DeepSeaRaisin

I'm generally paranoid about such things, so I intend to have the Terms and Privacy Policy all set prior to a public launch. Whether or not this is a good approach... no idea. The peace of mind is worth it for me though, since I'm a worrier.

I wanted to ensure that I was as thorough as possible, so I brought up the process during my first (free) consultation with a lawyer. To minimize the billable hours, the lawyer recommended I piece them together myself and then just send it to him for any modifications as necessary. I'm just about done with mine and hope to send them off in the next day or so. It will probably cost more than I'd prefer at this stage, but the cost of getting nailed in a legal issue when such an agreement could possibly protect me would likely be higher. Or at least that's what I keep telling myself. :)

It probably wouldn't hurt to look through the Terms of your competitors to get a feel for what others in your space are covering in their legal docs. You might also be able to buy some standard templates, although who knows how well they'd actually hold up.

Basically, I'll know my project is a startup when I feel like it is a startup, regardless of whether someone else agrees. Clearly this method breaks down when taken to the extremes, but for my purposes, I'm fine with it.

The startup term is very muddy and I have seen it applied to big projects, little projects, big organizations, one to two person coders, well funded, no funding--etc. Like art, I don't view its lack of a clear definition to be a bad thing. There might be a number of shared characteristics that are generally found in art (or a startup), but their absence in part or in whole doesn't necessarily mean the piece isn't art or the project/group doesn't qualify as a startup.

If we can draw a clear line for the purposes of labeling something or something a startup, that's fine and I'd be inclined to accept it if it's universally accepted. I just hope that it doesn't serve to delegitimize people's work if they disagree with one's assertion that X is not a startup.