Effective date: October 12, 2026 · Last updated: October 30, 2026
Lens helps high school students understand themselves and find colleges that fit. Lens is operated by Two Sycamore LLC, a Virginia limited liability company ("Lens," "we," "us"). This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect when you use startwithlens.com, the Lens app and our emails (together, the "Services"), how we use and share it, how long we keep it, and the choices you have. Lens is currently in a free pilot.
The short version
- We collect only what Lens needs: your name, email and state; your assessment answers and results; the colleges you save; and anything you choose to tell us.
- We never sell your personal information, never use it for targeted advertising, and don't show ads.
- We never share your results with colleges, recruiters, lenders or other businesses.
- We use AI to write your results. Your assessment answers and scores (never your name or email) are sent to our AI provider, which does not use them to train its models.
- Adults you add (such as a parent or counselor) get progress updates only, never your answers or results.
- You can delete your account at any time, and we delete accounts automatically after 6 months without activity.
- Lens is for students 13 and older. We don't knowingly collect information from children under 13.
Information we collect
Information you give us
- When you join the waitlist or create an account: your first and last name, email address and state; up to two optional additional email addresses (for example a parent, guardian or counselor); your confirmation that you're 18 or older, or that a parent or guardian knows you're taking part; and, if you tell us, how you heard about Lens.
- When you use Lens: your answers to the assessments; the GPA and test scores you choose to enter; the colleges you save, with any labels and notes you add; and your answers to our feedback questions.
- When you contact us: your message and whatever information you include.
Information Lens creates for you
From your answers, Lens produces your results: scores, a written profile, College Ideas and Major Ideas, notes on specific colleges, longer college guides you request, and a PDF report. We store these so you can come back to them.
Information from others
If a student adds your email address as an additional contact, we receive your email address from that student. If you give feedback through a link we email you, we receive your answers.
Information collected automatically
- Analytics: we use Google Analytics to understand how people use our website, such as pages visited, the site you came from, general location (city or region), device and browser type, and actions like joining the waitlist. Google Analytics uses cookies to do this.
- Usage counts: to see where Lens could be clearer, we count how many browsers reach each step of a search, such as opening the College Filter, saving a college or creating an account. Each browser gets a random code stored on the device. It isn't linked to your name, email or account, and we don't record your IP address with it.
- Sign-in and security logs: our hosting and database providers record technical information such as IP address, browser type and the time of each request, to keep the Services running and secure.
- Browser storage: Lens saves small items in your browser so you stay signed in and the app remembers where you left off.
- Email delivery: our email provider tells us whether an email was delivered or bounced.
Payments
Lens is free during the pilot. If we introduce paid features, payments will be handled by our payment processor, Stripe. Stripe collects your card details directly; we receive confirmation of your purchase but never see or store your full card number.
Information we don't ask for
We don't ask for Social Security numbers, financial account details, race, ethnicity, religion or health information. Please don't include sensitive information like this in notes or messages to us.
How we use information
We use information to:
- Provide Lens: create your account, score your assessments, write your results, show colleges and save your list, and produce your report.
- Communicate with you: send sign-in links, tell you when results are ready, send a small number of progress reminders, and answer your questions.
- Keep the adults you add informed: send them a short note that you've joined and, if you pause partway, up to two progress updates (for example, "5 of 8 steps done"). They never receive your answers, scores or results unless you share your report with them yourself.
- Improve Lens: understand how the Services are used and fix problems. When we study results to improve our assessments and guidance, we use aggregated or de-identified information that does not identify you.
- Keep Lens safe and meet legal obligations: prevent misuse, protect our users and comply with the law.
We don't use your information to make decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects. Lens's results are for your own reflection and for conversations with your family and counselor.
How Lens uses AI
Lens uses AI from Anthropic (the maker of Claude) to write your profile, your fit guidance and notes about specific colleges. To do this, we send Anthropic your assessment answers and scores, the results Lens has already produced, and public information about colleges. We do not send your name or email address. Under its commercial terms, Anthropic does not use information sent through its service to train its AI models. Some college notes also use web searches of colleges' official websites; those searches contain college topics, not information about you.
AI can make mistakes. We review our instructions and spot-check results, and some results get an extra automated quality check before you see them. If something in your results seems wrong, please tell us.
