship. No third party is a beneficiary. Failure to enforce a term is not a waiver. If a term is unenforceable, it will be narrowed to the minimum extent necessary and the remainder stays effective. Headings are for convenience. “Including” means “including without limitation.” Electronic notices and signatures are valid. These Terms, the Privacy Policy, an accepted order, and any applicable Implementation Services Agreement are the complete agreement about their subject matter and supersede prior statements.

24. Notices and contact

NSS may send notices to the email associated with your account or display them in the Services. Legal notices to NSS must be sent to legal@nextstandardsystems.com; support requests may be sent to support@nextstandardsystems.com. NSS is operated by Sky Hood Ventures LLC in Phoenix, Arizona.