Founder Confidentiality

Confidentiality: how your ideas are protected

Founders join the program with real businesses, not classroom exercises. This article explains what protections are already in place, who they bind, and what to do if you have a concern.

Is my business information confidential?

Yes. Everything you share in mentoring sessions, squads, assignments, and community spaces is treated as confidential.

What is my mentor bound by?

Every mentor works under a contract with Oneday that includes binding Conduct Standards. Under those standards, mentors cannot:

• Share your business information, ideas, financial position, strategic plans, or personal details with anyone outside the program. The exception is where we need to discuss it internally to support you — for example with your class lead or the academic team.
• Use your information for their own commercial benefit, or for anyone's benefit other than yours
• Take equity, investment, or an advisory or board position in your business
• Recruit you as a client or partner outside the program

They must also disclose to us any advisory or board position they hold with a direct competitor of a founder they're assigned to.

What happens if a mentor breaches this?

A material breach of confidentiality is immediately terminable under our mentor agreement. There is no notice period and no opportunity to correct it — we end the engagement.

These obligations continue for five years after a mentor stops working with us, and indefinitely for anything that qualifies as a trade secret.

What about other founders in my squad?

The Code of Conduct requires all founders to respect the confidentiality of anything shared in squads, mentoring sessions, or community platforms, including business information and personal stories. Founders are also not permitted to bring transcription or recording tools into group sessions.

Who owns my intellectual property?

You do. See Intellectual Property Ownership During the Program.

Will Oneday put an NDA in place between me and my mentor?

No, and this applies consistently to every founder.

Each mentor works with several founders at the same time. If founders negotiate individual terms, mentors end up carrying overlapping obligations we can't see or supervise — which makes the standard harder for us to enforce, not easier. One framework we can act on quickly protects you better than a patchwork we can't.

Can I ask someone to sign a private agreement?

Anything you agree privately with an individual is between the two of you. Oneday won't be a party to it, won't manage or enforce it, and won't ask anyone to sign one as a condition of working with you. We're also not able to advise you on it — that's a conversation for your own legal counsel.

How much detail do I have to share?

You decide how much to go into, and when. Bear in mind that assessed work is graded against the rubric, so submissions still need to show the evidence each criterion asks for.

I think something I shared has been passed on. What do I do?

Contact your cohort manager, or use the Help button on the platform. Tell us what was shared, with whom, and when. We'll look into it.