Terms and Conditions

These terms and conditions set out the rules for using 1stepGrow at https://www.1stepgrow.com, including reading our content, subscribing to our newsletter and sending us pitches, nominations or messages. They apply to every visitor, reader, contributor and nominator, and they take effect on 11 September 2026.

Acceptance of these terms

By accessing or using 1stepGrow, you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions and by the policies they refer to. If you do not agree, please do not use the site.

These terms are an electronic record under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and do not need a physical or digital signature. Our privacy policy explains how we handle personal data and forms part of these terms.

Who we are

1stepGrow is an independent technology publication based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. In these terms, "1stepGrow", "we", "us" and "our" mean the publication, and "you" means any person who uses the site.

We publish tech news and analysis, course and institute comparisons, ranked lists, career roadmaps and guides, and hands-on Python and data tutorials. We also run a guest-post programme, interview features and recognition lists. We do not sell, run or operate any course. The site is funded by display advertising, clearly labelled sponsored content and sponsored guest posts, and in some cases affiliate or referral fees. You can read more on our About Us and executive board pages.

Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old to use 1stepGrow, or use it under the supervision of a parent or lawful guardian who accepts these terms on your behalf. If you submit any form, you confirm that you are 18 or over and competent to enter into a contract under the Indian Contract Act, 1872.

Nature of our content

Everything on 1stepGrow is general information published for educational and journalistic purposes, not professional, career, educational, financial or legal advice. Course fees, curricula, rankings, salaries and technology news change quickly, so verify anything important with the original source before you act on it. Our disclaimer explains these limits in detail, and our editorial policy and correction policy explain how we research and fix our work.

Your licence to use our content

We grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable licence to access and read 1stepGrow for your own non-commercial use.

Under this licence you may:

• read, print or save pages for personal reference;
• share links to our pages, including on social media; and
• quote short excerpts with credit and a link, as our content licensing page describes.

You may not, without our written permission:

• republish, reproduce, sell, rent or sublicense our content;
• frame or mirror the site, or present our content as your own;
• remove or alter bylines, credits, copyright notices or disclosures; or
• collect our content in bulk, build datasets from it or use it to train AI models, except as a licence allows.

Republishing and syndication

Republishing, translating or syndicating 1stepGrow content, or using it in training material or commercial products, needs a written licence. Our content licensing page explains which uses are free, which need a licence and how to request one.

Ownership of content and trademarks

Unless stated otherwise, the articles, tutorials, graphics, tables, design and compilation of the site belong to 1stepGrow or to its writers and licensors, and are protected under the Copyright Act, 1957 and other applicable law. Our copyright page sets out ownership in detail. The 1stepGrow name and logo, and all third-party names and marks mentioned on the site, belong to their respective owners.

Acceptable use

You may use 1stepGrow only for lawful purposes and in a way that does not harm the site, its readers, its contributors or anyone else.

Prohibited conduct

You must not, and must not help or allow anyone else to:

• attempt to gain unauthorised access to the site, its servers, databases, inboxes or any connected system;
• attempt SQL injection, cross-site scripting or any other code or script injection;
• upload, transmit or link to malware, viruses, executable files or anything designed to damage, disrupt or take control of a system;
• probe, scan or test the site for vulnerabilities, or attempt to breach its security or authentication measures;
• bypass, disable or interfere with rate limits, spam protection or any other security control;
• submit forms automatically, in bulk or with scripts, or send spam or unsolicited promotions through our forms;
• scrape or crawl the site at abusive rates, or with bots that ignore our robots.txt file;
• impersonate any person or organisation, or misrepresent your identity, affiliation or credentials;
• send or submit content that is unlawful, defamatory, obscene, harassing, hateful, infringing or deliberately misleading; or
• use the site in any other way that breaches applicable law.

How we respond to misuse

We may block, filter or rate-limit any request, IP address or network that we reasonably believe is involved in prohibited conduct, without notice. Where activity may amount to an offence under the Information Technology Act, 2000, including its provisions on unauthorised access and computer-related offences, or under any other law, we may preserve relevant records and report it to law enforcement agencies, CERT-In or other authorities.

If you come across a security weakness by accident, please report it to contacts@1stepgrow.com and do not exploit or disclose it.

Submissions and contributions

This section applies whenever you send us a pitch, nomination, message or draft, including through our write for us and get featured pages.

What our forms accept

Our forms accept plain text only, and 1stepGrow never accepts file uploads of any kind. HTML, scripts or code, SQL, and links to executable or downloadable files are rejected automatically, and submissions are rate-limited and protected against automated spam. We do not accept drafts as attachments. If your pitch is approved, you share the final draft only as a view-only Google Docs link.

Your promises about what you submit

By submitting content to 1stepGrow, you confirm that:

• it is your original work and you have the right to submit it;
• it is unpublished elsewhere, online or in print, and will stay so while we consider it;
• it does not infringe anyone's copyright, trademark, privacy or other rights, and is not defamatory or otherwise unlawful;
• the facts, figures and credentials in it are accurate, and you can provide sources on request;
• you have disclosed any payment, employment or other material connection with a company, product or programme you mention; and
• where you describe another person, including a nominee, you are entitled to share that information.

