Editorial standards

These are the rules every Startup Attic story is held to. Our publishing system enforces several of them: a story can't go live without all five breakdown sections, a summary, an author, a category, at least one linked source, and an editor's completed verification checklist.

Sourcing

We prefer primary sources — company announcements, product documentation, filings, and original research — and link every source we rely on, with the date we accessed it. A company announcement verifies what the company said, not every claim inside it. For consequential or disputed claims we look for independent corroboration.

We write original summaries. We don't reproduce source articles, get around paywalls, or reuse images without permission.

Reporting versus analysis

"What happened?" and "What do they build?" report verified facts. "Why does it matter?" is analysis and is labelled as such. Self-reported figures and allegations are attributed to whoever made them. Rumours and unverified information are labelled and kept out of headlines and fact panels.

Funding figures

We distinguish a single funding round from cumulative funding, and funding from valuation. We record currencies and announcement dates. A blank field means we haven't verified the information — never that it's zero.

AI assistance

We may use AI tools to help with research or drafting. Any AI-assisted story must be reviewed and verified by a human editor before publication, and is marked as AI-assisted. We never use AI to generate sources, quotes, people, funding rounds, or company facts.

Corrections

When we get something substantively wrong, we fix it and add a dated note to the story explaining what changed. All corrections are listed on our corrections page. If a story needs to come down urgently, editors can unpublish it immediately.

Conflicts of interest

Writers and editors disclose relevant financial or personal relationships with companies they cover. Disclosures appear at the end of each story.

Sponsorship

We don't currently run sponsorships. If we do in future, sponsored material will be clearly labelled "Sponsored", kept separate from reporting, and sponsors will have no say over coverage and no access to subscriber data.