Editorial Standards & Corrections Policy

Who we are

Value Add VC is an independent venture capital and technology data site covering tech, VC, IPO, and AI markets — news, private-company financials, fund benchmarks, and original data dashboards. Value Add Pulse is our real-time news desk, publishing twice daily. Both are owned, edited, and run by Trace Cohen (@Trace_Cohen), a 3x founder and early-stage investor who has spent his career in the numbers this site reports on.

Sourcing

Every figure we publish — valuations, ARR, round sizes, fund returns, capex guidance — is expected to trace to a primary or named source: SEC filings, earnings calls, company statements, or original reporting by outlets we cite and link. Pulse stories always name and link the outlet that broke the news. When a figure is an estimate or a range, we say so in the text.

We never fabricate quotes. Opinion and analysis are labeled as such — you will see them as “Trace’s Take” on Pulse stories and as “Value Add Pulse Analysis” pieces on slow news days. Headlines are written here, never copied from sources.

How AI is used (honest version)

We use AI heavily, and we would rather tell you exactly how than pretend otherwise. Research and drafting on this site are AI-assisted: automated systems gather sources, cross-check numbers, and produce first drafts at a scale a one-person newsroom could not match on its own.

The judgment is human. Trace Cohen sets the editorial direction, picks the topics, defines the standards on this page, and owns every published opinion. Before anything goes live, automated quality gates check sourcing, links, freshness, and internal consistency — and when those gates and this policy conflict with speed, the policy wins. Whatever the tooling, accountability lands on the editor, not the software.

Corrections policy

When we get a material fact or number wrong, we correct it in-place on the original page and update its timestamp. For substantive errors — anything that changes the meaning of a story or a conclusion — we note the correction in the text rather than silently editing it away.

Spotted an error? Email t@nyvp.com with the page URL and what you believe is wrong. Reports are typically reviewed within 24 hours.

Independence & sponsorship

Value Add VC is independently owned. Sponsored content is always labeled as sponsored, and sponsors get no influence over editorial coverage — no story approval, no preview, no say in a number, a ranking, or a conclusion. Some pages, such as our recommended tools reviews, contain affiliate links that may earn us a commission; those links never change what we recommend or how we rank it. Nothing on this site is investment advice.

How we verify company and investor data

Company and investor intelligence pages (/companies, /vc and the Pulse company hubs) draw every figure from one canonical data store. Each figure carries its own as-of date and source, and is labelled Reported (a source states it), Estimated, Derived (computed from other facts) or Rumored (in talks or unconfirmed). Rumors are never shown as the current value. History is kept rather than overwritten, and when two sources disagree for the same period the figure is withheld from the headline until reviewed. Sources are graded primary/official, major outlet, research database, or Value Add VC’s own research — the grade is metadata for you to judge, not proof. Anything wrong or stale: use the “Suggest a correction” link on the page; corrections are checked against primary sources before a page changes.

How we assess tools

Tool pages under /tools are written from vendor documentation, published pricing, public filings and funding data, and feedback from founders and operators in our network. Where a page describes a workflow or outcome, it reflects that research — not a controlled test — unless the page says otherwise. We do not publish star ratings or aggregate scores in structured data unless they are real, visible on the page, and their source is stated. Pricing and plan names are re-checked when a page shows a “Facts checked” date; if a page has no date, treat its pricing as indicative and confirm on the vendor’s site.