Terms of use
Last updated 2026-11-02
PE or Not? is published by TechCrowds, LLC (a California limited liability company), PO Box 104, Redwood City, CA 94064. You can reach us at info@peornot.org. “We” and “us” mean TechCrowds, LLC. These terms cover peornot.org, the PE or Not? browser extension, our API and MCP server, and our data downloads (together, “PE or Not?”). By using PE or Not? you agree to them.
What PE or Not? is
PE or Not? reports who owns or backs health and home-services businesses, from public sources. It is information, not medical, financial, legal or purchasing advice. A label describes ownership. It says nothing about the quality, safety or price of any business’s services, and we don’t claim that any business is better or worse because of who owns it.
What our labels mean, and their limits
- Each label states a fact about ownership with its sources and the date we checked them: group location lists, the federal NPI registry, state records, filings, press releases and investment firms’ own pages.
- “PE-backed” or “affiliated” means a private-equity firm or fund holds a stake, majority or minority, in the group the business belongs to or works with. In dentistry and some other fields a licensed clinician usually remains the legal owner of the practice, and the group runs the business side; we say “affiliated”, not “owned by”.
- “No known PE ties” means we found none in the sources we check. It is not a statement that a business is independent. Only practices that certify their ownership through Verified Not PE are described that way.
- Ownership changes and records go out of date, and a match between a listing and a group can be wrong. Matches we aren’t confident in are shown as “Not confirmed”, with the source, and no label. Check the linked sources before relying on a label.
Corrections
If a label, owner or address is wrong, email corrections@peornot.org with the page and, if you have one, a source. If we got something wrong, we fix it as soon as we confirm it and note the date. Businesses can’t pay to create, change or remove a label. See Report a correction.
Verified Not PE listings
- Before listings open. You can apply and we’ll verify your ownership, but nothing is charged and no badge is shown. When listings open we’ll email you a link to activate; the badge goes live, and the terms below on payment and renewal apply, only if you do.
- What it is. A paid listing for practices that certify they are owned by their own licensed clinicians, with no private-equity, corporate, lender or health-system owner and no management contract with one. Pages with the badge say it is a paid listing.
- Applying. You attest to your ownership on the application, then pay by card through Stripe. You must be the practice’s owner or authorized by it.
- Price and renewal. The price is shown before you pay. A listing lasts one year and renews automatically each year at the then-current price unless you cancel; we email you before it renews. You can cancel at any time, and the listing stays until the end of the paid year.
- Verification. We check your attestation against public records before the badge goes live. If we can’t verify it, we decline the listing and refund the fee in full.
- Your obligations. What you tell us must be true. You must tell us within 30 days if the practice’s ownership changes or a sale or investment is agreed.
- Removal. We remove the badge if an attestation turns out to be false or ownership changes. If ownership changes, we refund the unused part of the year. If an attestation was false, there’s no refund, and you agree to cover our reasonable costs of any claim that arises from it.
- Using the badge. While the listing is active you may show the Verified Not PE badge on your website and materials, linked to your PE or Not? page. Stop using it when the listing ends.
- Labels are not for sale. A listing never creates, changes or removes an ownership label.
Using our content and data
- You may link to and quote our pages with credit to PE or Not?.
- Our data downloads, API and MCP server are offered under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 license: free for non-commercial use with attribution to peornot.org. Commercial use needs a license from TechCrowds, LLC: info@peornot.org.
- AI assistants and agents may use the API and MCP server to answer people’s questions, with a link to the page behind each answer.
- Don’t overload our servers: use the downloads instead of copying the site page by page, and respect any rate limits. Don’t present our labels without their date and source, or change their meaning.
Things you may not do
Don’t use PE or Not? to harass anyone, misrepresent a business’s ownership, claim our endorsement, or show a Verified Not PE badge you don’t hold. Don’t interfere with the site or try to get around its limits.
Links to other sites
We link to sources and other sites we don’t control, and we aren’t responsible for their content. The extension shows our information next to Google Maps, Yelp and business websites; those sites aren’t affiliated with us.
No warranties
PE or Not? is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including accuracy, completeness, timeliness, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.
Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent the law allows, TechCrowds, LLC is not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for any loss arising from your use of or reliance on PE or Not?. Our total liability for any claim is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim and $100.
Governing law and disputes
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Disputes go to the state or federal courts in San Mateo County, California, except that either side may bring a claim in small claims court.
Changes
We may update these terms. The date at the top shows the latest version; for a Verified Not PE listing, a change that affects you takes effect at your next renewal unless you agree sooner.