What we keep, and why.
Last updated September 23, 2026
The $0 Club is a directory of founders whose products have made no money yet. This page explains what we collect to run it, what is public, and what you can ask us to do with your data.
What we collect
Your account. Your name, email address and a salted hash of your password (never the password itself). Optionally, a photo.
Your project. Everything you enter when you apply or edit: name, website, description, tags, highlights, links, logo, screenshot and showcase media.
Your payment-processor key. To prove you're at $0, you give us an API key for Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, Paddle, Polar or Gumroad. We store it encrypted (AES-256-GCM) and only ever use it to read: whether you've had sales, the amounts and dates, and the email of your first customer (to invite them to sign your record). We never create, change or refund anything. You can revoke the key from your processor at any time; your membership then can't be verified.
What you do here. Feedback, replies, updates, likes and support, and profile view counts.
Technical data. One cookie that keeps you signed in. Your IP address, briefly, to limit abuse (sign-in attempts, comment floods); those counters are deleted within a day. We don't use advertising or tracking cookies.
What is public
Member profiles are public: your project details, your founder name and photo, feedback and updates, support counts, and your membership status. When a sale ends a membership, the expulsion record (dates, the first sale amount, and the first customer's signature if they choose to sign) is public too.
Your email address, password and processor key are never public. Your first customer's email is never shown to anyone, you included.
Public project details (name, website, logo and description) may also be listed in the business directory of Verified Operator, our sister project, as an unclaimed business page. Revenue and processor data are never shared there.
Who else handles your data
We use a small number of providers to run the Club: Vercel (hosting and image storage), Supabase (database), and Resend (email). Your processor is contacted only with your key, only to read. We don't sell personal data to anyone.
Verified Operator (verifiedoperator.com) is run by the same team and shares our infrastructure. If you are expelled and choose to claim a Verified Operator profile, we pass your record to it at your request: your name, photo, email, project and first sale. Nothing is passed on unless you ask.
Emails
We send only what the Club needs to: a welcome email, password resets, the notice when a sale ends your membership, and the invitation to your first customer (which you can switch off in your dashboard). No newsletters or marketing.
Your choices
You can edit your project and delete your comments and updates yourself. To delete your account, export your data, or remove your name and photo from a record, email club@thezerodollarclub.com. Expulsion records are part of the Club's history, so on deletion we anonymise them rather than remove them, unless the law requires otherwise.
Changes
If this changes in a way that matters, we'll update this page and, for significant changes, tell members by email.