Terms of Service

1. Agreement to Terms

By accessing or using the services of Small Business Elevate ("Company," "we," "us," or "our"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree to these Terms, please do not use our services.

This agreement applies to all paid services. Pro bono services are provided as-is with no warranties or guarantees, and may be discontinued at any time.

2. Services

Small Business Elevate provides AI solutions for small businesses, including:

AI Strategy & Consulting

• AI readiness assessments and roadmapping
• Use-case identification and prioritization
• AI vendor and platform evaluation
• Executive and team AI education workshops

AI Solutions & Integration

• Custom AI chatbots and conversational agents
• Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) applications
• Workflow automation and AI agent development
• AI system integration and deployment
• Ongoing AI system optimization and maintenance

AI Training & Enablement

• Hands-on team AI training programs
• Prompt engineering and AI tool proficiency
• AI adoption coaching and change management support

3. Client Responsibilities

As a client, you agree to:

• Provide accurate and complete information
• Provide necessary content, data, and materials in a timely manner
• Ensure you have rights to all content provided for AI training
• Review and provide feedback on deliverables promptly
• Make payments according to the agreed schedule
• Use AI services in compliance with applicable laws and ethical guidelines
• Not use our services for any illegal or harmful purposes
• Maintain confidentiality of any API keys or credentials provided

Communication and Response Times

• All support requests must be submitted via email
• We respond to requests within 2–3 business days
• Delays in client feedback may extend project timelines
• Timelines assume prompt client responses within 2 business days

4. AI Services Specific Terms

AI Service Acknowledgments

When using our AI services, you acknowledge and agree that:

• All AI-generated content must be reviewed by a human before business use
• AI outputs are suggestions only and may contain errors
• You are responsible for verifying accuracy and appropriateness of AI outputs
• We do not guarantee any specific accuracy rate or business outcome

Data Usage and Ownership

• You retain ownership of all content and data you provide
• You grant us a limited license to use your data solely for providing services
• AI models built on your data remain customized for your use only
• We do not use your data to train models for other clients

Acceptable Use

You agree not to use our AI services to:

• Generate illegal, harmful, or discriminatory content
• Violate intellectual property rights
• Create misleading or fraudulent content
• Compromise security or privacy
• Violate any applicable laws or regulations

Interactive Demos

Our website includes interactive demonstrations that simulate AI capabilities using pre-written scenarios and client-side processing. These demos are for illustrative purposes only and do not represent the full capabilities, accuracy, or performance of custom AI implementations built for your business.

5. Project Scope and Changes

• Specific deliverables are defined only in the signed proposal or agreement
• Changes to scope require written approval and may incur additional fees
• Revision rounds are defined in the proposal
• Additional scope includes: new AI training data sources, expanded functionality, additional integrations, or extended support

6. Payment Terms

Payment Structure

• Fixed-price projects: 25% deposit (non-refundable), progress payments per milestone, final payment before delivery
• Monthly retainers: Due on 1st of each month; service suspends on 10th if unpaid
• Add-on services: Due upon completion unless otherwise agreed
• Late payments: 1.5% monthly interest plus suspension of all services

Cancellation Terms

• Before project start: Client forfeits deposit (25%)
• During project: Client pays for all completed work plus 10% of remaining balance
• After 75% completion: Client pays 90% of total project fee
• Monthly services: 30 days notice required

AI Platform Subscriptions

• Ongoing AI platform fees are billed separately as pass-through costs
• Subscription cancellations require 30 days notice

7. Intellectual Property

Client Content

You retain all rights to content you provide. You grant us a license to use this content solely for the purpose of providing our services.

Deliverables

Upon full payment:

• You own custom work product created specifically for your project
• You receive a license to use any AI models we create for you
• We retain rights to generic code, techniques, and methodologies

Platform Accounts

• All third-party AI platform accounts must be created in your name
• You are responsible for maintaining accounts and platform payments
• We provide setup assistance but accounts remain your property

Portfolio Rights

We reserve the right to reference your completed project in our portfolio and marketing materials unless otherwise agreed in writing.

8. Warranties and Disclaimers

We warrant that our services will be performed in a professional manner consistent with industry standards.

• We provide AI services "as is" without warranties of accuracy or completeness
• We do not guarantee specific results or business outcomes
• AI outputs should be reviewed before use in critical applications
• We are not responsible for third-party platform limitations or changes

9. Limitation of Liability

Our total liability for any claim shall not exceed the amount paid for the specific service giving rise to the claim. We are not liable for:

• Indirect, incidental, or consequential damages
• Lost profits or business opportunities
• Damages from AI output errors or inaccuracies
• Third-party platform outages or changes

10. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Small Business Elevate from any claims arising from:

• Your use of our services
• Content you provide for AI training
• Your use of AI-generated content
• Violation of these Terms
• Violation of any laws or third-party rights

11. Termination

Either party may terminate the service agreement with 30 days written notice.

Upon termination:

• You must pay for all work completed
• We will provide files and access as agreed
• AI models and training data will be handled per the project agreement
• Ongoing platform subscriptions must be transferred or cancelled

12. Confidentiality

Both parties agree to:

• Keep confidential all proprietary information
• Use confidential information only for agreed purposes
• Protect confidential information with reasonable care
• Return or destroy confidential information upon request

13. Data Protection

We comply with applicable data protection laws and will:

• Process personal data only as instructed
• Implement appropriate security measures
• Notify you of any data breaches promptly

14. Force Majeure

Neither party is liable for delays or failures due to circumstances beyond reasonable control, including natural disasters, government actions, internet infrastructure failures, or third-party platform outages.

15. Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed by the laws of Virginia, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

16. Dispute Resolution

Any disputes shall be resolved through:

1. Good faith negotiations
2. Mediation if negotiations fail
3. Binding arbitration as a last resort

17. Miscellaneous

• Entire Agreement: These Terms and any project agreements constitute the entire agreement between parties.
• Severability: If any provision is found invalid, the remaining provisions continue in effect.
• Assignment: You may not assign these Terms without our written consent.
• Notices: All notices must be in writing and sent to the addresses provided.

18. Changes to Terms

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. We will notify you of material changes by posting the updated Terms on our website and updating the effective date.

19. Contact Information

If you have questions about these Terms, please contact us: