Terms of Service

1. Who we are

These terms govern your use of services provided by Efficient Labs ("we", "us", "the firm"), operated by Michael Ward under the trade name "Efficient Labs". By submitting our intake form or paying for an audit, you accept these terms.

If you are agreeing on behalf of a company, you confirm you have authority to bind that company.

2. What we provide

Our primary service is the AI Sovereignty Audit, available in three tiers (Standard, Sovereign, Bespoke). The audit is a written deliverable based on the information you provide in our intake form and any clarifying questions we ask. The exact scope and deliverables for each tier are described on our audit page.

We may also offer other services from time to time — Sovereign Stack Setup, Embedded Architect, and others. Engagements for those services are scoped separately in writing.

3. How an engagement works

1. You submit our intake form with the information about your situation.
2. You receive a payment link and complete payment.
3. Once payment is confirmed, the 72-business-hour service window starts.
4. We deliver the audit PDF to the email you provided.
5. If you have post-delivery questions (or, for Sovereign tier, want the walkthrough call), reply to the delivery email.

4. Payment

Prices are listed on our audit page in US dollars and exclude any sales tax or VAT that may apply. Payment is processed by Stripe; we do not store your card details.

For Bespoke engagements, fees are agreed in writing before work begins and may include milestone billing rather than a single upfront payment.

5. Service window

The 72-business-hour service window starts when both conditions are met: intake submission is complete, and payment is confirmed. "Business hours" means Monday through Friday in the United States, excluding US federal holidays.

If we are unable to deliver within the window for any reason, we notify you in writing and either complete the work or refund the engagement fee. We do not offer credit or rollovers absent your specific written request.

6. Refunds

• Pre-delivery cancellation. You may cancel the engagement and request a refund any time before delivery starts, for any reason. Refunds are processed within 7 business days to the original payment method.
• Post-delivery refund. Once the deliverable has been emailed to you, the engagement is considered complete. Post-delivery refunds are at our discretion and are not the default; we reserve them for cases where the deliverable does not match what was promised in our tier descriptions.
• Disputes. If you believe the deliverable is materially short of what you paid for, write to founder@efficientlabs.ai within 30 days of delivery. We respond within 7 business days and resolve in good faith.

7. Your responsibilities

• Provide accurate information in the intake form. Errors or omissions in your inputs may produce findings that miss real issues; the audit can only reason on what you tell us.
• Have authority to engage us on behalf of your organization.
• Use the deliverable only for your organization's purposes; do not republish or resell it without our written permission.

8. What the audit is and is not

The audit is a written assessment that maps your stated situation to our methodology. It is not legal advice, not regulatory certification, and not a substitute for an engagement with counsel, a regulator, or an internal auditor. We surface risks and recommend directions; deciding which to act on, when, and how is your call.

Recommendations in the audit are made in good faith based on the information you provide and our reading of common practice. We do not warrant any specific business outcome from acting on a recommendation.

9. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total cumulative liability to you arising out of or related to your engagement with us is capped at the fees you paid for the engagement. We are not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages, including loss of revenue, loss of business opportunity, or loss of data, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Nothing in these terms excludes liability we cannot exclude by law.

10. Confidentiality

The information you provide in your intake is treated as confidential and used only to scope, generate, and deliver your audit and any follow-on engagement you separately commission. We do not publish identifiable information about your engagement without your written permission. Our public artifacts (blog posts, methodology notes, sample deliverables) are anonymized.

11. Intellectual property

You own the deliverable and the underlying findings about your situation. We retain ownership of the methodology, the section templates, the prompt scaffolding, and the operating procedures we use to produce the deliverable.

12. Termination

You can stop engaging us at any time. We can decline future engagements at our discretion. Refund treatment on termination follows section 6.

13. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of the operator's principal place of business in the United States, without regard to its conflict of laws principles. Disputes are resolved in the courts of that state.

Specific jurisdiction will be set once the operating entity is on record. If this matters to you before then, ask us.

14. Changes

If we update these terms, the "Last updated" date at the top changes, and material changes are notified on this page for at least 30 days before they take effect for new engagements. Existing engagements remain on the terms in force when you booked them.

15. Contact

Questions, requests, refunds, disputes: founder@efficientlabs.ai