Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Linchpin Software LLC ("Linchpin," "we," "us") collects, uses, and protects information when you use Linchpin (the "Service").

1. Information we collect

• Account information: your name, email, phone number, business name, and contact details.
• Business data you enter: clients, invoices, appointments, inventory, receipts and receipt images, contractor records, and payment logs.
• Payment information: processed by Stripe. We do not store full card numbers; Stripe handles card data under its own security and compliance.
• Contractor tax information: when you collect a contractor's W-9, their tax identifier (SSN/EIN) is entered directly into our filing partner's (Track1099/Avalara) hosted form and is not stored in Linchpin's own database; we store only limited references and status. When you file 1099s, you enter your own business's EIN into a Linchpin form, which we relay directly to Track1099/Avalara to register you as the filer.
• Support content: messages you send to our support assistant. We don't save chat conversations in our database. They're sent to OpenAI to generate a reply.
• Usage & technical data: log data, IP address, and basic device information used to operate and secure the Service.
• Product analytics: which pages people visit, which buttons they click, and named events like "started signup" or "created an invoice." Once you log in, these are linked to your account so we can see how people use Linchpin. We strip email addresses, error messages and login tokens from page addresses before anything is sent, and we don't record what's written on the screen. We don't send invoice contents, client names, emails, dollar amounts, or receipt text to our analytics providers.

We don't store sensitive personal information (Social Security numbers, government IDs, financial account numbers, health, biometric or precise location data) in our database. The one exception is your own business's EIN when you file 1099s: it passes through our servers to Track1099/Avalara and isn't stored. We don't collect information about you from third-party sources.

2. How we use information

• To provide, maintain, and improve the Service.
• To process payments and manage subscriptions.
• To send transactional email (confirmations, invoices, receipts, notices).
• To provide support and answer questions.
• To secure the Service, prevent abuse, and comply with law.
• To track internal usage and business metrics (for example, our own MRR/KPI reporting).

We do not sell your personal information.

3. Service providers (subprocessors)

We share information only as needed with providers that help us run the Service, including:

• Supabase: database, authentication, file storage
• Vercel: application hosting
• Stripe: payment processing and subscription billing
• Track1099 / Avalara: W-9 collection and 1099 e-filing
• Google Cloud Vision: receipt image scanning (OCR) to extract vendor, date, and amount from uploaded receipts
• Resend: sending and receiving email
• OpenAI: powers our support chat assistant, and suggests an expense category for uploaded receipts based on the vendor, amount, and scanned receipt text
• Trigger.dev: runs scheduled background jobs like reminders, receipt scanning, and low-stock alerts
• PostHog: product analytics (page views, clicks and named events, linked to your account once you log in)
• Umami: page views and named events, without cookies or advertising profiles
• Vercel Web Analytics: page speed and visit counts, without cookies
• Sentry: error monitoring. When something breaks, we get a crash report that can include your browser details and IP address.

These providers process data on our behalf under their own security and privacy commitments. We disclose information to these providers as needed to run the Service; we do not sell or share it for advertising purposes.

4. AI-powered features

We offer three features powered by third-party AI: a support chat assistant (OpenAI) that answers your questions about using Linchpin; receipt scanning (Google Cloud Vision) that reads text from uploaded receipt images to auto-fill vendor, date, and amount; and receipt category suggestions (OpenAI), which send the scanned vendor, amount, and up to 500 characters of the receipt's scanned text to suggest an expense category you can edit or override. Your inputs to these features (chat messages, receipt images, scanned receipt text) are shared with the relevant provider solely to deliver that feature.

5. Cookies and browser storage

Needed to run the site:

• Login cookies from Supabase Auth, to keep you signed in.
• lp_email_hint: holds the email you just typed for 15 minutes, so we can show it on the "check your email" screen without putting it in the page address.
• lp_stripe_connect_oauth: lasts 10 minutes while you connect your Stripe account.

Analytics (you can turn these off):

• PostHog sets a ph_ cookie and saves an ID in your browser's local storage so it can tell visits apart.
• Umami and Vercel Web Analytics don't use cookies.

Your choices:

• lp_analytics=off: set when you turn analytics off. It lasts one year, and while it's set none of our analytics tools run on that browser.
• Your light or dark theme choice, and a note of which pages you've come back to, are saved in your browser's local storage. They never leave your device.

When you pay through Stripe Checkout, you're on Stripe's site, and Stripe sets its own cookies under its own policy.

All of our analytics honors your browser's Do Not Track setting. We don't use advertising pixels, and we don't let third parties track you for ads on our Service.

If you have an account, the same switch is in Settings.

6. How we protect information

Data is encrypted in transit. Each account's data is isolated using row-level security, and uploaded files (receipts, logos) are stored in private storage accessible only to the owning account. Sensitive tax identifiers are routed to our filing partner rather than stored by us. Data is stored in the United States. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable measures to protect your information.

7. Data retention

We keep your data while your account exists. If you cancel your modules, your account and data stay put, so you can come back. To delete your account and data, email us. We'll do it within 30 days, except for records we're required by law to keep (like payment records).

8. Your rights

Depending on where you live (for example, under the California CCPA/CPRA, other US state privacy laws, or the EU/UK GDPR), you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or export your personal information, and to object to certain processing. The easiest way to exercise these rights is by visiting uselinchpin.com/support or emailing us at the address below. If we decline a request, you may appeal by emailing the same address; we'll respond in writing. We answer requests within 30 days. If you are a California resident, you may also request, once a year and free of charge, information about any personal data we've disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes under California's "Shine the Light" law: we do not use your data for direct marketing, so this disclosure is currently empty.

9. Children

The Service is intended for adults running a business and is not directed to anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect information from children.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected in the "Last updated" date above, and we'll notify active accounts by email when the changes are material.

11. Contact

Questions or requests? Email us at support@uselinchpin.com.