Sparky's Coffee Fund
Terms of Service
Welcome.
Sparky's Coffee Fund is a tool by and for active investors. Around here, there are no stupid questions. But keep in mind that what we're talking about here involves real money - so let's keep it real and let the truth rise to the top.
As we get started, you're probably wondering what Sparky's Coffee Fund even is and what you'll get from it. While we're at it, let's also talk about what I'm keeping as mine, and what we're each going to get out of working together.
I've spent 20 years learning what I know about active investing, and another 30 years, separately, giving back to communities I care about. Until now those have been parallel tracks. The system you're about to use is the cafe where they come together. The coffee fund experience consists of two pieces - the analytical framework that does the work, and the workflow that puts the work in your hands. These are the products of significant personal effort. But I don't charge for any of it - not the system, the analysis it produces, and not the related writings I publish on Substack.
Unlike a lot of people who go on about investing, I don't tell people what to do. My focus instead is on helping people think for themselves. That's what this system does, and in the process it produces analytical reports that some people may consider actionable. But let's be clear - never make an investment decision based on what I say or what my tools or publications say. Nothing I do can ever be considered investment advice, recommendations, or instructions. It all adds up to one person's reasoning, made visible, offered to you as a way of seeing what you feel is right for yourself.
What you're getting out of the deal is free access to the dashboard, free access to the published analyses, and the ability to suggest tickers, sectors, or other areas you'd like me to look at. Just know that some suggestions will be promoted into analyses - but some won't. And even the ones I do work on may or may not ever be published. But none of that is a function of who's suggested what. It's a function of where my attention goes.
Let's get down to brass tacks. The Sparky's Coffee Fund workflow is mine. The analytical reports it produces are mine. Suggestions you submit become mine to act on, reshape, or set aside as I see fit. My time is my own, my discretion is my own, and my ability to make a living from the work I do - including trading on my own analysis, sometimes even before it's shared with anyone outside my private, informal network of friends - is preserved. I'm sharing the system, not surrendering it.
This last part is important. So pay attention. Investing involves real money. Everybody here's making our own decisions. When you buy, sell, or hold, that's your call and yours alone. Nothing you see in this tool changes that. Read what's published, consider it, push back on it in your own head, talk about it on the internet - and decide for yourself. Because the more people who think clearly about their own money, the better off they tend to be. And because the things I love doing - learning, analyzing, writing, and sharing - turn out to be the same things that make a living possible for me. For a long time those have run on separate tracks. This is where they finally connect.
The sections that follow lay out the operative terms. The preamble above is the spirit. The body below is the letter. Where the two ever appear to conflict, the body controls.
1.The agreement
When you copy the dashboard template into your own Google Drive, use any version of the dashboard, submit a suggestion, post a review note, read the analyses I publish, or otherwise interact with anything offered under the Sparky's Coffee Fund name, you're agreeing to these terms and to the separately posted Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, please don't use the system.
2.What "the system" means
When I say "the system" or "Sparky's Coffee Fund" in these terms, I mean all of the following taken together: the dashboard template that lives in Google Drive and the copies of it that you and others make; the analytical framework and skills that produce the analyses; the operations console I use to triage suggestions and run analysis jobs; the public-data feed the dashboard pulls from; any Substack pages, posts, or future community features I publish under the Sparky's Coffee Fund or Unlocked Value names; and the analyses, write-ups, charts, verdicts, gaps, and other work products that the system generates.
3.Who can use it
You must be at least 18 years old. The system is a place to think about decisions about real money, and that's an adult conversation.
4.No account; you use your own Google account
The system has no login or account of its own. To use the dashboard, you need a Google account so Drive can hold your copy of the template. Your relationship with Google for that purpose is governed by Google's own terms and privacy policies, not mine. I have no visibility into your Google account, your Drive contents, or anything else in your Google session beyond what your dashboard explicitly sends back to me, as described in Section 6.
5.Your portfolio and watchlist stay with you
Every dashboard is a self-contained spreadsheet in your own Drive. The information you record there about your positions, your watchlist, your private notes, or anything else you put into the dashboard never leaves your copy. I don't see it, I can't reach it, and I don't want it.
