Growth Velocity Corporation Privacy Policy

Growth Velocity Corporation (referred to in this policy as “GVC,” “we,” or “us”) is a California-based business that works with B2B software companies to obtain feedback from customers and prospects to improve their marketing, sales processes, products, and services. For instance, GVC helps its clients understand how or why they win or lose sales. GVC interviews or surveys a cohort of recent buyers and prospects of its clients to find patterns in customer responses and to provide advice to its clients.

GVC is committed to protecting your privacy. Accordingly, GVC wrote this privacy policy to describe the kind of personal information GVC collects when obtaining customer feedback for its clients and when visitors use its website and GVC’s social media accounts. GVC’s website appears at growthvelocity.com. This policy also covers how GVC uses the collected personal information, GVC’s use of its vendors, and how it protects the personal information it collects. GVC has social media accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Your personal information:

By providing GVC with personal information or by using our website, you consent to the terms of this privacy policy.

As used in this privacy policy, “personal information” or “personal data” means any information linked or reasonably linkable to an identified or identifiable individual, either on its own or in combination with other readily available data.

Please note that some of the personal information we collect may constitute “sensitive personal information” under applicable laws. We will never use your sensitive personal information except for research purposes, or otherwise to verify your identity or prevent fraud.

For more information on how to opt out of the processing of your sensitive personal information, please click here.

Your privacy choices:

Depending on your location, you may have certain special rights under the law of your home jurisdiction with respect to your personal information.

To access, correct, or request deletion of your personal information, or to request a copy of your personal information or opt out of the processing of your personal information, please contact us as provided in the “Contact Information” section below. Depending on your location, you may also have the right to appeal any decision we make regarding your personal information by contacting us as provided below.

Please keep in mind that we may have a legal right or obligation to preserve personal information as it currently exists.

If you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by contacting us.

Any email communications from us contain instructions on opting out of further email communications, although we will still send you emails relating to the support, administration, and security of our services.

If you are a resident of California your rights are further described in the “Information for California Residents” section below.

Information we collect from clients:

When a B2B software company becomes a client, we collect the following business card information from our client’s representatives:

• • Name
  • Work email address
  • Title
  • Company name
  • Billing address

We also collect payment information from our clients.

Information we collect from interviewees:

GVC receives introductions to one or more representatives of customers, or prospective customers, of GVC’s software company clients. The main personal information GVC collects about these customers or prospects from its clients is generally business card information, and includes the following:

• • Name
  • Work email address
  • Title
  • Company name

Our client may also provide us background information about a customer’s organization, software needs, and other business information provided by a client. This background information may include business card information of other customer personnel.

We schedule an interview with a customer or prospect representative and conduct an interview with that representative. During interviews, we collect opinions and views of the representative about the software vendor client they considered as a potential vendor. Upon receiving consent of the representative, we record the interview and obtain a transcript of it. We then make the recording and transcript available, in some cases along with other raw survey results, to the software company client whose customer we interviewed. Alternatively, we may use survey software to obtain such opinions and views from a customer or prospect representative after obtaining consent from the customer or prospect representative.

By providing consent to an interview:

• • You understand and agree that your participation in the study may be audio and/or video recorded;
  • The information you provide to GVC may constitute personal information;
  • You grant permission to GVC, the applicable client, and their subcontractors to copy, edit, transcribe, distribute and display recordings of you for internal use on behalf of the client; and
  • You agree that any study reports or other written documents may contain quotes from your statements in the study as long as you are not identified by name.

In addition, by sharing information with us, you agree that you do so voluntarily. GVC provides no representation or warranty with regard to the applicable policies and requirements of any third party, including those of the customer or prospect representative, which may also be your employer. Your information will be used for market research purposes only.

Information we collect from website visitors and social media accounts:

We may collect information from website visitors that submit information to us using the website, including name, email address, and message content. We may collect the following information on an aggregate basis when visitors visit our website:

• • Approximate locations of visitors
  • Web browser users are using
  • Operating systems used by visitors
  • Key words or search terms used by visitors to find our website
  • How many visitors view the website or specific pages on it

If you create posts on our social media pages, we will have access to your name and any other information you post on your social media profile.

We maintain records of those interested in our company. We may periodically send promotional emails about our services or other information that we think you may find interesting using the email address which you have provided.

