These Terms of Use govern registration, enrolment and participation in VidiPreneur’s free standard Academy courses and the use of their learning materials.

 

VidiPreneur is the online academy of MERKBAST Consulting. The provider and contracting party is Dr. Andreas A. Bastian, a sole proprietor trading as MERKBAST Consulting, Färberweg 74, 55128 Mainz, Germany.

 

Contact: info@vidipreneur.com

 

These terms apply to individual participants, including consumers and business users. Mandatory statutory rights remain unaffected.

 

Customised institutional programmes, sponsorship, advertising, consulting and broader teaching or distribution licences require separate agreements. Individually agreed terms take precedence where applicable.

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2. Free Access & Separate Paid Services

 

Standard Academy courses identified as free are available without a course fee.

 

Included videos, quizzes, downloadable materials and any advertised Certificate of Completion are provided free of charge.

 

Registration and enrolment do not create a paid subscription or authorise any payment.

 

Customised programmes, consulting and other additional services may be subject to fees. Their scope and price must be agreed separately before they are provided.

 

Any future paid offering requires a separate order or agreement. Existing free enrolment does not authorise charges for it.

 

3. Account Registration

 

You need an account to enrol in and access Academy courses.

 

You must provide accurate registration information and keep your login credentials secure. Your account is personal and must not be shared with other people.

 

Please notify us promptly if you suspect unauthorised access.

 

Newsletter subscriptions and consent to sponsor marketing are optional and separate from account registration and course enrolment. Declining or withdrawing such consent does not affect your access to the free standard courses.

 

4. Enrolment & Access

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Enrollment in free standard Academy courses is currently restricted to eligible participants affiliated with universities, public research institutions, and non-profit organizations. All enrollment requests are subject to eligibility verification and approval. VidiPreneur reserves the right to decline enrollment requests that do not meet these requirements.

 

Before enrolling, you can review the course description, access period, technical requirements and completion conditions.

 

By submitting the enrolment request, you request access to the selected course under these terms. We accept your request when we activate your course access.

 

Account registration alone does not necessarily enrol you in every course.

 

We will send you an enrolment confirmation containing your access information and the applicable terms in a form you can retain.

 

The contract language is English.

 

5. Course Content, Updates, and Scope

 

The course description provided at the time of enrolment sets out the included lessons, learning materials, language, access period, technical requirements and any completion requirements.

 

The course provides digital content for independent, self-paced study. Depending on the course, materials may include recorded video sessions, automatically graded quizzes, worksheets and templates in PDF, spreadsheet or document formats.

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We may update educational content, correct errors and replace tools or templates to keep the Academy relevant. The content available during an access period may therefore change. Temporary interruptions may occur for maintenance or technical reasons.

 

The course includes automated learning support through Lara, an AI learning assistant or AI tutor (for details visit Content & AI Transparency). Human support covers technical access and organisational matters. Personal tutoring by a human instructor, instructor assessment of learning outcomes, individual subject-matter advice, project reviews, mentoring and consulting are not included.

 

Consulting services provided by MERKBAST Consulting require a separate agreement and are charged separately.

 

Announced future courses and additional institutional services are not included in an existing enrolment unless expressly stated.

 

6. Course Access & Duration

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Unless expressly stated otherwise before enrolment, access to each Academy program is provided free of charge for six months from the date of enrolment in that program.

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Creating an Academy account does not start the access period; enrolment in the individual program does.

 

During this period, participants may access the program and revisit completed content, subject to its progression and quiz requirements. Access ends when the six-month period expires, even if the program has not been completed.

 

You may end your participation at any time by contacting info@vidipreneur.com.

 

Account deletion and the retention of associated records are addressed in our Privacy Policy.

 

Materials made available for download may be retained for personal use after access ends, subject to the intellectual property and permitted-use provisions of these Terms (under Section 8). Downloading materials does not extend access to videos, quizzes or other online features.

 

Access remains subject to the account restrictions in Section 15. Mandatory statutory rights remain unaffected.

 

7. Technical Requirements & Availability

 

You need a suitable internet-connected device and a supported web browser to access the Academy. Downloadable materials may require software capable of opening the file formats identified in the course description.

 

Specific compatibility requirements and any necessary third-party software costs will be disclosed before enrolment.

 

We maintain the platform and address technical problems affecting the agreed service. Temporary interruptions may occur for maintenance or technical reasons.

 

Where reasonably possible, we will provide advance notice of planned interruptions.

 

If you experience an access problem, please contact info@vidipreneur.com.

 

Your applicable statutory rights concerning unavailable or defective digital products remain unaffected.

 

8. Use of Course Content & Tools

 

Your enrolment grants you a non-exclusive, personal, non-transferable licence to use the course and its materials for your own learning and venture work.

 

Permitted Use

 

You may download materials where a download option is provided and adapt worksheets, tools and templates for your own projects.

 

You may share completed project outputs, such as your business case, financial projections or valuation analysis, with your venture team, advisers, investors and funding bodies. This permission does not extend to distributing blank or reusable templates or giving others independent access to the underlying course materials.

 

You may continue using lawfully downloaded worksheets, tools and templates for these permitted purposes after your online course access expires.

 

Restrictions

 

Without our prior written permission, you may not:

• Share your account or give other people access to course videos through your account.

• Publish, sell, distribute or otherwise make available course materials, including blank or reusable worksheets, tools and templates.

• Copy, record, translate, adapt or rebrand course materials for use in your own academy, courses, workshops, training programmes or commercial learning products.

• Incorporate the materials into another organisation’s teaching resources, template library or learning platform.

 

These restrictions also apply to modified versions. Changing wording, design, branding or file format does not grant permission to redistribute or repurpose protected materials.

 

Institutional & Teaching Use

 

Institutions may direct individuals to register for the free Academy.

Embedding, reproducing, distributing or adapting course materials for institutional teaching, shared access or another learning platform requires a separate licence.

 

These restrictions do not prevent participants from applying the knowledge they acquire or independently developing their own materials without copying or adapting VidiPreneur’s protected content. Mandatory statutory rights and exceptions remain unaffected.

 

9. Educational Purpose & Outcomes

 

VidiPreneur provides entrepreneurship education. The courses support your work on a business case, market assessment, funding needs, venture valuation and the testing of assumptions.

 

The content does not replace advice tailored to your circumstances from qualified legal, tax, regulatory, financial or other professional advisers.

 

Examples, financial models and valuation exercises depend on assumptions. They do not constitute a formal valuation, investment recommendation or commitment by an investor or funding body.

 

Completing a course does not guarantee funding, grant approval, commercial success or acceptance by an investor. You remain responsible for decisions about your project. This does not limit our responsibility to provide the agreed course or your statutory rights.

 

10. Certificates

 

Where a Certificate of Completion is included in the course description, it is provided free of charge after you complete all required learning steps and pass each required quiz with a score of at least 70%.

 

Quizzes may be repeated without limit during your course access period. The certificate is issued automatically once all completion requirements have been met.

 

The certificate records completion of the relevant VidiPreneur course. It is not a university degree, professional licence or state-recognised qualification and does not certify the investment readiness or commercial viability of a venture.

 

11. Sponsorship, Advertising & External Offers

 

VidiPreneur may receive funding from sponsors, advertisers and institutional partners to support its learning offer.

 

Advertising, sponsor profiles and sponsored contributions will be clearly identified. Sponsorship does not grant sponsors control over the standard curriculum or the right to access participants’ personal data, learning records or project materials.

 

The appearance of a sponsor or external organisation does not constitute a recommendation to purchase its products, engage its services or accept an investment offer.

 

You are not required to contact sponsors, purchase their products or agree to their marketing to access the free standard courses.

 

If you choose to enter into an agreement with an external organisation, that agreement is separate from your Academy participation and is governed by the terms agreed with that organisation.

