Community Guidelines

757.vc is a community-powered platform for Virginia's startup ecosystem. These guidelines help keep the platform useful, trustworthy, and welcoming for everyone — founders, investors, scouts, and supporters.

Be Authentic

• Use your real identity. Profiles should represent a real individual.
• Only claim startup pages for companies you are genuinely affiliated with.
• Investor profiles should accurately reflect your investment activity, firm, and preferences.
• Do not create fake accounts or impersonate other people or organizations.

Vote with Integrity

• Vote based on genuine interest. Upvote startups you find compelling.
• Do not use multiple accounts, bots, or coordinated groups to manipulate votes.
• Do not offer or accept incentives (payment, reciprocal votes, etc.) in exchange for votes.
• Vote manipulation undermines the community and will result in account removal.

Write Helpful Reviews & Comments

• Reviews should reflect your honest experience or assessment of the startup.
• Comments should be constructive, relevant, and add value to the conversation.
• Do not post fake reviews, spam, or repetitive self-promotional comments.
• Founders: it is fine to respond to comments and reviews on your startup page. It is not fine to post fake positive reviews.

Respect Other Members

• Treat all community members with respect, regardless of their role, background, or opinions.
• No harassment, threats, hate speech, discrimination, or personal attacks.
• Disagree constructively. Critique ideas, not people.
• Do not share private information about others without their consent.

Use Intros Responsibly

• Intro requests are for genuine business interest — investors seeking to learn more about a startup or explore a potential investment.
• Do not use intro requests for sales pitches, recruitment, or purposes unrelated to the startup ecosystem.
• Founders: respond to intro requests in a timely manner, even if it is a decline. Investors appreciate a clear answer.
• Investors: respect a founder's decision if they decline an intro. Do not repeatedly request intros after being declined.

Scout Responsibly

• Only submit startups that have a genuine connection to Virginia (founded, headquartered, or with significant operations in Virginia).
• Provide accurate information when submitting a startup. Do not submit fictional companies.
• Check if the startup already exists on the platform before submitting a duplicate.

Keep Discussions Valuable

• Discussions should be relevant to the Virginia startup ecosystem, entrepreneurship, investing, or the community.
• Share knowledge, ask genuine questions, and contribute to meaningful conversations.
• Do not use discussions solely for self-promotion. It is fine to mention your startup when relevant, but do not spam.

Earn Reputation Honestly

• Reputation scores and badges are earned through genuine platform activity. Do not attempt to inflate your score through artificial means.
• Do not post low-quality or spam comments, reviews, or discussions solely to earn reputation points.
• Do not coordinate with others to exchange votes, comments, or other activity for the purpose of boosting reputation.
• Badges reflect community contribution and are awarded at the discretion of 757.vc. They may be revoked if earned through manipulative behavior.

No Spam or Abuse

• Do not post unsolicited advertisements, affiliate links, or promotional content.
• Do not scrape the platform or use automated tools to extract data without permission.
• Do not attempt to circumvent moderation, bans, or platform security measures.

Confidentiality

• Information shared through intro requests and investor-founder communications should be treated as confidential unless both parties agree otherwise.
• Do not publicly share private deal flow details, intro request contents, or other non-public information from the platform.

Enforcement

We reserve the right to remove content and suspend or terminate accounts that violate these guidelines. Enforcement actions may include:

• Content removal
• Temporary account suspension
• Permanent account termination
• Reversal of fraudulent votes or reviews

Repeat or severe violations will result in permanent removal from the platform.

Reporting

If you see content or behavior that violates these guidelines, please report it to [email protected]. We review all reports and take appropriate action.