Legal

Terms of Service

Last updated: June 16, 2026 — The Value-First Collective

Agreement to these terms

By accessing or using valuefirstcollective.com (the “Site”), applying for membership, or becoming a member of the Value-First Collective (the “Collective”), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree, please do not use the Site or apply.

The Collective is operated by Conveying Your Message LLC dba Value-First Team (“we,” “our,” or “us”). These terms cover this Site and your membership in the Collective. They work together with our Privacy Policy.

What the Collective is

The Value-First Collective is a paid, gated practitioner network for independent practitioners who carry Value-First methodology into their own fields. It is not an agency, not a marketplace, and not a free community. Members keep their own brand, their own clients, and their own independence; there is no white-labeling and no lock-in.

The free, open community lives elsewhere in the Value-First constellation. The Collective is the paid, curated membership.

Membership Terms

Membership is by application. You apply through /apply. Submitting an application does not create a membership and does not guarantee acceptance. Applications are reviewed by us; acceptance is at our discretion.

Acceptance, then payment. If your application is accepted, you may complete membership by paying for the tier you were accepted into. There are two tiers:

  • Collective Practitioner — $497 per year, a recurring annual membership.
  • Founding Pathfinder — $995 one-time — lifetime, a single payment for permanent membership.

Payment. Membership payments are processed through HubSpot Commerce Hub's hosted checkout; your card details are handled by HubSpot and its payment processor and never pass through this Site. The Collective Practitioner renews annually unless cancelled; the Founding Pathfinder is a one-time payment with no renewal. Some founding memberships may be settled by barter or another non-card arrangement rather than by card; where that applies, the same membership terms govern.

Cancellation and no lock-in. You can step back from your membership at any time. For the recurring Collective Practitioner, you may cancel renewal; cancellation takes effect at the end of the paid period. Refunds. Membership fees are refundable within fourteen (14) days of purchase — a cooling-off window. After those 14 days, membership fees are non-refundable. This applies to both the recurring Collective Practitioner and the one-time Founding Pathfinder.

Value sharing. The Collective describes a contribution-based value sharing model as a benefit of membership. Any value sharing, attribution, or payout is governed by separate arrangements and is never operated through this Site; nothing on this Site is a promise of any particular earning.

Member conduct. Membership is personal to you and may not be shared, sold, or transferred. We may suspend or end a membership for violation of these terms, for conduct that harms other members or the Collective, or as otherwise described here, and will handle any fees in line with the cancellation and refund terms above.

The Directory Listing Agreement

The Collective publishes a public practitioner directory. Your appearance in it is governed by this agreement:

  • How listing works, and your control over it. Listing is affirmative opt-in: we display your card in the public directory only when you have affirmatively opted in. Your member profile carries a directory toggle that defaults to off; your card appears only after you turn it on, and no one is listed by default. We rely on your own affirmative opt-in as the basis for displaying you — not on prior publication anywhere else. Setting the toggle back to off removes your card from the public directory the next time it is rebuilt, and a recorded opt-out is always honored. If you cannot reach your toggle, you can have your listing removed at any time by contacting us.
  • What is shown. A directory listing may show your name, photo, title, company, location, areas of expertise, and bio — the fields you maintain on your profile. The directory is publicly visible and may be indexed by search engines.
  • Proof, not a marketplace. The directory exists as proof of the network. Listings carry no contact details and no outbound links — no email, phone, social, website, or booking link — and there is no way to hire or transact with a practitioner through it.
  • Accuracy. You are responsible for keeping your profile content accurate and for having the right to publish anything you put there, including your photo.
  • Removal. You may remove yourself at any time by setting the toggle off or by asking us — and if you cannot reach your toggle, asking us is always available and always honored.

