Terms of Service

Effective: 01/20/2026 · Last updated: 05/01/2026

Important: These Terms include binding legal language that limits our liability, disclaims warranties, requires individual arbitration of most disputes, and waives your right to participate in a class action and explains how to opt out of arbitration within 30 days.

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") form a binding agreement between you ("you" or "Member") and SciPlug, LLC, a Virginia limited liability company doing business as Marlow ("Marlow," "we," "us," or "our"), governing your access to and use of our website at firststep.support and our text-based executive function coaching service (collectively, the "Service"). By creating an account, submitting a referral code, paying a subscription fee, or otherwise using the Service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

1. Eligibility

The Service is intended exclusively for adults eighteen (18) years of age or older who have the legal capacity to enter into a binding contract in their jurisdiction. By using the Service you represent and warrant that you meet these requirements. If we learn that we have collected information from a person under 18, we will terminate the account and delete the information.

2. The Service

Marlow provides daily, text-based executive function coaching for adults with ADHD. A subscription includes communication with one assigned coach via SMS / iMessage during published support windows, a brief morning check-in on weekdays, and a monthly recalibration call. Specific features and capacity limits are described on our website and may change.

Coaching is conversational and supportive. We aim to respond within published median response times, but those targets are aspirational, not guaranteed. Actual response times depend on your coach's availability, the volume of incoming messages, and the reliability of third-party telecommunications networks that we do not control.

3. Not medical or mental-health care

The Service is not therapy, psychotherapy, counseling, psychiatric care, or medical care of any kind. Your coach is not a licensed clinician, therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, social worker, or healthcare provider, and does not diagnose, treat, prescribe for, or evaluate any medical or mental-health condition.

Nothing in the Service is intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of a qualified healthcare professional with any questions you may have regarding a medical or mental-health condition. Never disregard professional advice or delay seeking it because of something a coach has communicated.

The Service is not designed for emergencies or crisis support. Do not use the Service to communicate emergencies. If you are in a mental-health crisis, having thoughts of self-harm or suicide, or facing any other emergency:

In the United States, dial or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
For any life-threatening emergency, dial 911 (or your local equivalent).
Outside the U.S., contact your local emergency services or a crisis line at findahelpline.com.

You agree that you will not rely on Marlow for crisis intervention, and that Marlow has no obligation or capability to provide emergency or crisis services.

4. Account and security

To use the Service you must provide accurate registration information and keep it current. You are responsible for safeguarding your phone number, email account, devices, and any credentials used to access the Service. You agree to notify us immediately at hello@firststep.support if you suspect unauthorized access or use. We are not liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to maintain reasonable security over your own systems.

5. Referral codes

Access is currently limited to people invited by a current Member with a valid referral code. You may not share, resell, sublicense, or transfer your referral code or your account. We may invalidate any code that has been shared, posted publicly, or used in violation of these Terms. Use of a referral code does not entitle you to a discount, commission, or any compensation unless we have separately agreed in writing.

6. Subscription, billing & cancellation

The Service is offered on a recurring monthly subscription. The current price is USD $275 per month, billed in advance through our payment processor, Stripe. By providing payment information you authorize us to charge the recurring fee, applicable taxes, and any additional fees you incur, until you cancel.

You may cancel at any time by texting your coach or emailing hello@firststep.support. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period unless we agree otherwise. Pricing may change on at least 30 days' written notice; the new price will apply to your next renewal.

Failed payments may result in suspension or termination of the Service. If your card is declined, we may retry the charge or contact you to update payment information.

7. Refunds

All fees are non-refundable except as expressly stated in these Terms or as required by applicable law. If you cancel mid-month, the Service will continue through the remainder of the paid period and we will not pro-rate or refund the unused portion, unless we offer otherwise in writing in our sole discretion.

8. Acceptable use

You agree not to use the Service to:

Violate any law, regulation, or third-party right.
Send abusive, threatening, harassing, defamatory, sexually explicit, or otherwise objectionable content to your coach or any other person.
Impersonate any person or misrepresent your affiliation with anyone.
Solicit minors, share content sexualizing minors, or promote self-harm to others.
Submit content that infringes intellectual-property or privacy rights.
Attempt to interfere with, disrupt, reverse-engineer, scrape, or gain unauthorized access to the Service or its underlying systems.
Use the Service to provide professional services to third parties (e.g., reselling coaching to your own clients).

