We're fortunate to have a healthy mix of funding: community support through memberships, paid products like Go Incognito, YouTube ad revenue, sponsorships, and affiliate partnerships. Community support is the backbone of our independence—it's recurring, unrestricted funding that allows us to take risks, invest in new projects, and say no to partnerships that don't align with our values.
If you value what we do, supporting us directly is the single most impactful way to help.
We also partner with sponsors and affiliates to sustainably scale our work, but these protocols exist to ensure these partnerships never compromise our editorial integrity.
📕 Sponsorship Protocols
We only accept sponsors that we actively use and can personally vouch for the service/product, OR we have extensively tested and vetted it for our audience.
Put simply: We need to genuinely believe the product has value for our audience.
When it comes to how we handle sponsors:
- Every sponsor segment is clearly labeled and timestamped so you can skip it if you want. We believe transparency means giving you control.
- We hold every right to cancel sponsorships for companies that no longer align with our values. Things change, and we change with them.
- Sponsors cannot influence the content we make, our recommendations, or our criticisms—whether directed at them or their competitors. No sponsor is worth losing our reputation.
- If we need to criticize a current sponsor, we will do so transparently in our content.
We re-evaluate all sponsor relationships regularly and will end partnerships that no longer align with our values or serve our audience.
📗 Affiliate Protocols
Most creators hide affiliate links or don't disclose them at all. We take a different approach: every affiliate link is clearly labeled, and we always provide a standard non-affiliate link alongside it so you choose whether to support us.
We only register with services we genuinely recommend and can stand behind—even when addressing their flaws.
All affiliate links are:
- Clearly labeled as affiliate links
- Opt-in (you choose to use them)
- Always presented alongside standard non-affiliate links so you stay in control
You can view our affiliates here. We remain free to recommend alternatives—including competitors—when they better serve specific use cases.
📘 Review Unit Protocols
Due to our recognized expertise, we occasionally receive review units, special access, or discounted products. We implement the following strict protocols:
- Editorial Control Guarantee: Before accepting a unit, we require all partners to agree that we retain full, independent editorial control. We will never accept special access under conditions where we cannot independently review the product.
- Full Disclosure: We clearly disclose to our audience if we received a product or special access.