The licence you grant us

Unless we agree otherwise in writing, you keep the copyright in contributions you write. When we accept a submission for publication, you grant 1stepGrow a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable and non-exclusive licence to publish, edit, adapt, format, distribute, promote and archive it, including in our newsletter and on social media. You also agree not to publish substantially the same piece elsewhere without our written permission. More detail is on our copyright page.

Our editorial rights

1stepGrow keeps full editorial control over everything published on the site. We may:

• edit submissions for accuracy, clarity, length, style and legal compliance;
• fact-check claims and ask you for sources;
• add editor's notes, disclosures, updates or corrections;
• decline any submission without giving reasons; and
• remove or unpublish content at any time, for example where we find errors, undisclosed conflicts or a breach of these terms.

Submitting a pitch or draft does not guarantee publication, and we may not be able to reply to every pitch.

Sponsored contributions and links

Sponsored contributions, including sponsored guest posts, are clearly labelled as sponsored, and we disclose material connections in line with the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) guidelines. Links in any contribution are included at our editorial discretion. Sponsored, paid or affiliate links are qualified in line with search-engine guidelines, for example with rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow" attributes. Sponsored contributions still go through editorial review and must meet our editorial policy.

Use of AI tools

If you used AI tools to research, draft or edit a submission, you must disclose it in your pitch, as our AI content policy requires. Wholly AI-generated submissions are rejected, and you remain responsible for the accuracy and originality of your work.

Recognition programmes and interview features

Selection for 25 Tech Leaders, 30 Under 30, interview features and similar programmes is made at our editorial discretion. Nominating someone or applying does not guarantee selection, a feature or any particular placement, and we may not be able to explain individual decisions.

Some features or programmes may be sponsored, and when they are, they are labelled as sponsored. We may update or remove a feature if information in it proves inaccurate. Recognition by 1stepGrow is an editorial selection, not a certification or endorsement.

Newsletter

Our newsletter needs only your email address, and you can unsubscribe at any time using the link in any issue. We use your email address only as our privacy policy describes. An issue may include advertisements or sponsored items, which are labelled.

Third-party links and advertisements

1stepGrow contains links to other websites and advertisements served by third parties such as Google AdSense, and we are not responsible for their content, products, services or practices. A link or an advertisement is not an endorsement. Any dealings you have with an advertiser or a linked website, including payments and enrolments, are solely between you and that party. Advertisers can find information on our media kit page.

Affiliate relationships

Some links on 1stepGrow are affiliate or referral links. We may receive compensation from some companies whose programmes appear on 1stepGrow. This can influence which programmes we cover and where and how they appear. We still state our evaluation criteria and each option's limitations. Full details are in our affiliate and advertising disclosure.

Disclaimer of warranties

1stepGrow and all its content are provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. To the extent permitted by law, we make no warranties, express or implied, about the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, reliability or availability of the site or its content, or its fitness for any particular purpose. We do not warrant that the site will be uninterrupted, error-free or free from harmful components.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted under Indian law, 1stepGrow and its writers, editors and contributors are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive loss or damage arising from your use of, or reliance on, the site or its content. This includes loss of data, income, opportunity, admission, employment or goodwill, and losses linked to any decision to enrol in, pay for or leave a course or programme. Nothing in these terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless 1stepGrow and its writers, editors and contributors against any claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs and expenses, including reasonable legal fees, arising from your breach of these terms, your submissions, or your violation of any law or anyone else's rights.

Suspension and termination of access

We may suspend, restrict or end your access to all or part of 1stepGrow at any time and without notice if we reasonably believe you have breached these terms or the law, or where needed to protect the site and its users. We may also change, pause or discontinue any feature, form or programme. Provisions that by their nature should continue, including the licence you grant us, your promises about submissions, the disclaimer of warranties, limitation of liability, indemnity and governing law, survive any suspension or termination.

Grievance redressal

If you have a complaint about content on 1stepGrow or about these terms, you can contact our Grievance Officer, who acts under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 where they apply.

Grievance Officer, 1stepGrow — contacts@1stepgrow.com — Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

We acknowledge complaints within 24 hours and resolve them within 15 days. To help us act quickly, include your name, the URL of the content, the nature of your complaint and any supporting information. For factual errors, you can also follow our correction policy. Complaints about personal data are handled under our privacy policy.

Governing law and jurisdiction

These terms and conditions are governed by the laws of India. The courts at Bengaluru, Karnataka have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising from these terms or from your use of 1stepGrow.

Severability

If any provision of these terms is found invalid or unenforceable, it will be enforced to the maximum extent permitted, and the remaining provisions will stay in full force. Our failure or delay in enforcing any provision is not a waiver of our right to enforce it later.

Entire agreement

These terms, together with our privacy policy, disclaimer, editorial policy, content licensing terms, copyright page, AI content policy and correction policy, form the entire agreement between you and 1stepGrow about your use of the site. Where we sign a separate written agreement with you, for example for sponsored content, that agreement prevails for the matters it covers.

Changes to these terms

We may revise these terms and conditions from time to time, and the date shown on this page tells you when they were last updated. Where a change is significant, we may also highlight it on the site. By continuing to use 1stepGrow after a change takes effect, you accept the revised terms.

Contact us

For any question about these terms and conditions, email contacts@1stepgrow.com or use our contact page.