Application terms
& refund policy.

1. Who we are and what you are applying for

These application terms are offered by The Sage Dad LLC, trading as PennedCanon, at 176 Thatchers Hill Road, Flemington, NJ 08822. Questions, withdrawals and refund requests may be sent to [email protected]. Effective date: November 5, 2026.

The Founding 100 Writers’ Club is a proposed private writing workshop with shared AI infrastructure. We are testing demand before purchasing equipment. Preliminary research has identified plausible hardware options, but the final configuration, service capacity and delivery arrangements are not yet established. Applying does not purchase an operating private AI service or guarantee that the club will launch.

The proposed first-year membership price is US$175: a US$20 refundable application payment and a US$155 balance if you later choose to join under the final offer. Any applicable tax treatment will be disclosed before payment; the final checkout total must be visible before authorization. These payments provide no equity, ownership of equipment, profit participation or investment return.

Your application payment

The US$20 is part of the proposed first-year price, not an additional fee. If you join, it is credited toward that price. Payment does not guarantee acceptance, reserve an unconditional membership entitlement or authorize any later charge. It remains refundable as described below. There is no automatic US$155 charge or automatic renewal.

We will review applications against the published criteria: a genuine writing project or intention to begin, honest discussion of AI assistance, respect for confidentiality and thoughtful feedback, and an interest in collaborative participation. We aim to provide an acceptance, rejection or status update within 10 business days of a complete application. Acceptance is conditional on the later membership offer and your choice to proceed. If we cannot accommodate you, we will refund the US$20; moving to a free waitlist will require your agreement.

Sharing recruitment materials is optional. Sharing, referrals and public promotion do not affect admission or waitlist priority and earn no promised discount or reward. You need no publishing history or finished manuscript.

2. Demand first, then the detailed plan

At 50 qualified applicants, with continuing interest, we will begin detailed equipment, capacity, operating-cost and delivery planning. A qualified applicant has been reviewed as meeting our published application criteria. This checkpoint is not a purchase authorization or a promise of launch.

Once 100 applicants are accepted and a workable plan is ready, we will provide the final offer before requesting US$155. It will include the membership specification, initial usage allowance, delivery schedule, remaining technical assumptions, full confidentiality agreement and risk, cancellation and refund terms. You may accept or decline. Declining receives a full US$20 refund.

The funding goal is 100 fully paid first-year memberships, totaling US$17,500 before fees and other costs. Applications, accepted applicants, waitlist entries and fully paid members are separate counts. Equipment procurement will not begin until all required funds clear and the stated cancellation window closes with funding intact. The twelve-month paid membership term does not start when you apply; the final offer will define the common start after the agreed service-readiness checks.

3. Twenty additional free waitlist applications

We will accept up to 20 additional qualified waitlist applications beyond the initial 100 places. Joining this standby list is free. It does not expand the founding cohort beyond 100, guarantee admission or authorize a payment. You may leave the list at any time.

If an initial applicant withdraws, declines the final offer or misses the published completion deadline, we will invite the next qualified waitlisted applicant in the order their complete application was received. We will not offer the same available place to multiple people during an active response window.

Three business days to respond

Your invitation will state the exact response deadline in America/New_York time. You have until 5 p.m. on the third business day after the invitation is sent to affirmatively accept the available place. The sending day is excluded. For example, an invitation sent on Monday expires at 5 p.m. Thursday when there are no intervening holidays. A business day means Monday through Friday, excluding U.S. federal holidays.

To activate the place, respond through the specified process and authorize the US$20 payment by that deadline. The same application refund rights apply. Silence is not acceptance and no payment is automatic. If you decline or do not respond in time, the invitation expires and we may invite the next person. We will not charge you; you may ask to rejoin at the end of the list if space and the campaign timetable permit.

Keep your contact email current and check your spam folder. If an invitation bounces or we identify an error in our delivery or checkout, we will correct it and provide a fresh three-business-day window if the campaign timetable permits; otherwise we will explain that the place cannot be activated. We will not shorten the promised window to fit a funding deadline.

If the final membership offer is already available, you must still make a separate, affirmative US$155 decision by the completion deadline disclosed in the invitation. We will issue replacement invitations only when the remaining campaign window permits the full response period. Waitlist applicants who are not activated owe nothing; the list closes when the cohort is funded or the campaign ends.