We may suspend or terminate your access for any violation of this Section, with or without notice, and you remain responsible for fees already incurred.

9. User content & license to operate

"User Content" means messages, files, images, voice notes, and any other material you submit through the Service. You retain ownership of your User Content. By submitting User Content, you grant Marlow a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, transmit, reproduce, and display the User Content solely as necessary to operate, provide, and improve the Service.

You represent and warrant that (a) you own or have the right to share the User Content, and (b) the User Content does not violate these Terms or any law. You are solely responsible for the User Content you submit, and you assume all risk associated with sharing sensitive information.

We will not use the substance of your User Content for advertising or sell it to third parties. We will not use your User Content to train machine-learning models for any purpose without your separate, express, written consent.

10. Confidentiality

We treat the substance of your communications with your coach as confidential, except (a) as needed to operate the Service, (b) with your consent, (c) where you have shared information that suggests imminent risk of harm to yourself or others and we believe in good faith that disclosure is appropriate to seek help, (d) to comply with legal process, or (e) as otherwise described in our Privacy Policy. Coaching is not protected by therapist-patient or attorney-client privilege.

11. Intellectual property

The Service, including all software, design, trademarks, text, graphics, coaching frameworks, prompts, templates, and methodologies developed by Marlow (the "Marlow IP"), is owned by SciPlug, LLC and is protected by intellectual-property laws. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Service for your personal, non-commercial use during your active subscription. Nothing in these Terms transfers any Marlow IP to you. You may not copy, modify, distribute, sell, lease, or create derivative works of any Marlow IP, or use any Marlow IP to train a machine-learning model, without our prior written consent.

12. Third-party services

The Service relies on third-party providers, including Stripe (payments), Quo (messaging), Cloudflare (hosting), and Google Workspace and Resend (email). These providers operate under their own terms and privacy policies. We are not responsible for the acts, omissions, outages, or data practices of any third-party provider. Your use of any third-party service is governed by that provider's terms.

13. Changes to the Service

We may change, add, suspend, or remove features of the Service at any time. We will provide reasonable advance notice of changes that, in our good-faith judgment, materially reduce the core value of your subscription. Your sole remedy if a change is unacceptable to you is to cancel under Section 6.

14. Disclaimer of warranties

The service is provided on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Marlow, SciPlug, LLC, and our owners, employees, contractors, coaches, agents, and affiliates (collectively, the "Marlow Parties") disclaim all warranties, whether express, implied, statutory, or otherwise, including any warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, accuracy, completeness, reliability, security, and uninterrupted or error-free operation.

Without limiting the foregoing, the Marlow Parties make no warranty that (a) the service will meet your requirements; (b) the service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free; (c) the information provided through the service will be accurate, reliable, or complete; (d) any messages will be delivered on time or at all; or (e) the service will result in any specific outcome, productivity gain, behavior change, or improvement in your condition. Individual results vary and are not guaranteed.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so some of the above exclusions may not apply to you. In such jurisdictions, our warranties are limited to the minimum extent required by law.

15. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event will the Marlow Parties be liable to you for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, data, business, goodwill, or other intangible losses, arising out of or relating to these Terms or the service, whether based on warranty, contract, tort (including negligence), statute, or any other legal theory, and whether or not the Marlow Parties have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the aggregate liability of the Marlow Parties for all claims arising out of or relating to these Terms or the service will not exceed the greater of (a) one hundred U.S. dollars (US $100), or (b) the total fees paid by you to Marlow in the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

The limitations in this Section 15 are a fundamental basis of the bargain between you and Marlow. Without them, the Service would not be offered at the prices charged. These limitations apply even if a limited remedy fails of its essential purpose. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations of liability, so some of the above limitations may not apply to you; in such cases, our liability will be limited to the minimum extent permitted by law.

16. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Marlow Parties from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to: (a) your use or misuse of the Service; (b) your User Content; (c) your violation of these Terms or any law; (d) your violation of any third-party right, including any intellectual-property or privacy right; or (e) any decision or action you take based on coaching received through the Service. We reserve the right, at our own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification, in which case you agree to cooperate with our defense.

17. Arbitration agreement & class-action waiver

Please read this section carefully. It requires you and Marlow to resolve most disputes through individual binding arbitration rather than in court, and it waives your right to a jury trial and to participate in a class action.

(a) Scope. Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms, the Service, or the relationship between you and Marlow (a "Dispute") will be resolved exclusively by final and binding individual arbitration, except that either party may bring an individual action in small-claims court for Disputes within that court's jurisdiction, and either party may seek injunctive or equitable relief in court for claims of intellectual-property infringement.

(b) Arbitration provider & rules. Arbitration will be administered by AAA under its Consumer Arbitration Rules in effect at the time the arbitration is initiated. The arbitration will be conducted by a single arbitrator. The seat of the arbitration will be Roanoke, Virginia, and proceedings may be conducted by telephone or video at the arbitrator's discretion.

(c) Class-action waiver. You and Marlow agree that each may bring claims against the other only in your or its individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, collective, consolidated, or representative proceeding. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims and may not preside over any form of representative or class proceeding.

(d) Informal resolution first. Before initiating arbitration, the party raising a Dispute will send a written notice describing the Dispute to the other party and will engage in good-faith discussions for at least sixty (60) days. Notices to Marlow should be sent to hello@firststep.support.

(e) 30-day opt-out. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by sending a written opt-out notice to hello@firststep.support within thirty (30) days of first accepting these Terms. Your notice must include your full name, the email and phone number associated with your account, and a clear statement that you wish to opt out of arbitration. Opting out does not affect any other provision of these Terms.

(f) Severability. If the class-action waiver is found unenforceable as to a particular claim or remedy, that claim or remedy will proceed in court while all other claims will continue in arbitration. If the entire arbitration agreement is found unenforceable, the parties agree that the exclusive jurisdiction and venue described in Section 18 will apply.

18. Governing law & venue

These Terms and any Dispute will be governed by the laws of the State of Virginia, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Subject to Section 17, you and First Step submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Rockbridge County, Virginia for any proceedings not subject to arbitration. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply.

19. Termination

You may terminate your account at any time under Section 6. We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, with or without notice, if (a) you violate these Terms; (b) we are required to do so by law; (c) we discontinue the Service; or (d) for any other reason in our reasonable discretion. Sections that by their nature should survive termination — including Sections 9 (license to operate), 11 (intellectual property), 14 (warranties), 15 (limitation of liability), 16 (indemnification), 17 (arbitration), 18 (governing law), and 22 (general provisions) — will survive.

20. Force majeure

No party will be liable for any failure or delay in performance to the extent caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including acts of God, natural disasters, epidemics or pandemics, war, terrorism, civil unrest, government actions, labor disputes, internet or telecommunications outages, infrastructure failures of third-party providers, or the unavailability or failure of utilities.

21. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date and notify you by email or in-Service message at least 30 days before the changes take effect. Your continued use of the Service after the effective date of an update constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not agree to an update, you must stop using the Service before it takes effect.

22. General provisions

Entire agreement. These Terms and the Privacy Policy constitute the entire agreement between you and Marlow regarding the Service and supersede any prior agreements.

Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect, and the invalid provision will be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable.

No waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms is not a waiver of that provision or any other.

Assignment. You may not assign or transfer these Terms or any rights under them without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms without restriction. Any prohibited assignment is void.

Headings. Section headings are for convenience only and have no legal effect.

Independent contractors. Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, employment, or agency relationship between you and Marlow.

Electronic communications & signatures. You consent to receive communications from us electronically, and you agree that electronic signatures, contracts, orders, and other records satisfy any legal requirement that they be in writing.

23. Contact & notices

Questions or notices regarding these Terms should be sent to:

Email: hello@firststep.support

Notices we send to you will be delivered to the email address on file or by an in-Service message and are deemed given when sent.