Operating manual

How the record gets built.

Triangle Startups tracks Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, and RTP startups through public sources, direct corrections, local events, founder updates, and hand-built records. The rules below are how the site earns trust while the record keeps changing.

The rules

These rules decide what gets published, what stays unresolved, and how trust-sensitive moments behave.

Records before claims

A useful company page names what is known, what is missing, and where the facts came from. A sourced record beats a smoother paragraph.

Research, not promotion

Company pages should read like someone checked the facts, not like a founder uploaded a blurb. Hype and paid placement damage the same trust surface.

Corrections are part of the product

A corrected page is evidence that the record can improve. Founder and operator corrections should stay close to the record they changed.

Manual gates should say they are manual

If approval, access, review, or a correction depends on Adam, the interface should say that plainly and tell the reader what happens next.

Trust cannot be bought

Trusted Partners are listed because of working relationships and founder feedback. There is no fee, subscription tier, or revenue share that buys the stamp.

Money paths need extra care

If a paid research surface, subscription, or member-only tool exists later, the page has to show exactly what changes after payment.

What the site will do

Name sources when facts depend on sources.
Keep Crunchbase out of the funding record.
Leave missing or contradictory data visible until it is resolved.
Separate reportable facts from Adam-side judgment.
Make correction paths visible on records that can be wrong.

What it will not do

Sell paid placement beside editorial judgment.
Hide uncertainty behind confident prose.
Turn every detected event into content just to keep a cadence.
Publish agent-written takes as Adam voice without review.
Make payment or approval feel detached from the rest of the site.

Trust-sensitive flows

The moment that asks for belief has to show who is responsible.

Corrections, partner listings, future paid tools, subscriptions, and approval gates all ask the reader to trust the process. Those surfaces should name the condition, show the next step, and stay in the same voice as the rest of the site.

Company correction

Send the fact, the source, and the page. The record gets updated where the correction belongs.

Missing company

Send the name, location, website, and why it belongs in the Triangle startup record.

Partner listing

The default path is a real working relationship first. The roster grows slowly.

Data request

CSV exports, research collaborations, and structured access are handled directly.

Corrections and data requests

If a record, source, attribution, or framing is wrong, send the correction. For exports, research collaborations, or structured access, send the request directly.

trianglestartups@gmail.com