We use Google Analytics, which is a service of Google LLC. Google Analytics allows us to gather information about our website’s users. However, we have configured our Google Analytics account not to collect any identifying information about particular individuals.

How we use cookies:

Cookies may be automatically used to collect specific information from a computer or mobile device that accesses and navigates through the GVC website over time. Information collected by cookies may include information to help improve and customize the content or layout of the website.

A cookie is a small text file that websites save on a computer’s storage device when a website is visited. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to the computer or mobile device accessing the GVC website. Users can establish or change their browser settings to refuse cookies. However, refusing cookies may interfere with the full functionality of the website and limit the user experience.

We use a web analytics service, Google Analytics, to evaluate how users view and use our website. Google Analytics provides us with the information collected from website visitors described above.

For more information about Google Analytics, please visit: http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/.

You can opt out to prevent Google’s collection and use of data (via cookies) by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available under https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Third party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s previous visits to your website or other websites.

Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to users based on their visit to our site and/or other sites on the Internet.

You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting My Ad Center.

Children’s information

Our services are intended for use by representatives of B2B software companies who are adults 18 years and older. We do not market or provide services to minors or knowingly collect personal information from children under age 16. If you believe that we have inadvertently gathered personal information about a minor, please contact us in order for us to delete it.

Uses of information we collect from client representatives:

We use the business card information about our clients’ representatives to provide them our advisory services including obtaining feedback from our clients’ customers and prospects to improve their marketing, sales processes, products, and services.

Uses of information we collect from interviewees:

We use the business card information about personnel of our clients’ customers and prospects to arrange for interviews, conduct interviews, and understand customers’ organizations. We use recordings and transcripts of interviews to provide feedback to our clients to improve their marketing, sales processes, products, and services. For instance, feedback will assist a client in understanding how or why they win or lose sales.

Uses of the personal information we gather from our website and social media:

We may use information we collect from our website and social media pages to understand your needs and provide you with better services, in particular for the following reasons:

• • Improving the performance of our website.
  • We may use the information to improve our services.
  • We may use contact information we collected to send marketing communications about our services.

If you send us information via our website, email, or social media, we will use your messages to respond to your communications. Our communications could relate to our services.

Sharing or Disclosing Your Personal Information:

We may share information we collect from interviewees with vendors or outsourced service providers that help us provide services to our customers such as interviewers, transcriptionists, and data analysts. We may share information we collect from client representatives or from our website with vendors or outsourced service providers that help us provide services to our customers, or that assist with support functions such as marketing, billing, and payment card processing. We will require any such vendors or service providers to manage your personal information with privacy and security safeguards consistent with this privacy policy.

From time to time, we may be required to respond to a subpoena, court order, search warrant, administrative or judicial process, requests by law enforcement agencies, or other requests that we must respond to under applicable law. We may disclose your personal information in response to any of these requirements. Also, we may disclose your personal information to preserve the security of our website or social media accounts, resolve disputes, or to assess any possible wrongdoing.

We also may share aggregate or anonymous information collected about website or social media usage, as long as the information does not identify any specific individuals.

We may share or transfer personal information about you in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets of our business, in the event of bankruptcy, or during the negotiations leading to such an event. We will seek assurances from any buyer that your personal information will be used, shared, maintained, and disclosed consistent with the terms of this privacy policy.

Except as noted above, we will not sell, distribute, transfer, or lease your personal information to third parties.

Security:

We are committed to ensuring that your personal information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, we have put in place industry standard administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to secure the personal information we collect using our website or social media accounts.

Do not track:

Your browser settings may allow you to automatically transmit a “Do Not Track” signal to online services you visit. GVC currently does not respond to a “Do Not Track” signal from a visitor’s browser.

Retention:

We will maintain your personal information only as long as it is needed for the purposes described above, to complete services for our clients, to complete any applicable investigations, for the duration of any dispute resolution process, or to the extent required to meet preservation requirements under applicable law.

Third party privacy and other policies and practices:

Our B2B software vendor and other clients have their own privacy practices. Also, our website may contain links to other websites of interest. We do not have control of the privacy practices of our clients or any other third parties. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide to one of our clients or while visiting sites linked to our website. The privacy practices of our clients and third parties are not governed by this policy, but instead are governed by their privacy policies. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the client or website in question.

Information for California residents:

If you are a California resident, you have certain additional rights as follows:

Your Right to “Know”, to Request Deletion, and to Correct

You have the right to know the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you.