6.Suggestions: what you can submit, what I do with them, and what becomes of them
You can use the Actions tab on your dashboard to suggest tickers, sectors, or other areas you'd like me to look at. When you submit a suggestion, the dashboard sends me the content of the suggestion along with an anonymous identifier - a randomly-generated GUID that is unique to your copy of the dashboard. I use that GUID for one purpose only: when a published analysis was prompted by your suggestion, your dashboard knows to mark that analysis as "suggested by you." I don't connect that GUID to your name, your email, or anything else that identifies you personally.
When a suggestion arrives, it moves through three discretionary stages. First, I may dismiss it without further action. Second, if I promote it to an analysis job, I may produce an analysis and then choose never to publish it. Third, if I do publish an analysis, I may later revise it, archive it, or remove it entirely. None of those decisions depend on who submitted the suggestion. They depend on where my attention goes and what I judge useful to share. You're submitting an idea, not buying a service.
Suggestions you submit become my sole property the moment they arrive. I can act on them, ignore them, combine them with others, or set them aside indefinitely. If the same suggestion arrives from multiple users - which happens - I treat them all the same. You don't get standing to demand a response, an explanation, attribution, or any particular treatment beyond the dashboard's automatic "suggested by you" marker.
7.How analyses get made
Analyses are produced through AI-assisted research sessions that combine analytical frameworks I author and maintain with AI services from Anthropic (Claude). Some sessions run through the Anthropic API under skills I've designed; others happen in interactive Claude sessions where I can direct further exploration, ask for different angles, or push deeper on what's already there. The AI does the analytical writing. My role is editorial - choosing what to investigate, what to revisit, what to deepen, what to set aside, and what is ready to publish. I have significant influence over the analytical direction, but I do not rewrite the analytical prose itself.
The work is exploratory and iterative by nature. On some level, no analysis is ever finished. Every published analysis is a point-in-time snapshot of my current understanding of a subject. It may be revised, deepened, or reversed at any time, and no analysis should be treated as a final word on its subject.
8.Pre-publication access; trading on unpublished analysis
This is the most important disclosure in these terms, so I'll say it plainly.
From the moment a suggestion is promoted to an analysis job until the moment the resulting analysis is published on the dashboard - if it is ever published - the analysis is visible only to me and to a private, informal network of friends with whom I exchange investment-related opinions and ideas. During that window I, and the members of that network, may form opinions on the subject of the analysis and may act on those opinions, including by buying, holding, or selling securities. The same is true of analyses that are never published at all. By using the system, you accept that this happens and that it is not a defect in the system. It is how the system supports my work as an investor.
I do not commit to disclosing my positions in any particular analysis. I may or may not include such disclosure at my discretion within an individual write-up. You should assume, as a default, that I may hold a position - long, short, or none - in any subject I cover, and that I may change that position at any time without notice.
9.Not investment advice
Nothing the system produces - not an analysis, not a verdict, not a chart, not a Substack post, not anything anyone says in any community feature I may add - is investment advice, a recommendation to buy or sell any security, or a solicitation of any kind. I am not your financial advisor, your broker, or your fiduciary, and nothing in these terms creates any such relationship between us. The system is offered for educational and recreational purposes, to help people think about active investing. Your investment decisions are yours alone. When you buy, sell, or hold, that's your call, and the responsibility for the outcome is yours.
I'm not registered as an investment advisor, broker-dealer, or other regulated financial professional under the laws of any jurisdiction, and nothing in the system constitutes the practice of investment advice within the meaning of any applicable securities law. If you want personalized investment advice, talk to someone who's qualified and accountable for giving it.
My own track record, whether I reference it here, on Substack, or anywhere else, is history. Past performance is not indicative of future results - not mine, not anybody's. Any opinions or characterizations of future events you encounter in the system are just that: opinions about things that haven't happened yet. They may turn out to be right, partly right, or completely wrong, and they are not predictions, promises, or projections in any binding sense.
10.Intellectual property and limited reuse
The system, the analytical frameworks, the workflow, the published analyses, and all related text, charts, verdicts, gaps, visuals, and other work products are my sole property and are copyrighted by me.