4. A defined recruitment and funding period

Recruitment opens on November 5, 2026 and closes on February 3, 2027, at 5 p.m. America/New_York time. We may stop accepting initial applications earlier when the 100 places are allocated; the free waitlist remains subject to its 20-person limit.

By the recruitment deadline, we must have 100 accepted applicants and a final offer ready to issue. Otherwise, we will cancel and initiate refunds of all collected application payments within 10 business days. Reaching 50 applicants does not extend this deadline.

If the final offer is issued on time, applicants receive 14 calendar days to decide and complete the balance. One additional 14-calendar-day period may be used to fill unpaid places from the waitlist. The exact original and replacement completion dates will be disclosed with the offer. This is a defined funding-completion period, not an indefinite extension of recruitment.

At the end of that completion period, if the funding condition has not been met, we will cancel and initiate refunds of all amounts collected within 10 business days. Any proposed extension beyond these periods requires your affirmative choice to remain; silence will not renew your commitment. Applicants who do not agree will be refunded.

5. Refunds and withdrawal

A full US$20 refund

• If your application is rejected.
• If you withdraw at any time before paying the US$155 balance.
• If you decline the final membership offer or confidentiality agreement.
• If the campaign is cancelled or fails to meet the recruitment or funding conditions.
• If the club does not launch the minimum promised service, including the agreed Private AI service. Opening a community alone does not satisfy this promise.

You do not need to explain a change of mind. Withdrawals close your active application and release its place. No refund is due for a free waitlist entry because no money has been collected.

When a balance has also been collected

If funding fails or we cancel before procurement, all amounts collected are refunded. After all required payments clear, we will send a funding-completion notice identifying the procurement commitment point. You may cancel for a full refund before that notice or during the seven-calendar-day cancellation window following it. We will not begin procurement during that window and will recheck funding before spending.

Post-procurement development failure, service interruptions and closure require separate final membership terms, provided before you decide to pay US$155. This application agreement does not authorize equipment expenditure or waive future remedies. We do not promise a founder-funded refund of all committed membership funds if development or the service later fails. The US$20 no-launch refund promise remains, and mandatory legal rights are preserved.

How to request and receive a refund

Email [email protected] with your application email and receipt or application reference, if available. Do not send card details. A missing reference will not invalidate a request; we will help locate the payment. Rejection, campaign cancellation and failure-to-fund refunds are initiated without requiring individual requests.

We initiate refunds within 10 business days of receiving a withdrawal request or the event that triggers the refund. We refund the full applicable amount without deducting our processing fees, normally to the original payment method. Bank posting times vary. If that method cannot receive a refund, we will contact you to arrange a secure alternative. Third-party currency-conversion differences are outside our control; the refund is for the amount charged in the original transaction currency.

We will retain sufficient available funds to cover outstanding application refund obligations and fund processing costs separately. US$2,000 covers 100 outstanding US$20 payments; the amount held must track the actual liability, including refunds still in process. This is an operational reserve, not a representation that funds are escrowed, insured or held in a legally protected trust.

6. Your information and confidential work

Provide only a general description of your writing goals. Do not submit manuscripts, confidential ideas, sensitive personal information or private information about other people. Applying does not sign an NDA. The complete reciprocal confidentiality agreement will be provided before the US$155 decision and must be signed before confidential community participation.

Application information will be used to review fit, administer the application or waitlist, communicate campaign progress and handle payments and refunds. The separate Application Privacy Notice must identify service providers, retention periods and privacy contacts before applications open. Optional marketing consent will be separate from necessary application communications. Payment details will be handled through Stripe; do not send them by email.

7. Changes, eligibility and your rights

Applications are available to U.S. residents aged 18 or older who can participate in the initial English-language workshop. These requirements will be shown before payment. We may correct or revise the proposal, but will not retroactively narrow an accepted refund promise. Material changes will be communicated directly; applicants may withdraw for their refund, and new commitments require affirmative agreement.

Nothing in these terms excludes rights or remedies that applicable law does not permit us to exclude. These application terms impose no blanket liability waiver, mandatory arbitration or prohibition on honest reviews. The eventual membership agreement is a separate offer.