Effective date: October 12, 2026 · Last updated: October 30, 2026
Welcome to Lens. These Terms of Use ("Terms") are an agreement between you and Two Sycamore LLC, a Virginia limited liability company ("Lens," "we," "us"), which operates startwithlens.com, the Lens app and our emails (together, the "Services"). Please read them along with our Privacy Policy, which explains how we handle your information. By using the Services, you agree to these Terms. If you don't agree, please don't use Lens.
Who can use Lens
- You must live in the United States and be at least 13 years old. Lens is not for children under 13.
- If you're 13 to 17, a parent or legal guardian must know you're using Lens and agree to these Terms on your behalf. By using Lens, you confirm that they do.
- Parents, guardians and counselors are welcome to use our public website and to read results a student chooses to share with them.
During the pilot, accounts are created from our waitlist, and we decide which requests to approve. We may decline or end access at our discretion.
The pilot
Lens is in a free pilot. That means features may change, be added or be removed, and things may occasionally not work as expected. We welcome your feedback. If we later introduce paid features, we'll show the price and any purchase terms before you buy, and we will never charge you without your clear agreement.
Your account
- Give us accurate information, and keep it up to date.
- Lens signs you in with links sent to your email, so keep access to your email account secure. You're responsible for activity in your account.
- Accounts are for one person. Please don't share yours or use someone else's.
- Tell us right away at hello@startwithlens.com if you think someone has accessed your account without permission.
What Lens is, and what it isn't
Lens helps you reflect on who you are and explore colleges that may fit. Please keep these limits in mind:
- Your results describe tendencies, not facts about you. The assessments are based on published research, and results reflect how you answered at one point in time. People change, and results can be imperfect.
- Lens is not professional advice. It is not psychological, medical, mental health, educational, financial or legal advice, and it doesn't diagnose anything. If you're struggling, please talk with a trusted adult or a qualified professional.
- Lens doesn't predict admissions. We never estimate your chances of getting into a college, and nothing in Lens is a guarantee of admission, aid or any outcome.
- AI writes parts of your results, such as your profile and notes about colleges. AI can make mistakes, so treat its writing as a starting point for your own thinking, and tell us if something seems wrong.
- College information can be out of date. College data comes from federal sources and colleges' own websites, which are updated on their own schedules. Always confirm costs, requirements, deadlines and policies directly with each college.
- Lens doesn't rank colleges. We describe colleges and how they might fit you; the decision is yours.
We encourage you to use Lens alongside conversations with your family and your school counselor.
Using Lens responsibly
Please don't:
- Give false information, impersonate someone else, or create accounts in bulk or by automated means.
- Copy, scrape, resell or redistribute the Services, our assessments or our content, or use them to build a competing product.
- Frame or mirror our website, or collect information about other Lens users.
- Try to access parts of the Services you're not authorized to use, probe or break our security, or interfere with the Services or other users.
- Use the Services to send spam or unsolicited messages, including to the additional email addresses feature.
- Add someone's email address as an additional contact without a good reason to believe they'd want Lens updates about you.
- Use the Services in a way that breaks the law or harms others.
Your content
You own the answers, notes and other information you put into Lens ("Your Content"). You give us permission to store, process and display Your Content to provide the Services to you, as described in our Privacy Policy, including using it in aggregated or de-identified form to improve Lens. If you send us feedback or suggestions, we may use them without any obligation to you.
You're welcome to download your report and share it with anyone you choose.
Our content
Lens, including our website, app, design, written guides, reports and the way our assessments are presented and scored, belongs to Two Sycamore LLC or our licensors and is protected by law. Some assessments are based on published research instruments used under their licenses or terms. We give you a personal, noncommercial, non-transferable right to use the Services for your own college search. Please don't copy our assessment questions or reproduce our content except for sharing your own report.
Other websites
Lens links to colleges' websites, student blogs, videos, social media and other sites we don't own or control. We provide these links to help you hear from colleges directly, but we aren't responsible for their content, accuracy or privacy practices. Visiting them is at your own risk, and their own terms apply.
Emails
We send emails you need to use Lens, such as sign-in links and notices that your results are ready, plus a small number of progress reminders, which you can unsubscribe from. If you add other email addresses, those people receive the limited updates described in our Privacy Policy and can unsubscribe at any time. You agree that we can communicate with you electronically, and that notices we send by email or post on our website count as written notice. You can unsubscribe from reminders, but not from messages about your account or changes to these Terms.
Copyright concerns
We respect copyright and expect users to do the same. If you believe something on Lens infringes your copyright, email hello@startwithlens.com with: your contact information; a description of the copyrighted work; where the material appears on Lens; a statement that you believe in good faith the use isn't authorized; and a statement, under penalty of perjury, that your notice is accurate and that you're the owner or authorized to act for the owner, with your physical or electronic signature. We'll respond as required by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Ending your use of Lens
You can stop using Lens and delete your account at any time from your Account page. We may suspend or end your access if we reasonably believe you've broken these Terms, if your use creates risk or legal exposure for Lens or others, or if we stop offering the Services. Accounts that haven't been used for 6 months are deleted as described in our Privacy Policy. Sections of these Terms that by their nature should continue after your use ends (such as ownership, disclaimers, limits of liability and disputes) will continue.
Disclaimers
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE SERVICES, INCLUDING ALL RESULTS, GUIDANCE AND COLLEGE INFORMATION, ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ACCURACY AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DON'T PROMISE THAT THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE OR COMPLETELY SECURE, OR THAT ANY INFORMATION WILL BE ACCURATE, COMPLETE OR CURRENT.
Limits on our liability
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, TWO SYCAMORE LLC AND ITS MEMBERS, EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS AND LICENSORS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST DATA, OPPORTUNITIES OR PROFITS, ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES, INCLUDING ANY DECISION ABOUT WHERE TO APPLY OR ENROLL. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM RELATED TO THE SERVICES OR THESE TERMS WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM AROSE OR ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100). Some states don't allow certain limits on liability, so some of these limits may not apply to you.
Indemnity
If you (or, for a user under 18, your parent or guardian) use the Services in violation of these Terms or the law, you agree to cover our reasonable costs, including attorneys' fees, arising from any resulting claim against us, to the extent permitted by law.
Disputes and governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Any dispute arising from these Terms or the Services will be brought in the state or federal courts located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and you and we consent to their jurisdiction, except that either of us may bring a qualifying claim in small claims court. Before filing a claim, please contact us at hello@startwithlens.com so we can try to resolve it informally.
Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms as Lens changes. We'll post the new version here with a new "last updated" date. If a change is material, we'll email account holders before it takes effect. Continuing to use the Services after the change takes effect means you accept the updated Terms.
Other terms
If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect. If we don't enforce a provision right away, we haven't waived it. You may not transfer your rights under these Terms; we may transfer ours as part of a merger, acquisition or sale of assets. These Terms and our Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and us about the Services, and they don't give rights to anyone else.
Contact us
Two Sycamore LLC, a Virginia limited liability company Email: hello@startwithlens.com
California residents: under California Civil Code §1789.3, you may contact the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, CA 95834, or by phone at (916) 445-1254 or (800) 952-5210.