BidStar Terms of Service

Last updated: Sep 26, 2026

These terms are an agreement between you and Tech Stars University, a Duluth, Minnesota business ("BidStar", "we", "us"), of 28 West Austin Street, Upper, Duluth, MN 55803. They cover the BidStar website (bidstar.us), the BidStar app (app.bidstar.us) and our emails. Please read them. By signing in or using BidStar, you agree to them. If you don't agree, don't use BidStar.

1. Who can use BidStar

BidStar is for businesses: contractors, subcontractors and the people who work for them. You must be at least 18. If you use BidStar for a company, you're agreeing for that company, and you confirm you're allowed to.

2. What BidStar does

BidStar reads public bid notices and planning announcements from public owners (cities, counties, school districts, state agencies and others) and from public-notice websites. It lists the facts of each one (the project, the owner, the place, the dates and the trade) with a link to the owner's notice. It sorts the list by how well each job may fit your shop, and it can email you when something new fits.

3. The owner's notice is the official word

• Always check the owner's notice and bid documents before you act. Dates, times, places, addenda, bonding, prequalification, plan-holder registration and every other requirement come from the owner, not from BidStar.
• BidStar can be wrong or late. Listings and fit rankings come from public sources that change. We may miss a bid, show an old date, get a detail wrong, or put a job in the wrong trade.
• A fit ranking is a sorting aid. It's not advice, and it's not a prediction that you'll win, make money, or qualify.
• We don't take part in any bid. We don't submit bids, don't represent owners, and aren't responsible for an owner's process or decisions.

4. Your account

• During the pilot you sign in with a personal link we send you. Keep it and your phone to yourself. Don't share your sign-in.
• Tell us right away if you think someone else has your link or your phone: help@techstarsuniversity.com or 715-290-0606.
• You're responsible for what happens under your account.
• Keep your shop details accurate.

5. Free pilot

• BidStar is free during the pilot. We don't ask for a card.
• The pilot can change or end at any time. We may change features, coverage or the pilot's length. We'll tell you by email before the pilot ends.
• Paid plans, if we offer them later, will have their own clear terms. You'll never be moved to a paid plan unless you choose one.

6. Using BidStar fairly

You agree not to:

• share, sell or republish BidStar's lists, emails or rankings outside your own company;
• copy BidStar's lists with robots, scripts or scrapers, or build a competing product from them;
• use BidStar to send spam or unwanted messages to owners or anyone else;
• try to get into accounts, data or systems that aren't yours, or test, probe or overload BidStar;
• take apart or copy BidStar's software;
• use BidStar in a way that breaks the law or an owner's bidding rules.

We may suspend or end access for anyone who breaks these rules.

7. Your information and content

• You keep ownership of the information you give us: your shop's name, trade, town, the work you do, your settings and anything you send us.
• You let us use it to run BidStar for you: to store it, sort bids for you, email you and support you. The Privacy Policy explains what we collect and how we protect it.
• Only give us information you have the right to share. For example, if you ever send us a bid invitation, it must be yours to share.
• Feedback: if you send ideas or suggestions, we may use them freely without paying you or naming you. We'll never quote you by name, or say your company uses BidStar, without your written OK.

8. Our property

BidStar's name, flag logo, software, design and our own lists and rankings belong to Tech Stars University. We give you a limited, personal, non-transferable right to use BidStar for your own business while these terms are in effect. The bid notices themselves belong to the owners and publishers who issued them. Links to their websites lead to their own terms and, sometimes, their own fees.

9. No warranty

BIDSTAR IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE". TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, WE MAKE NO WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, TIMELINESS, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DON'T PROMISE THAT BIDSTAR WILL LIST EVERY BID, BE ERROR-FREE, OR BE AVAILABLE WITHOUT INTERRUPTION.

10. Limits on our liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS:

• WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR LOST PROFITS, LOST BIDS OR CONTRACTS, MISSED DEADLINES, LOST DATA, OR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, EVEN IF WE WERE TOLD THEY WERE POSSIBLE.
• OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ABOUT BIDSTAR IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF (A) WHAT YOU PAID US FOR BIDSTAR IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM, OR (B) $100.

Some places don't allow some of these limits, so they may not all apply to you.

11. If you misuse BidStar

If a claim is brought against us because you broke these terms or the law while using BidStar, you'll cover our reasonable costs of that claim, including reasonable lawyers' fees.

12. Ending

• You can stop using BidStar at any time. Tell us if you'd like your information deleted.
• We can suspend or end your access if you break these terms, if the law requires it, or if we stop offering BidStar. We'll give notice when we reasonably can.
• Sections 3, 7–11 and 14 still apply after the end.

13. Changes to these terms

• We may update these terms. If a change matters, we'll email you, or show a notice in the app, at least 14 days before it takes effect.
• Using BidStar after that date means you accept the change.
• The "Last updated" date at the top always shows the current version.

14. Law and courts

• These terms are governed by Minnesota law. Any dispute goes to the state or federal courts serving St. Louis County, Minnesota, and both of us agree to those courts.
• Before anyone files anything, we both agree to try to settle it by talking first. Write to us and give us 30 days.

15. The rest

• This is the whole agreement about BidStar, together with the Privacy Policy and any pilot agreement you accept. If a pilot agreement conflicts with these terms, the pilot agreement wins for the pilot.
• If a court finds part of these terms unenforceable, the rest still applies.
• If we don't enforce a term right away, we haven't given it up.
• You may not transfer these terms. We may transfer them to a company that takes over BidStar, and we'll tell you if we do.

16. Contact

BidStar, 28 West Austin Street, Upper, Duluth, MN 55803 · help@techstarsuniversity.com · 715-290-0606