Terms of Service

The agreement

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a binding agreement between you — and any organization you represent — and ThoughtLeaders, Inc. ("ThoughtLeaders," "we," "us"). They cover the thoughtleaders.ai website, the tl CLI, the Claude Code plugin, the browser extension, and the API behind them (together, the "Service"). If you use the Service on behalf of an organization, you represent that you're authorized to bind it.

What the Service is

The Service gives you programmatic, read-mostly access to ThoughtLeaders' YouTube sponsorship data — tracked channels, brands, deals, transcripts, view curves, and derived metrics — and lets you place matched sponsorship records into the ThoughtLeaders pipeline. It is a tool for research and deal-making, not a guarantee of any result.

Accounts & eligibility

You need an account to use most of the Service. You must be at least 18 and provide accurate information. You're responsible for activity under your account and for keeping your credentials and API keys secure. Tell us promptly if you suspect any unauthorized use.

Credits, billing & refunds

• The Service is free to install, but needs a free sign up. Many commands — including placing deals into the pipeline — are themselves free. Reading data consumes credits.
• Current credit pricing, the minimum deposit, and any new-account credit grant are set out on our Pricing page and may change from time to time.
• Payments are handled by BlueSnap. We don't auto-renew unless you explicitly opt in.
• Each response reports the exact credits charged and your remaining balance. The amounts determined by our server-side metering are authoritative.
• Credits are a prepaid right to use the Service, not a stored-value instrument. They are non-transferable and have no cash value. Except where required by law, deposits and consumed credits are non-refundable; we may, at our discretion, refund an unused balance when you close your account.

Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• exceed the documented rate limits, or attempt to circumvent metering, plan scoping, or authentication;
• bulk-extract, scrape, or systematically download the data in order to rebuild, resell, or redistribute a competing dataset or service;
• use the Service to break any law, infringe anyone's rights, or breach the YouTube / Google API Terms or any third party's terms;
• send unsolicited bulk messages ("spam") through any outreach feature;
• reverse engineer, probe, or disrupt the Service except to the extent the law permits;
• misrepresent your identity or the nature of a sponsorship you place.

Your data & our data

• You keep ownership of the content and instructions you submit, and you grant us the license we need to operate the Service for you.
• The underlying sponsorship data, models, software, and the results of your queries are owned by or licensed to ThoughtLeaders. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use query results for your own internal business purposes — researching, vetting, and booking sponsorships.
• You may not redistribute, publish, or resell bulk data, or build a competing product from it. Aggregated, non-identifying insights you derive and combine with your own work are yours to use.

Placing sponsorships

Commands that create matches, proposals, or deals submit a real record into the ThoughtLeaders pipeline. Submitting a record is an expression of interest, not a binding contract. Any resulting sponsorship is subject to a separate agreement among the brand, the creator, and ThoughtLeaders, and to acceptance by the relevant parties. We don't guarantee that any channel will accept, that any deal will close, or that any creator will deliver.

Third-party services

The Service relies on third parties — including Google (sign-in and Gmail), BlueSnap (payments), Cloudflare (hosting), and the YouTube / Google APIs. Your use of those features is also subject to their terms, and we aren't responsible for their services.

Disclaimers

The Service and all data are provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied. We do not warrant that the data is complete, accurate, current, or fit for a particular purpose, or that the Service will be uninterrupted or error-free. Nothing in the Service is financial, legal, or investment advice; decisions you make using it are your own.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, ThoughtLeaders will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data, or goodwill. Our total liability for any claim relating to the Service will not exceed the greater of (a) the amount you paid us in the three months before the claim arose, or (b) US $100.

Indemnification

You will defend and indemnify ThoughtLeaders against claims arising from your misuse of the Service, your breach of these Terms, or your violation of any law or third-party right.

Suspension & termination

You can stop using the Service and close your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate access if you breach these Terms, create risk or legal exposure, or fail to pay. Provisions that by their nature should survive termination — data and intellectual property, disclaimers, liability limits, indemnities, and governing law — will survive.

Changes

We may modify the Service and these Terms. For material changes to the Terms, we'll update the date above and give reasonable notice. Continuing to use the Service after changes take effect means you accept them.

Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. The state and federal courts located in Delaware will have exclusive jurisdiction over disputes, except that either party may seek injunctive relief in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Contact

Questions about these Terms? Email legal@thoughtleaders.io or hello@thoughtleaders.io.