How we share information
We never sell personal information, and we never share it for targeted advertising. We share information only in these situations:
- Service providers that help us run Lens, under agreements that limit their use of your information to providing their services to us: Supabase (database, sign-in and server functions), Netlify (website hosting), Anthropic (AI writing, as described above), Resend (sending email), Google (Google Analytics, and our email inbox through Google Workspace) and Stripe (payments, if and when we introduce paid features).
- People you choose: the adults you add receive the progress updates described above, and you can share your PDF report with anyone you like.
- Legal and safety reasons: if required by law, such as in response to a subpoena, or if we believe it's necessary to protect the safety, rights or property of our users, the public or Lens.
- Business transfers: if Two Sycamore LLC is involved in a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that deal. We'll notify you by email and on our website before your information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
- De-identified information: we may share aggregated or de-identified information that cannot reasonably be used to identify you, for example in research about college fit.
Other websites and content
Lens links to colleges' websites, student blogs, videos and social media pages, which open in a new tab. Those sites have their own privacy policies, and we don't control what they collect. Some pages on our site also load content from other providers: maps from OpenStreetMap, campus photos from Wikimedia Commons, and fonts from Google Fonts. Those providers receive your IP address when the content loads.
Cookies and similar technologies
We use a small number of cookies and similar technologies:
- Essential storage to keep you signed in and make the app work. Lens can't work without it.
- Analytics cookies from Google Analytics, as described above. You can block them with your browser settings or Google's Analytics opt-out browser add-on.
We don't use advertising cookies. Because we don't sell your information or use it for targeted advertising, a "Do Not Track" or Global Privacy Control signal doesn't change how we handle your information.
How long we keep information
- Your account and results: for as long as your account is active. If you haven't used Lens for 6 months, we'll email you, and if you don't sign in within 14 days of that email we'll delete your account and everything in it. You can also delete your account yourself at any time.
- Waitlist requests that don't become accounts: deleted 6 months after the request.
- Additional email addresses a student added: deleted along with that student's account.
- Unsubscribe records: if you unsubscribe, we keep your email address on a do-not-email list so we can honor your choice.
- Analytics data: kept by Google Analytics for no more than 14 months. Our own usage counts are also deleted after 14 months.
- Technical logs: kept by our service providers for the short periods set by their own policies.
- Payment records: if we introduce paid features, kept for as long as tax and accounting laws require.
We may keep aggregated or de-identified information that cannot reasonably be used to identify you.
Your choices and rights
Wherever you live, you can:
- See your information: your results and saved colleges are in your account, and you can download your report. To request a copy of everything we hold about you, email us.
- Correct your information: update it in your account or email us.
- Delete your information: use "Delete my account" on your Account page, or email us. Deletion is permanent.
- Stop emails: use the unsubscribe link in any email. Sign-in emails you request will still arrive.
- Remove an added adult: students can remove an additional contact from their account, and anyone we've emailed as an added contact can unsubscribe or ask us to delete their email address.
Some states, including Virginia, California, Colorado and Connecticut, give residents specific privacy rights, such as the rights to access, correct, delete and obtain a copy of their personal data, and to opt out of its sale, targeted advertising or profiling. We extend these rights to everyone. To make a request, email hello@startwithlens.com. We'll verify your identity (usually by email) and respond within 45 days. A parent or guardian, or an authorized agent with your written permission, can make a request on your behalf. If we decline your request, you can appeal by replying to our decision; we'll respond to appeals within 60 days. If you're a Virginia resident and disagree with the outcome of an appeal, you can contact the Virginia Attorney General. We won't treat you differently for exercising your rights.
Students under 18 and children
Lens is designed for high school students. You must be at least 13 to use Lens, and if you're under 18, a parent or guardian must know you're using it. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that we have, we'll delete it. If you believe a child under 13 has given us information, please email us.
Parents and guardians of students under 18 can contact us to review or delete their student's information.
How we protect information
We use reasonable safeguards to protect your information, including encryption in transit (HTTPS), database access controls so each student can see only their own data, and email sign-in links instead of passwords. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we can't guarantee absolute security. If a security breach affects your personal information, we'll notify you as required by law.
Where your information is stored
Lens is operated in the United States, is intended for people in the United States, and stores information in the United States.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as Lens changes. We'll post the new version here with a new "last updated" date. If we make a material change to how we collect, use or share your personal information, we'll email account holders before the change takes effect.
Contact us
Questions or requests about privacy:
Two Sycamore LLC, a Virginia limited liability company Email: hello@startwithlens.com
This policy is governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia.