THE FINE PRINT, WITHOUT THE FINE PRINT
RULES OF THE GRILL
Money decides the queue. People decide the verdict.
THE AUCTION
01 — THE AUCTION
New startups enter the paid queue with a minimum total bid of $10. You choose the total you want to reach; you do not have to buy #1.
- Higher verified total bids sit higher in the queue.
- Existing startups can raise their total by at least $1.
- When topping up, you pay only the difference between the current total and the new chosen total.
- The startup at #1 is the startup scheduled to be grilled next.
- Another verified payment can change the estimated position at any time.
THE PAYMENT
02 — THE PAYMENT
Checkout is handled by Stripe. GrillMe only treats a successful, verified payment as paid auction money; only then does the paid total change.
- A pending, canceled, abandoned, or failed Checkout does not change rank.
- A successful payment is applied once, even if Stripe retries its confirmation.
- If a founder raises from $20 to $31, they pay $11—not another $31.
- The displayed estimated position can change if someone else pays during Checkout.
WHO GETS GRILLED
03 — WHO GETS GRILLED
The paid queue decides who is next. A live Grill runs for a configured period shown by its countdown; when it ends, GrillMe saves the public result and marks that startup completed.
- #1 becomes the next startup On The Grill.
- Only eligible real paid startups participate in the paid queue.
- House Demo is not a competitor and does not outrank a real startup.
- Completed or rejected startups do not re-enter automatically.
- When a real startup takes over, the demo no longer affects the active Grill or ranking.
The live countdown is the source of truth for the current Grill. No fixed public schedule is promised.
THE VERDICT
04 — THE VERDICT
While a Grill is live, public users can answer three anonymous questions about the startup:
- Do you get it?
- Would you try it?
- Would you pay for it?
Until there are five complete judges, the Grill is still heating up and no final score is shown.
THE ROASTS
05 — THE ROASTS
Public users may leave short, product-focused roasts while the Grill is live. GrillMe may remove content that breaks these rules.
- Keep criticism about the product, landing page, offer, pricing, positioning, UX, or business proposition.
- No personal abuse, doxxing, threats, spam, illegal content, or unrelated attacks.
THE CLICKS
06 — THE CLICKS
When someone opens a startup from GrillMe, the visit is routed through GrillMe before it reaches the startup site.
- Click totals are intended to represent outbound interest generated through GrillMe.
- Repeat activity may be deduplicated.
- Counts are directional product analytics, not a guarantee of unique human visitors.
FAIR PLAY
07 — FAIR PLAY
GrillMe may reject or remove startups involving:
- Illegal content
- Scams or fraud
- Malware or phishing
- Impersonation
- Obvious spam
- Legal or safety risk
- Attempts to manipulate voting or click systems
Paid placement does not guarantee positive feedback, traffic, leads, sales, investment, revenue, or any particular Grill Score. Appearing on the board is not an endorsement by GrillMe.
BILLING
08 — BILLING
A successful payment buys auction position and exposure—not a guaranteed outcome.
- Canceled or failed Checkout does not increase the bid.
- Concurrent bidding may change your rank after payment.
- For duplicate charges or billing problems, contact GrillMe.
HOUSE DEMO
09 — HOUSE DEMO
GrillMe may display a House Demo when no real startup is active. It is there to show how the product works while the queue is empty.
- Demo votes, roasts, and clicks are clearly labeled sample data.
- House Demo does not pay and does not rank.
- House Demo does not affect real auction prices, rankings, or revenue.
- A real eligible startup takes priority as soon as one is ready.
THAT'S IT.