Terms of service

1. Parties and scope

These terms govern the use of the Starthop software service, website and apps, provided by Hoptec GmbH ( hoptec.ch ) ("we"). The contract is concluded with the organisation that registers ("customer"). The person who registers confirms that they are authorised to bind the customer.

Starthop is offered exclusively to companies and other organisations for their business activity. It is not offered to consumers.

2. The service is provided as is

Starthop is a software tool that supports administrative work. It is provided "as is" and "as available". To the extent permitted by law, we give no warranty of any kind - express or implied - as to its fitness for a particular purpose, the accuracy or completeness of any calculation, document, report or AI output, its compliance with legal, tax or accounting requirements, or its uninterrupted and error-free operation. Statutory warranties are excluded to the extent permitted by law.

We may change, extend or remove features at any time.

3. Not accounting, tax or legal advice - and not an archive

Starthop is not bookkeeping software, not a tax or legal advisory service and not an archive within the meaning of Art. 958f of the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO) and the Ordinance on Keeping Business Records (GeBüV). Invoices, QR-bills, VAT amounts, bank matches, reports, calculators and AI results are working aids that the customer must check before using them.

4. The customer's responsibility

The customer and its management - its board of directors, managing directors and chief executive - remain solely responsible for everything the law requires of the customer. In particular:

a) proper bookkeeping and accounting (Art. 957 ff. CO), which Swiss law assigns to the company's management (Art. 716a CO; Art. 810 CO for limited liability companies), as well as the correctness of invoices, VAT returns, taxes, social insurance, payroll and statutory deadlines;

b) engaging a qualified external accountant, fiduciary or tax advisor who checks the customer's accounting and records and takes professional responsibility for them. Starthop does not replace such a professional;

c) keeping all business records and data for the statutory retention periods, in a legally compliant form, outside Starthop, and making regular exports and its own backups;

d) the lawfulness and accuracy of all data entered, including personal data of employees, contacts and applicants, and compliance with data protection law as controller;

e) checking every output of Starthop - including AI results - before relying on it or passing it on.

Any liability arising from these matters lies with the customer, its management and the professionals it has engaged, not with us.

5. Free trial

New organisations may use the Pro plan free of charge for 14 days. Nothing is charged automatically at the end of the trial; continued use requires a paid plan.

6. Fees and payment

Fees are shown on the pricing page and are charged per user, monthly or yearly, plus VAT where applicable. Our reseller Paddle is the merchant of record and processes payments and invoices under its own terms.

Upgrades take effect immediately and the difference for the current period is charged. Downgrades take effect at the end of the paid period. Subscriptions renew automatically until cancelled; cancellation takes effect at the end of the current period. Fees already paid are not refunded, unless mandatory law or Paddle's terms provide otherwise.

Each plan includes a monthly allowance of AI credits per user; unused credits do not carry over. We may change prices with at least 30 days' notice for the following billing period.

7. Availability, suspension and termination

We do not guarantee any level of availability. We may interrupt the service for maintenance, security or reasons beyond our control, and suspend or terminate access in case of non-payment, misuse or breach of these terms.

Either party may terminate at the end of a billing period. After termination, the customer's data may be deleted; the customer must export it beforehand.

8. Acceptable use

The customer may not use the service for unlawful purposes, to infringe the rights of others, to send unsolicited messages, or to attack, overload, copy or reverse-engineer it.

9. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by Swiss law, any liability on our part is excluded. This applies in particular to liability for slight and medium negligence; for indirect and consequential damage; for lost profit, lost savings and business interruption; for loss, corruption or disclosure of data; for fines, tax surcharges, interest and penalties; for claims of third parties such as authorities, auditors, employees and customers; for damage resulting from reliance on calculations, documents, reports or AI results; and for failures of third-party services such as hosting, identity, email, payment, AI providers and banks.

Liability for auxiliary persons and subcontractors is excluded entirely (Art. 101 para. 2 CO).

Where liability cannot be excluded by law - in particular for unlawful intent or gross negligence (Art. 100 para. 1 CO) - it remains only to that mandatory extent. In all other cases, any liability that is nonetheless found to exist is limited to the fees the customer paid in the 12 months before the damaging event.

10. Indemnity

The customer indemnifies us against all claims, costs and damage arising from the data it enters, from its use of the service, or from its breach of these terms or of the law, including claims of authorities, data subjects and employees.

11. Changes to these terms

We may change these terms. Changes are announced in the application or by email; continued use after the effective date counts as acceptance.

12. Final provisions

These terms are governed by Swiss law, excluding its conflict-of-law rules and the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. The exclusive place of jurisdiction is the registered seat of Hoptec GmbH. If a provision is invalid, the remaining provisions remain in force and the invalid provision is replaced by a valid one that comes closest to its purpose.