Privacy Policy

Effective August 28, 2026 · Startup Chess, a daily game from The Diff

What we collect

You can play Startup Chess without an account. If you choose to unlock the archive or your stats, we collect your email address. If you opt in to text alerts, we collect your phone number. We also collect gameplay data (your daily picks, guesses, streaks) tied to an anonymous player ID, and standard product analytics (pages viewed, steps completed).

How we use it

Email: to save your stats and streaks, to send you the daily puzzle email, and — because Startup Chess is made by The Diff — to subscribe you to The Diff newsletter. Every email we send includes a one-click unsubscribe. Phone: solely to text you when a new puzzle drops, and only if you turned that toggle on.

Text messages (SMS)

SMS opt-in happens on our stats page: you enter your phone number and turn on the "Text me when the new case drops" toggle. We send one daily text when the new Startup Chess puzzle is live, only to people who opted in.

No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.

Message frequency: up to 1 message per day. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP at any time to cancel, or HELP for help. Opting out of texts does not affect your game account, stats, or email preferences.

Who we share data with

We never sell your data. We use a small set of service providers to run the game — hosting (Vercel), database and authentication (Supabase), email delivery (Resend, beehiiv), text delivery (Twilio), and product analytics (PostHog) — each of which processes data only on our behalf to provide the service. Text messaging originator opt-in data and consent are never shared with any third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes.

Your choices

Unsubscribe from emails via the link in any email. Stop texts by replying STOP. To have your data deleted, contact us and we'll remove your account records.

Contact

Questions or requests: puzzle@the-diff.com. Startup Chess is operated by How They Grow LLC, publisher of The Diff (www.the-diff.com).