Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes how Gemstone Consulting Services, LLC (“Gemstone,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, discloses, and safeguards personal information in connection with the website located at scalewithstone.com, including its embedded scheduling tool (collectively, the “Site”).

This Policy applies solely to information collected through the Site and through correspondence initiated from it. It does not apply to information processed by Gemstone in the course of performing services for a client under a written engagement agreement, which is governed by the confidentiality, security, and data processing provisions of that agreement.

Gemstone Consulting Services, LLC is the controller responsible for the personal information described in this Policy. Gemstone is a single-operator consultancy based in the United States that builds custom operational software for small and mid-sized businesses.

You may contact us regarding this Policy at connor@scalewithstone.com.

We collect only the information necessary to respond to you and to keep the Site operating securely. Specifically:

Booking information

When you request a scoping call, the scheduling tool collects the information you submit to it, which typically includes your name, email address, time zone, selected meeting time, and any notes or context you choose to provide. The scheduling tool is a self-hosted Cal.com instance operated by Gemstone; the information you enter is transmitted to that instance rather than to a third-party scheduling vendor. A calendar entry and confirmation email are generated from this information.

Correspondence

If you email us, we receive your email address, the contents of your message, any attachments, and associated message metadata. We retain this correspondence in our email systems.

Technical and log information

Our hosting and infrastructure providers automatically record standard server log data when a page is requested, which may include IP address, user agent string, requested URL, referring URL, and timestamp. This data is generated by the infrastructure layer for security, abuse prevention, and operational purposes.

We do not require you to provide any personal information in order to browse the Site. All information described above is provided by you voluntarily or generated automatically by infrastructure in the ordinary course of serving a web request.

For clarity, and as of the effective date of this Policy:

• The Site does not offer user accounts, and we do not collect usernames or passwords through it.
• The Site does not process payments and does not collect payment card or bank account information.
• The Site contains no contact forms, comment fields, or newsletter signup other than the scheduling tool described above.
• We do not collect special categories of personal information, such as health, biometric, genetic, precise geolocation, racial or ethnic origin, religious belief, or sexual orientation data.
• We do not knowingly purchase, rent, or otherwise acquire personal information about you from data brokers.
• We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.
• Web fonts used by the Site are served from our own infrastructure rather than requested from a third-party font provider, so no font-related request is made to any third party from your browser.

As of the effective date of this Policy, the Site does not set first-party cookies and does not use local storage, pixels, web beacons, or similar tracking technologies for advertising or cross-site tracking purposes.

The embedded scheduling tool is presented within a framed interface and may set cookies or use browser storage within that frame as strictly necessary for the scheduling function to operate — for example, to preserve your selection while you complete a booking. These are functional in nature and are not used for advertising.

Most browsers allow you to refuse or delete cookies. Doing so should not affect your ability to browse the Site, though it may affect the operation of the scheduling tool.

As of the effective date of this Policy, no analytics service is deployed on the Site.

We may in future deploy a privacy-respecting analytics service in order to understand aggregate Site usage — for example, which pages are viewed and which referring sources send visitors. Where we do so, our practice will be to select a service that measures traffic in aggregate, does not build advertising profiles, does not track visitors across unrelated websites, and either does not use cookies or uses only privacy-preserving identifiers. Any such data will be used solely to improve the Site and will not be sold or used for behavioral advertising.

We will update this section, and the effective date of this Policy, if and when analytics are deployed or if the practices described above change.

We use personal information to:

• Schedule, confirm, reschedule, and conduct the call you requested.
• Respond to your inquiry and correspond with you about a prospective engagement.
• Prepare for a scoping call using the context you chose to provide.
• Operate, maintain, secure, and troubleshoot the Site, including detecting and preventing abuse, spam, and fraudulent bookings.
• Maintain business records and comply with applicable legal, tax, and regulatory obligations.
• Establish, exercise, or defend legal claims where necessary.

We do not use your personal information for automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects, and we do not use it to send marketing communications unless you have separately asked us to.

Where the General Data Protection Regulation or comparable law applies to our processing, we rely on the following legal bases: performance of steps taken at your request prior to entering into a contract, in respect of booking and responding to your inquiry; our legitimate interests in operating, securing, and improving the Site and in pursuing prospective business relationships, balanced against your rights and freedoms; your consent, where we have asked for it; and compliance with legal obligations to which we are subject.

We do not sell personal information, and we do not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising or targeted advertising purposes. We disclose personal information only in the following circumstances:

Service providers

We use vendors to host the Site and the scheduling instance, deliver email, and provide calendar and infrastructure services. These providers process personal information on our behalf, under contract, and only as necessary to provide their services to us.

Legal compliance

We may disclose personal information where we believe in good faith that disclosure is required by law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request, or is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of Gemstone, our clients, or others.

Business transfer

If Gemstone is involved in a merger, acquisition, reorganization, financing, or sale of all or part of its assets, personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to the terms of this Policy or a successor policy providing comparable protection.

With your direction

We may disclose information to others where you direct or authorize us to do so.

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this Policy, or for as long as required by applicable law. Booking records and correspondence relating to a prospective engagement that does not proceed are generally retained for a limited period sufficient to maintain a record of the inquiry and any follow-up, after which they are deleted or archived. Correspondence and records relating to an engagement that does proceed are retained in accordance with the applicable engagement agreement and our legal, tax, and accounting obligations. Server log data is retained on the retention schedule of the relevant infrastructure provider, which is typically short.

You may request deletion of your information at any time as described below.

We maintain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. These include encryption in transit, access controls limiting access to information to those who need it, and reputable infrastructure providers.

No method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. You should not transmit confidential or sensitive information to us through the Site before an appropriate confidentiality agreement is in place.

Depending on where you reside, you may have rights in relation to your personal information, including the right to request access to it; to request correction of inaccurate information; to request its deletion; to request a portable copy; to object to or request restriction of certain processing; to withdraw consent where processing is based on consent; and to be free from discrimination for exercising these rights.

To exercise any of these rights, email connor@scalewithstone.com with a description of your request. We will acknowledge your request and respond within the period required by applicable law, and in any event will aim to respond within thirty (30) days. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request, which we will ordinarily do by corresponding with you at the email address associated with the information in question. An authorized agent may submit a request on your behalf with proof of authorization.

If you are located in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority. If you are a Florida resident or a resident of another U.S. state with an applicable consumer privacy law, you may have the rights described above to the extent that law applies to us.

The Site is directed to businesses and is not intended for children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of eighteen (18), and in no case from a child under thirteen (13). If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child in violation of applicable law, we will delete it promptly. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at connor@scalewithstone.com.

Gemstone is based in the United States, and the Site and its supporting infrastructure are operated in the United States. If you access the Site or contact us from outside the United States, you understand that your personal information will be transferred to, stored in, and processed in the United States, where data protection law may differ from that of your jurisdiction. Where required, we implement appropriate safeguards for such transfers.

Because the Site does not track visitors across websites or over time for advertising purposes, there is presently no tracking behavior for a “Do Not Track” or Global Privacy Control signal to disable. Should we deploy analytics in the future, we will honor opt-out preference signals to the extent required by applicable law.

The Site may link to third-party websites or services that we do not operate. This Policy does not apply to those destinations, and we are not responsible for their content or privacy practices. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of any third-party site you visit.

We may update this Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, or legal requirements. When we do, we will revise the effective date shown at the top of this page. Material changes will take effect upon posting to the Site. We encourage you to review this Policy periodically.

Questions, requests, or complaints regarding this Policy or our handling of personal information may be directed to Gemstone Consulting Services, LLC by email at connor@scalewithstone.com.