Privacy Policy

Who we are and what this covers

This Privacy Policy explains how Herd of Nerds ("Herd of Nerds", "we", "us", or "our") handles personal data collected through www.herdofnerds.io, when you contact us through the site, or when you engage us for services. Herd of Nerds is based in Michigan, USA.

This policy does not cover data we process on your behalf as part of a paid engagement — that processing is governed by your engagement agreement and any applicable data processing addendum.

What we collect

We collect only what we need to do our jobs. Specifically:

• Inquiry data. When you submit our contact form, the pricing / service interest forms, or otherwise reach out, we receive the information you provide — typically your name, work email, company, the plan or service you are interested in, and your message.
• Live chat data. If you use the in-page chat widget, we receive the messages you send and any name or email you optionally provide so our team can reply.
• Email correspondence. If you email hello@herdofnerds.io, we keep that thread for as long as we need it to handle your request and any follow-up.
• Technical data. Standard server logs from our hosting provider — IP address, user agent, request path, and timestamp — used for security, abuse prevention, and debugging.
• Aggregated analytics. Anonymous, cookieless page-view counts and performance metrics (see "Cookies & tracking" below).

We do not knowingly collect sensitive personal data (for example, government IDs, health data, or financial account details) through this website. Please do not send it to us via the contact form or chat widget.

How we use it

We use the information described above to:

• Respond to your inquiry, prepare proposals, and schedule conversations.
• Deliver, support, and improve the services described in your engagement agreement.
• Operate, secure, and improve this website and detect or prevent abuse.
• Understand traffic patterns and performance in aggregate so we can make the site easier to use.
• Comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms of Service.

We rely on the following legal bases (where they apply): your consent (for example, submitting a form), the necessity of performing a contract with you, our legitimate interests in running and improving our business, and compliance with legal obligations. We do not sell personal data, and we do not use your data to train third-party AI models.

Cookies and tracking

We aim to keep this site as cookie-light as possible. We do not use advertising cookies, retargeting pixels, or cross-site trackers. The cookies we may set are limited to those strictly necessary to operate features you actively use (for example, keeping you signed in or remembering a UI preference).

For analytics we use Vercel Web Analytics and Vercel Speed Insights. Both are cookieless by design: they do not store identifiers on your device and they do not track you across other sites. They report aggregated information such as page views, referrer, country, browser type, and page-load timings, which we use to understand site usage and performance.

Most browsers let you block or clear cookies and storage from their settings. We honor "Do Not Track" and Global Privacy Control signals where applicable.

Service providers we share data with

To run our website and respond to you, we rely on a small number of trusted service providers who may process limited personal data on our behalf:

• Vercel Inc. — hosting of this website, request logs, web analytics, and speed insights.
• Slack Technologies, LLC — inbound inquiries from our contact form and live chat are forwarded into our internal Slack workspace so our team can respond.
• Email and productivity tools — used for ongoing correspondence and managing engagements.

We may disclose information when required by law, to enforce our Terms, to protect our rights or those of others, or in connection with a corporate transaction (for example, a merger or acquisition), in which case we will provide notice consistent with applicable law.

How long we keep data

We keep personal data only as long as we need it for the purposes above. In practice that means:

• Inquiry and chat data — kept for as long as the conversation is active and for a reasonable period afterward in case you come back to us, then deleted or archived.
• Engagement records and invoices — retained for the duration of the engagement plus the period required by tax, accounting, and legal obligations.
• Server logs — typically retained for a short period (days to weeks) for security and debugging, depending on our hosting provider's defaults.
• Aggregated analytics — retained at the aggregate level only and is not tied back to identifiable individuals.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights over your personal data. These typically include the right to:

• Know what personal data we hold about you and request a copy.
• Correct data that is inaccurate or out of date.
• Request deletion of your data, subject to our legal and contractual needs.
• Object to or restrict certain types of processing.
• Withdraw consent you previously gave (without affecting prior processing).
• Receive a portable copy of data you provided to us.
• Lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (for example, your state attorney general or your data protection authority).

To exercise any of these rights, email hello@herdofnerds.io. We will respond within a reasonable timeframe and may need to verify your identity before acting. We do not sell personal information and do not "share" it for cross-context behavioral advertising as those terms are defined under California law.

How we keep your data safe

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect personal data — including encryption in transit, role-based access to internal tools, secret management, and audit logging on systems that handle customer data. No security program is perfect, but we treat security as part of good engineering, not an afterthought.

If we become aware of a security incident affecting your personal data, we will notify you as required by applicable law and work to remediate the issue.

Children's privacy

This website and our services are intended for businesses and professional users. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under sixteen (16). If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us and we will take appropriate steps to delete it.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the "Last updated" date at the top of this page and, if the change is material, provide a more prominent notice. Continued use of the website after the effective date means you accept the updated policy.

Contact us

Questions, requests, or anything else privacy-related? Email hello@herdofnerds.io and a real person on our team will reply.