Terms of Service

You must be at least 16 years old to use the Service, and at least 18 (or the age of majority where you live) to act as a coach, accept payments, or enter into a paid coaching relationship. By using the Service you represent that you meet these requirements and that the information you provide is accurate and complete.

You are responsible for safeguarding your account credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. Keep your password secure and notify us promptly of any unauthorized use. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms or that we reasonably believe pose a risk to the Service or other users.

Ekiden connects athletes (runners) with coaches and provides tools for building, delivering, and monitoring training. Coaches build plans, push structured workouts, and review training; athletes follow plans, log and sync activities, and track their fitness. The Service also includes messaging, analytics, and payment processing.

We may add, change, or remove features at any time. During our pre-launch and founding-cohort period, parts of the Service may be limited, experimental, or offered on a trial basis.

Ekiden is a platform that connects athletes and coaches; it is not itself the coach and does not provide coaching services. Coaches are independent professionals, not employees or agents of Ekiden. We do not guarantee any particular result, performance improvement, or outcome from any coach, plan, or training.

While we take steps to review coaches who join, you are responsible for deciding whether a coach is right for you, and coaches are responsible for the plans and advice they provide. Any agreement for coaching services is between the athlete and the coach; Ekiden is not a party to it except as the platform facilitating it.

• Athlete payments. Coaches are the sellers of their coaching services. Athletes pay the selected coach through the Service using Stripe. Prices, billing frequency, and any applicable taxes are shown before purchase.
• Platform commission and processing fees. Ekiden charges coaches a commission on coaching payments. Stripe deducts its processing and product fees from the coach's connected account, and deducts Ekiden's commission as an application fee. Applicable rates and promotional terms will be disclosed to the coach.
• Coach payouts. Payments are created directly on the coach's connected Stripe account. Stripe pays the remaining balance to the coach after its fees, Ekiden's commission, refunds, disputes, reserves, and other permitted deductions. Payment features are also subject to Stripe's terms.
• Taxes. Coaches are responsible for determining, collecting, reporting, and remitting taxes applicable to the coaching services they sell, as well as taxes on income earned through the platform. Athletes remain responsible for taxes imposed on them by law.
• Refunds and cancellations. Coaches manage refunds for their services. Except where required by law, Ekiden's application fee is not returned when a coach issues a refund. Stripe debits the refund from the coach's connected account. Cancelling a subscription stops future renewals but does not automatically refund an earlier payment.
• Disputes and chargebacks. Coaches are responsible for responding to disputes about their services. Stripe may debit disputed amounts, dispute fees, and related adjustments from the coach's connected account according to Stripe's terms and applicable law.

You may choose to connect third-party services such as Strava, Garmin, or COROS so that your activity data flows into Ekiden. Connecting is optional and you can disconnect at any time. Your use of those services remains governed by their own terms and privacy policies, and we are not responsible for them. You are responsible for having the right to connect an account and to share the data it provides.

The Service includes AI features that assist coaches — for example, drafting plans, suggesting edits, and tagging sessions. (Training-anomaly flags are generated by a rule-based engine, not AI.) These features are assistive suggestions a coach reviews and confirms; they are not autonomous and are not a substitute for professional judgment. AI output may be inaccurate or incomplete, and you should not rely on it as medical or professional advice.

The Service provides training and fitness information, not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Ekiden and its coaches are not your physician. Running and endurance training involve inherent risks, including injury.

• Consult a qualified healthcare professional before beginning or changing any training program, especially if you have a medical condition or have been inactive.
• Listen to your body — stop exercising and seek medical attention if you feel pain, dizziness, shortness of breath, or other warning signs.
• You participate in any training, plan, or activity voluntarily and at your own risk, and you are solely responsible for your health and safety decisions.

You agree not to:

• Use the Service for any unlawful, harmful, fraudulent, or abusive purpose.
• Misrepresent your identity, qualifications, or credentials.
• Upload content that is unlawful, infringing, harassing, or that you do not have the right to share.
• Interfere with, disrupt, probe, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service or its systems.
• Scrape, copy, or reuse data from the Service except as expressly permitted.
• Use the Service to provide medical advice you are not qualified to give.

You retain ownership of the content you submit — plans, messages, notes, activity data, and other materials. You grant Ekiden a worldwide, non-exclusive license to host, store, process, display, and transmit that content as needed to operate and provide the Service to you and the coach or athlete you work with. You are responsible for your content and for having the rights necessary to share it.

The Service, including its software, design, branding, and content provided by us, is owned by Ekiden or its licensors and protected by intellectual-property laws. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Service in accordance with these Terms. You may not copy, modify, distribute, or create derivative works from the Service except as permitted.

You may stop using the Service and close your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access if you violate these Terms, if required by law, or to protect the Service or its users. Provisions that by their nature should survive termination — including payment obligations, disclaimers, limitations of liability, and indemnification — will survive.

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available” without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure, that data will sync without error, or that any coaching, plan, or AI output will achieve a particular result.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Ekiden and its affiliates, officers, employees, and partners will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, data, or goodwill, arising out of or related to your use of the Service. To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total liability for any claim relating to the Service will not exceed the greater of the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim or USD 100. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited under applicable law.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Ekiden and its affiliates from any claims, damages, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of your use of the Service, your content, your violation of these Terms, or, for coaches, the coaching services you provide.

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the effective date above and, where appropriate, provide additional notice. Your continued use of the Service after an update means you accept the revised Terms.

These Terms are governed by the laws applicable at Ekiden’s principal place of business, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules, and you agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located there, except where applicable law gives you the right to bring proceedings elsewhere.

Questions about these Terms? Contact us at:

legal@ekiden.app