I do welcome people talking about my published work - that's part of the point. Within reasonable bounds, you can quote and reference any single published analysis subject to the following limits: no more than 1,000 words of directly quoted text; no more than one visual; and a full, proper, direct, and readable source citation accompanying any quote or visual, identifying Sparky's Coffee Fund and linking back to the original Substack post or dashboard location where the work first appeared. Reproduction beyond those limits, or any use of the analytical framework or workflow itself, requires my prior written permission.
Talking about the work - including writing about it, debating it, criticizing it, or recommending it - is not reproduction and does not require permission. The limits above apply to direct quotation and reuse of visuals, not to discussion.
11.Books, products, and referral links
The dashboard's Books and Talks tabs, and Substack posts I publish, may include links to books, products, or services available from third-party vendors. Some of those links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a referral fee if you make a purchase after clicking through. Affiliate participation does not influence what I include, how I describe it, or whether I recommend it. Treat any product or book referenced here the same way you'd treat any other recommendation from a stranger on the internet - as a starting point for your own evaluation, not a directive.
12.As-is; no warranties
The system is offered free of charge and "as is." I make no warranties of any kind - express, implied, statutory, or otherwise - about the system, the analyses, or any other content offered under the Sparky's Coffee Fund or Unlocked Value names. I do not guarantee that the system will work, will keep working, will be free of errors, will be accurate, will be available at any particular time, or will produce any particular outcome. Features may change, be added, or be removed without notice. I may stop offering the system at any time, with or without warning, and I am under no obligation to maintain, support, or migrate any user's data.
13.Limitation of liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, I will not be liable to you for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary, or punitive damages of any kind arising out of or relating to your use of the system, including without limitation any investment losses, lost profits, lost opportunities, or lost data. Your sole and exclusive remedy if you are dissatisfied with the system is to stop using it.
14.Indemnification
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold me harmless from any claims, damages, liabilities, costs, or expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to your use of the system, your violation of these terms, or your violation of any rights of any third party in connection with your use of the system.
15.Copyright complaints
If you believe content published by the system infringes a copyright you hold, send a notice to me at the contact address in Section 19, including: identification of the copyrighted work you claim has been infringed; identification of the allegedly infringing material and its location within the system; your contact information; a statement, made under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner; and your physical or electronic signature. I'll review and respond as promptly as I'm able.
16.Changes to the system; changes to these terms
I may change, add to, or remove features of the system at any time without prior notice. I may also revise these terms from time to time. When I do, I'll post the revised terms to this site and update the "Last updated" date at the bottom. Material changes will be flagged on the dashboard's Overview tab when feasible. Your continued use of the system after a revision takes effect means you accept the revised terms.
17.Termination
You can stop using the system at any time by simply not using it and, if you wish, by deleting your dashboard copy from your Drive. I can stop offering the system, suspend access to the public-data feed, decline or revoke access to any particular user, or shut the whole thing down at any time, with or without notice and with or without reason. The provisions of these terms that by their nature should survive termination - including Sections 6 (suggestions become my property), 10 (intellectual property), 13 (limitation of liability), 14 (indemnification), 18 (governing law), and 20 (miscellaneous) - will survive.
18.Governing law and venue
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute arising out of or relating to these terms or the system will be resolved exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Alameda County, California, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.
19.Contact
Questions, concerns, or copyright notices can reach me at support@sparkyscoffeefund.com.
20.Miscellaneous
A few standard housekeeping points that round out the document:
Severability.
If any provision of these terms is held by a court to be invalid or unenforceable, that provision is struck and the rest of the terms continue in force as if it had never been there.
Entire agreement.
These terms, together with the Privacy Policy, are the complete agreement between you and me regarding the system. They supersede any prior understanding, conversation, or implication - including anything you may have inferred from a Substack post, a casual exchange, or another user - to the contrary.
No waiver.
If I don't enforce a provision of these terms in one instance, that doesn't waive my right to enforce it in another, and it doesn't waive any other provision.
Assignment.
You may not transfer or assign your rights or obligations under these terms to anyone else. I may transfer or assign mine - to a successor entity, a collaborator, an acquirer, or anyone else I choose - at my discretion, with these terms continuing to govern.
No third-party beneficiaries.
These terms are between you and me. Nobody else gets standing to enforce them or to bring a claim under them.
We good?