Misleading eligibility information and a refund promise that was not honoured
I purchased a $349 lifetime FounderPass membership specifically to access the Attio Startup Program. Before proceeding, I raised concerns that FounderPass’s published eligibility criteria did not appear consistent with Attio’s actual requirements. FounderPass acknowledged that there was a mismatch, told me Attio should be suitable for our company, and explicitly stated that they would refund the membership if our Attio application was not approved.
What followed was an unnecessarily long and frustrating process. FounderPass advised us to identify them as our affiliated startup-program partner, but the application then remained unresolved for weeks. Because we needed the software, we eventually subscribed to Attio directly at full price.
An Attio representative subsequently told us that we had been approved for the Startup Program and would receive the promotional terms. Shortly afterwards, Attio reversed that decision, admitted that the approval had been given incorrectly, and confirmed that our company did not meet the standard requirements. We are a 13-year-old, bootstrapped IT business, not a qualifying startup. Attio offered only a separate 20% courtesy discount instead.
Despite receiving the correspondence showing that the Startup Program approval had been withdrawn, FounderPass refused the refund on the basis that a discount had previously been approved. This ignored both the later reversal by Attio and FounderPass’s own written commitment to refund us if the intended offer was unavailable.
The main issue is not simply that a third-party partner declined an application. It is that FounderPass published inconsistent eligibility information, acknowledged the mismatch, promised a specific resolution, and then relied on a superseded approval to avoid honouring that promise. The process took more than two months, required repeated follow-ups, and ultimately delivered neither the advertised Startup Program offer nor the agreed refund.








