The rules of the road.

These terms apply to this website, the member platform, and the community spaces we run. By creating an account you accept them.

Who we are

Santa Cruz HardTech is a program of the Santa Cruz Small Business Development Center, part of the Northern California SBDC Network. Details of how the program is funded are on our funding transparency page.

Eligibility

Membership is intended for people building or running hard tech companies in Santa Cruz County, and for those working alongside them. SBDC advising is available at no cost to businesses operating in the county.

The program is supported by federal taxpayer funds. By registering for services or training, clients certify that they are legally eligible to receive services funded by U.S. taxpayer dollars, in accordance with applicable federal laws and Executive Order 14218 "Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders" (February 19, 2025).

SBDC services are provided in a nondiscriminatory way to all legal residents and citizens in the United States.

Your account

Use your real name and accurate information. This is a professional network in a small county.
New accounts are reviewed before directory, forum, and company publishing access is granted. We may decline an application.
One account per person. You are responsible for keeping your password secure and for activity under your account.
You can close your account at any time.

Acceptable use

Do not repeat elsewhere what another member shares in a members-only space.
Do not use the member directory for cold sales, recruiting pitches, or bulk outreach. It exists so members can find each other, not so vendors can find leads.
Do not scrape, copy, or export member or company data from this site.
Do not post anything unlawful, harassing, or that infringes someone else’s rights.
Do not misrepresent your company, your role, or your relationship to the program or the SBDC.

We may remove content or suspend accounts that break these rules, usually after asking first.

What you post

You keep ownership of what you write and upload. You give us permission to display it within the parts of the site it was posted to, and to remove it. Company listings you publish are intended to be public. Forum posts and directory profiles are visible to other approved members. Our privacy policy sets out who can see what.

Ecosystem listings

The ecosystem map includes companies we have compiled from public information as well as listings created by members. If your company appears and you would like it corrected or removed, email us and we will act on it.

Advising is separate from this website

One-to-one SBDC advising is confidential and governed by SBDC client agreements and confidentiality rules, not by these terms. Nothing posted in the forum, the directory, or our community chat is advising, and none of it is legal, financial, tax, or investment advice. For substantive help with your business, book a session.

No endorsement

We do not vet, screen, endorse, or guarantee members, companies, vendors, service providers, investors, or potential co-founders who appear on this site or in our community spaces. Introductions that happen here are between the people involved. Do your own diligence before entering into any agreement, and get professional advice on anything binding.

Availability

This is a small program running a free service. The site is provided as-is, we do not promise uninterrupted availability, and we may change or discontinue features. We keep backups but you should keep your own copy of anything that matters to you.

Third-party services

Parts of the platform depend on services we do not control, including our hosting and database providers and the Discord community. Content you post in Discord is subject to Discord’s terms and privacy policy rather than ours. The channel embedded in the members area is mirrored publicly.

Changes

We will update these terms as the program changes. Material changes will be announced to members.

Contact

Questions about these terms: sbdc@cabrillo.edu.