Cookie Policy
Last updated: September 17, 2026
1. What this covers
This page lists the cookies and browser storage that StartEase (https://www.startease.app), operated by VentureEase Academy, uses — what each one is for and how long it lasts. It is the detail behind the "Cookies and Local Storage Choices" section of our Privacy Notice.
Cookies are small files a site asks your browser to keep. Browsers also offer two other stores that work like cookies but are never sent to us with a request: local storage, which persists until it is cleared, and session storage, which is emptied when you close the tab. We use all three, and they are listed together below because your browser lets you clear them together.
2. Two categories, and only one of them is a choice
We group everything into two categories, and we ask about the second one:
- Essential — what the site needs in order to work: keeping you signed in, remembering the partner portal you arrived through, holding your place in the assessment, and remembering the cookie choice you made. These have no toggle, because switching them off would break the pages you are trying to use.
- Analytics — optional. Nothing in this category runs until you turn it on. Declining costs you nothing on this site.
We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies, we do not sell what we collect, and we do not embed third-party social or advertising scripts on our pages.
3. Essential cookies
| Name | What it is for | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|
PHPSESSID |
Your sign-in session, and the partner portal you arrived through. Set for every visitor so that forms and sign-in work. | Until you close your browser. A signed-in session also ends after 24 minutes of inactivity. |
se_rm |
Keeps you signed in on this device. Set only if you tick "Remember me" when you sign in. | 14 days. Signing out, changing your password or resetting it deletes it. |
startease_portal |
Returns you to the partner institution's portal you last visited, so you keep seeing that institution's programs. | 30 days. |
All three are sent only to this site, over HTTPS, and cannot be read by JavaScript on other sites.
4. Essential browser storage
These stay in your browser and are never sent to us automatically. We read them with JavaScript on the pages that need them.
| Name | Store | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
se_cookie_consent | Local | The choice you made on the cookie banner, and when you made it. Without it we would ask you on every page. |
se_quiz_session, se_quiz_answers, se_quiz_progress | Local | Your place in the ETI assessment, your answers so far, the follow-up questions chosen for you, your result's identifier and, if you are signed in, your account number — so you can close the tab and carry on later in this browser. |
se_quiz_result | Local | A finished result from an assessment you took without signing in, kept so it can be saved to your account if you register or sign in. |
se_game_anonymous_id | Local | A random identifier, created only if you play a game without signing in, so your scores can appear on the leaderboards. It holds nothing about you. If you later play signed in on the same browser, those scores move to your account. |
se_boo_invite_token | Session | A Business Boo invitation you arrived with, held for the length of the visit so your result can be sent back to whoever invited you. |
| Milestone drafts | Session | Answers you have typed into a training milestone but not yet submitted, so a reload does not lose them. |
se_exit_shown | Session | Records that we have already shown you one Pro offer this visit, so you are not shown it again. |
5. Analytics — optional, and off until you say otherwise
If you choose "Accept All", or turn Analytics on under "Customize", we may use Google Analytics to count visits and see which pages are used. It is requested through /ga-proxy on this domain, so your browser only ever talks to startease.app and your IP address is not handed to Google by your browser directly.
As of the date at the top of this page, analytics is not switched on at all — no measurement ID is configured, so nothing in this category loads for anyone, whatever they choose. We are stating that plainly rather than describing a category that is not running; when it is switched on, this page and the Privacy Notice will say so, and your stored choice will be honoured from the moment it is.
Nothing in this category is ever loaded before you opt in. If you have not answered the banner, analytics is off.
6. Your choices, and how to change them
- The banner. On your first visit, a banner asks. "Accept All" turns analytics on; "Customize" lets you save with Analytics off. Nothing optional loads until you press one of them.
- Change it at any time. Use the Cookie preferences link in the footer of any page — it reopens the banner on the toggles, showing the choice currently in force.
- If you have an account. Settings → Analytics Preferences saves the choice to your account, so it follows you to your other devices rather than being remembered only in one browser.
- If you decline, we ask again after 30 days, in case you change your mind. That is the only reason the banner reappears.
- With JavaScript off, or if you clear this site's data, the banner has nothing stored to read — so optional analytics stays off, and you will be asked again on your next visit.
- In your browser. Every browser can block or clear cookies and site data for a single site. Clearing ours removes everything listed above, including your saved choice, and signs you out.
7. Other companies
Payments are taken on PayPal's own site. We do not receive your card details, and PayPal's cookies are set on PayPal's pages under their policy, not on ours. If you follow a link from StartEase to another site in the VentureEase ecosystem, or to any other site, that site's own cookie policy applies once you are there.
8. Changes and contact
If the cookies we use change, we update this page and the date at the top of it. Questions about anything here: use the contact form at the foot of any page, the Support tab in Settings if you have an account, or info@ventureease.org.
See also our Privacy Notice and Terms & Conditions.