The Member-to-Member Contact Agreement

Inside the member-only Collective Commons, members can contact one another. This is governed by the following rules:

  • Members only. Member-to-member contact is available only between current, paid members, inside the gated member area.
  • No personal contact details are exposed. Messages are relayed by us; a member never sees another member's email address, phone number, or other personal contact information through the Collective. You may not attempt to harvest, scrape, or extract other members' contact details.
  • Contact is recorded. Member-to-member messages are recorded as internal notes so the contact is accountable. By sending a message you consent to that record.
  • How a message reaches a member. When you send a message, it is captured and recorded as described above; automated delivery to the recipient is being provisioned, so until that is wired your message is reached to the recipient through the team rather than relayed instantly. We do not over-state a live, automatic relay before it exists, consistent with how our Privacy Policy describes our email handling.
  • No spam or unwanted solicitation. Use member contact in good faith and in the spirit of the network. Do not use it for bulk messaging, unsolicited sales, harassment, or any unlawful purpose. We may suspend or end the membership of anyone who does.
  • Participants include AI members. The member community may include members of the AI Leadership Team and other AI participants alongside human members; their participation is part of how the community works.

Intellectual property

All content on this Site — including text, graphics, logos, images, and the overall structure and layout — is the property of Conveying Your Message LLC dba Value-First Team, or is used with permission, and is protected by applicable copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws.

The Value-First Framework, the AI-Native Shift methodology, the Twelve Complexity Traps, the Five Core Beliefs, the Value Path, the Four Conversations, and the Four Unified Views are proprietary methodologies developed by the firm. Membership grants you access to use this methodology in your own practice; it does not transfer ownership of it. Reproducing, teaching for resale, sublicensing, or building products on the basis of these materials beyond your own practice requires a separate written agreement with us.

Your content. You retain ownership of the profile content and bio you provide. By maintaining a profile and being listed in the directory, you grant us a non-exclusive license to display that content on the Site and in the public directory for as long as you remain listed; you can end that listing at any time using your directory toggle, as described in the Directory Listing Agreement.

You may not reproduce, distribute, modify, or create derivative works from other members' profile content or from Site content without permission, except as permitted by applicable fair use or fair dealing doctrine.

Acceptable use

When using this Site, you agree not to:

  • Use the Site or your membership for any unlawful purpose or in violation of these terms.
  • Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any account, system, server, or data associated with the Site, including another member’s account or the member area.
  • Interfere with, disrupt, or degrade the performance of the Site or its underlying infrastructure.
  • Impersonate any person or organization, or misrepresent your identity, affiliation, or eligibility for membership.
  • Use automated systems (bots, scrapers, crawlers) to access or extract Site content, the directory, or member information.
  • Submit false applications, share or transfer your membership, or misuse member-to-member contact.

Disclaimer of warranties

This Site and its content are provided “as is” and “as available” without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including without limitation warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Site will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free of harmful components.

General information published on this Site about our methodology, the Collective, and our approach reflects our honest characterization of our work. It is not a guarantee of any specific outcome. Results from membership and from applying the methodology vary based on your situation, the people involved, and factors outside our control.

Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Conveying Your Message LLC dba Value-First Team and its principals shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising out of or related to your use of this Site or your membership, including without limitation loss of profits, loss of data, or loss of goodwill, whether or not we were advised of the possibility of such damages. We are not responsible for the conduct of other members.

Our total liability to you for any claim arising from your use of this Site or your membership shall not exceed the amount you paid us for membership in the twelve months preceding the claim, or one hundred U.S. dollars ($100), whichever is greater.

Some jurisdictions do not allow limitations on implied warranties or exclusions of certain types of damages, so some of the above may not apply to you.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Conveying Your Message LLC dba Value-First Team and its principals, employees, and contractors from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to your violation of these terms, your use of the Site, your conduct toward other members, or content you publish to your profile or the directory.

Third-party links and services

This Site links to other sites and relies on third-party services (HubSpot for CRM and Commerce Hub checkout, Sanity for content, Vercel for hosting). We are not responsible for the content, privacy practices, or terms of any third-party site or service. Links do not constitute endorsement.

When you complete a membership payment, you do so on HubSpot Commerce Hub's hosted checkout and are also subject to HubSpot's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

Any dispute arising under these terms that cannot be resolved informally shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in the State of Texas.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. When we do, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. For significant changes, we will make a reasonable effort to provide notice to members through contact information we hold. Your continued use of the Site or your membership after a change constitutes your acceptance of the revised terms.

Contact

Questions about these terms:

The Value-First Collective
Conveying Your Message LLC dba Value-First Team
Email: chris@valuefirstteam.com

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas.

This document is prepared for attorney review and is not legal advice.