 

12. Editorial Responsibility & AI-Supported Production

 

The curriculum and educational content are developed by Dr. Andreas A. Bastian through MERKBAST Consulting.

 

AI tools support parts of the writing, visual creation and video production process. Course videos use AI-generated presenters and synthetic voices.

 

These presenters deliver the educational material; they are not independent instructors or sources of expertise. Dr. Andreas A. Bastian reviews and approves the course materials before publication and retains editorial responsibility.

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Our AI tutor‘s responses are generated automatically and are not individually reviewed or approved before being displayed. They may be inaccurate or incomplete. The human review and approval process described above applies to published course materials, not to individual AI-generated responses. The educational-purpose provisions in Section 9 also apply to use of the AI learning assistant.

 

Institutionally commissioned adaptations may reflect agreed programme objectives.

 

Any sponsored contributions will be identified.

Further information is available on our Content & AI Transparency page.

 

13. Corrections, Updates & Statutory Remedies

 

We may correct errors and provide updates needed to maintain the agreed quality, functionality and security of the course and platform.

 

Updates will not remove your entitlement to the course content and essential features agreed at enrolment. Material changes to an existing contract will be made only where permitted by law or agreed with you.

 

Changes to these terms will not retrospectively alter an existing agreement unless a lawful basis or valid agreement permits this.

 

Your applicable statutory rights concerning the provision and conformity of digital products remain unaffected.

 

14. Withdrawal & Ending Participation

 

You may end your participation in a free standard course at any time by notifying info@vidipreneur.com. No cancellation fee applies.

 

Where applicable law gives you a statutory right of withdrawal, that right remains unaffected. Any required withdrawal notice and model withdrawal form will be provided separately before the contract is concluded and with the enrolment confirmation.

 

Creating an account, accepting these terms, accessing videos or downloading materials does not by itself constitute consent to waive a statutory right of withdrawal.

 

If you exercise a statutory right of withdrawal, the consequences are governed by applicable law.

 

Separate paid services are subject to the withdrawal information and contractual terms applicable to those services.

 

15. Misuse & Account Restrictions

 

We may take proportionate action where there is evidence of unauthorised account sharing, unlawful use or a material breach of these terms.

 

Where appropriate, we will explain the issue and give you a reasonable opportunity to resolve it before restricting access. Immediate temporary restrictions may be necessary to address an urgent security risk or ongoing unlawful activity.

 

Restrictions will last no longer than necessary. Any termination and its consequences will be governed by applicable law.

 

Declining or withdrawing consent to optional marketing is not misuse and does not justify restricting your free course access.

 

16. Personal Data & Optional Sponsor Contact

 

We process personal data as described in our Privacy Policy, including information needed to administer accounts, provide course access, retain learning progress and issue certificates.

 

Registration and enrolment do not authorise the disclosure of your contact details to sponsors for their own marketing.

 

If you request an introduction to a particular organisation, we will explain which information will be shared, with whom and for what purpose before you submit the request.

 

Where consent is required for sponsor marketing or another optional disclosure, it will be requested separately. Such consent is voluntary and may be withdrawn without affecting access to the free standard courses.

 

These terms do not themselves constitute consent to marketing or sponsor data sharing.

 

Any identifiable reporting to an institution in a customised programme requires an appropriate legal basis and separate, transparent information for the participants concerned. Sponsorship or institutional funding alone does not authorise such reporting.

 

17. Liability

 

Our liability is governed by applicable statutory law. Nothing in these terms excludes or restricts rights or liabilities that cannot lawfully be excluded or restricted.

 

18. Applicable Law & Disputes

 

German law applies. If you are a consumer, this choice of law does not deprive you of mandatory protections applicable in your country of habitual residence.

 

Jurisdiction is determined by the applicable statutory rules.

 

Please contact info@vidipreneur.com with complaints or questions relating to your participation.

 

We are neither willing nor obliged to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.