You have the right to know the categories of sources from which the personal information has been collected, the business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling, or sharing personal information, and the categories of third parties with whom we share personal information.

You have the right to request deletion of personal information we’ve collected or maintain, subject to certain exceptions. Please be advised that our ability to delete your personal information is contingent on our ability to identify what information belongs to you. In any case, we will always use best efforts to identify and delete all personal information related to you.

You also have the right to correct any inaccurate personal information that we maintain about you.

To exercise these rights contact us at 415-672-5245 or by filling out the following webform. We may ask you to provide additional information, such as your name and email address, in order to verify who is making the request.

Please note that any requested disclosures may only apply to the 12-month period preceding the request, depending on how difficult it is for us to retrieve the necessary information, and you are entitled to request disclosure regarding your personal information twice in any 12-month period.

Your Right to Opt Out and Limit Processing of Sensitive Personal Information

CCPA defines the term “sell” broadly. Its meaning includes “renting, releasing, disclosing, disseminating, making available, [and] transferring…for monetary or other valuable consideration.”

Under this definition, the CCPA’s broad definition of “personal information,” we may “sell personal information” about you to our clients or other collaboration partners, such as your contact information or certain combinations of anonymized or pseudonymized demographic and other information.

You have the right to opt out of the sale of your personal information. You also have the right to limit our processing of your sensitive personal information. For more information, please click here.

Personal Information “Sold” and Disclosed for a Business Purpose

You also have the right to know what categories of personal information we’ve “sold” or disclosed for a business purpose, and the third parties to whom that information was “sold” or disclosed.

Categories of information we’ve “sold” in the previous 12 months include: information and feedback related to interviewees’ market perceptions, solution assessments, and buying experience and audio and transcripts of interviews, all of which we’ve provided to our clients in connection with our delivery of research results.

Categories of information we’ve otherwise disclosed for a business or commercial purpose in the previous 12 months include the above categories of information, which we’ve provided to third-party service providers subject to confidentiality obligations to help us deliver our services (e.g., for purposes of transcription and storage by third party SaaS providers).

Your Right to Non-Discrimination

You have the right not to receive discriminatory treatment by GVC for the exercise of the privacy rights conferred by the CCPA, including but not limited to by denying you services, charging different prices or rates, or providing you with a different level or quality of services. Please understand, however, that we are in the business of providing research and survey results to our clients, and any financial incentives we offer to facilitate that goal may be rewarded only if the applicable survey, research project or study is fully and properly completed by the respondent, in the sole discretion of GVC.

Your Right to Use an Authorized Agent

You have the right to designate an authorized agent to make a request under the CCPA on your behalf. To designate an authorized agent, please contact us as provided below. In order to verify you have authorized an agent we will require a signed, written authorization from you.

​​Additional information for individuals in Europe:

Our services may be accessed abroad. All personal data collected by us will be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which GVC or its affiliates, contractors or agents maintain facilities. By participating in research or otherwise using our services, you consent to any such transfer of information outside of your country.

Individuals in Europe have the right to request access to and rectification or erasure of personal data, to restrict processing of their personal data, and to object to processing. Individuals in Europe also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. If you would like to exercise any of your data protection rights, please contact us using the “Contact Information” section below.

We will not process your personal data unless you have given your consent to our processing for a specific purpose, processing is necessary for the performance of a contract with you or to comply with a legal obligation, or processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by us or a third-party controller.

In cases where the purpose of our processing is the “legitimate interest” purpose, we will also carefully balance those interests against your fundamental rights and freedoms related to your Information. Where processing is based on your consent, we will identify the processing purposes and provide you with relevant information to make the processing fair and transparent.

Contact Information:

Please contact us with all questions or complaints about our privacy practices.
If you have a complaint, please provide information relevant to your complaint. Our privacy team will evaluate your complaint based on the information you provide and send you a response. We may need to ask you for additional information to evaluate your complaint. We will promptly investigate and respond to your communications about a complaint. You may have other rights under law and the right to contact the privacy regulator in your jurisdiction about your complaint.

Amendments to this Privacy Policy:

GVC may change this policy from time to time. We will make changes by posting a revised copy of this policy to our website or, if GVC deems it necessary, by email notice to you. Your continued use of our website and social media accounts after a revised version of this policy appears on the website will constitute your approval of the amended version.