Privacy & Cookie Policy

Effective July 7, 2026

1. Who we are

WedgeMap (“WedgeMap,” “we,” “us”) is a market-intelligence service operated by Early Forge Venture Studio LLC (“Early Forge”), the studio behind earlyforge.vercel.app. Early Forge Venture Studio LLC is the data controller for personal data processed through WedgeMap. This policy covers the WedgeMap website and app. It supplements — and for WedgeMap accounts, takes precedence over — the Early Forge studio-site policy.

2. What we collect

Account data. Your email address when you sign in or create an account (we use passwordless magic links, so email is the account), and your marketing preference with the date you set it.
Purchase data. When you buy a brief, our payment processor (Stripe) handles your payment details; we receive your email, the product tier purchased, and a transaction reference. We never see or store card numbers.
Usage data. Pages viewed, briefs unlocked, referring URLs, IP address, browser and device type, and similar log data.
Communications. Emails you send us and — if you have opted in to marketing — your interactions with marketing emails (opens, clicks), where supported by our email provider.

3. How we use your information

We use the information above to:

Provide the service — deliver briefs, maintain your account and purchase history.
Process payments and prevent fraud.
Market to you — only with your permission. Marketing email (new-drop alerts, product updates, and offers about WedgeMap and other Early Forge products and services, for example Relay) is sent when you tick the optional marketing box at sign-in or otherwise subscribe. The box is never pre-ticked, declining it does not affect your account or purchases, and every marketing message includes an unsubscribe link. You can also change the preference anytime on your account page. Transactional email (receipts, sign-in links, brief delivery) is separate and always sent.
Advertising and audience building — only with your consent.If you opt in to marketing, we may use your email address in hashed form to build custom and lookalike audiences and measure ad performance on advertising platforms. Marketing and analytics cookies are set only if you choose “Accept all” in the cookie banner.
Analyze and improve the product, and secure and debug the service.

4. Legal bases (EEA, UK, and similar laws)

Where the GDPR or UK GDPR applies, we rely on:

Contract (Art. 6(1)(b)) — account creation, sign-in, delivering briefs you purchase, customer support.
Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) — marketing email, advertising audiences, and analytics/marketing cookies. You can withdraw consent at any time (unsubscribe link, account page, or “Cookie preferences” in the footer) without affecting processing that happened before withdrawal.
Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)) — service security, fraud prevention, essential logging, and aggregate product analytics that do not rely on marketing cookies. You may object at any time.
Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)) — tax and accounting records for purchases.

5. Cookies and similar technologies

Essential cookies keep you signed in (Supabase auth session) and remember your cookie choice. These are strictly necessary and always on — the service cannot function without them.
Analytics and marketing cookies (including third-party pixels and tags from analytics and ad platforms) are set only afteryou choose “Accept all” in the cookie banner — never before, and never if you choose “Essential only.”
Changing your mind is one click:“Cookie preferences” in the footer reopens the banner so you can withdraw or grant consent at any time.

Within Early Forge. WedgeMap account data is processed by Early Forge Venture Studio LLC. If you opt in to marketing, your email may be used to tell you about other Early Forge products, as described in section 3.
Service providers (processors). Hosting (Vercel), database and auth (Supabase), payments (Stripe), transactional and marketing email (Resend or a comparable provider), and — with your consent — analytics and advertising platforms; each only as needed to perform their function under data-processing agreements.
Legal. When required by law, or to protect our rights, users, or the public.

We do not sell your personal information for money. Some U.S. state laws treat sharing data with advertising platforms as a “sale” or “sharing” — where they do, you can opt out by declining marketing cookies in the banner and unsubscribing from marketing email, or by emailing us at info@earlyforgestudios.com.

7. International transfers

We are a U.S. company and our providers process data primarily in the United States. If you use WedgeMap from the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, your data is transferred to the U.S. Our providers rely on recognized safeguards for these transfers — participation in the EU–U.S. Data Privacy Framework and/or Standard Contractual Clauses. You can request a copy of the applicable safeguards at info@earlyforgestudios.com.

8. Data retention

Account and purchase records are kept for as long as your account exists and as required for tax and accounting (typically 7 years for transaction records). Marketing preferences and suppression (unsubscribe) lists are kept so we honor your opt-out. Log data is kept on our providers’ standard rolling windows (typically 30–90 days). When you delete your account, we delete or anonymize personal data that we are not legally required to keep.

9. Your rights

Depending on where you live — including under the GDPR and UK GDPR — you have the right to:

access a copy of your personal data (Art. 15);
correct inaccurate data (Art. 16);
delete your data (“right to be forgotten,” Art. 17);
restrict processing (Art. 18);
receive your data in a portable format (Art. 20);
object to processing based on legitimate interests, and object to direct marketing at any time — marketing objections are always honored, no justification needed (Art. 21);
withdraw any consent at any time, as easily as you gave it (Art. 7(3));
lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority (for the EEA, see the EDPB member list; for the UK, the ICO).

To exercise any of these rights, email info@earlyforgestudios.com. We respond to verified requests within one month as the GDPR requires. We do not use your data for automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

10. Children

WedgeMap is a business tool, not directed at children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect their data.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the product evolves. Material changes will be flagged on this page with a new effective date; where a change relies on your consent, we will ask for it rather than assume it.

12. Contact

Early Forge Venture Studio LLC · info@earlyforgestudios.com