July 2026

This Story Contribution and Release (this “Agreement”) is between Longitude Media LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, doing business as Cadalyst (“Cadalyst,” “we,” or “us”), and the individual who signs or accepts it below (“you” or “Contributor”). It governs the true account, story, or experience you share with us for possible use in Cadalyst’s Just Tell Jo column and related materials (your “Contribution”).

1. How your story is used. Just Tell Jo is written in a single, constant narrator’s voice. Your Contribution is a source: we interview or collect it, then edit, rewrite, paraphrase, and combine it with editorial material to produce a column in that voice. You understand the published piece is Cadalyst’s editorial work, that we decide whether and how to use your Contribution, and that we may choose not to use it at all.

2. Rights you grant us. You grant Cadalyst a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable right and license to use, reproduce, edit, adapt, excerpt, condense, translate, combine, publish, distribute, publicly display and perform, and create derivative works from your Contribution and any interview recording, in whole or in part, in any and all media and formats now known or later developed. This includes, without limitation:

(a) the Just Tell Jo email newsletter and Cadalyst’s websites and archives;

(b) social media, including LinkedIn, and other distribution channels;

(c) audio and video adaptations, including podcast and short-form video;

(d) promotional, marketing, and sponsor-facing materials for Cadalyst and the column; and

(e) sublicenses to the vendors and platforms we use to produce and distribute the column.

This license lets us create the spin-off content — posts, audio, and video — that promotes the column and Cadalyst, without coming back to you for each format.

3. Anonymity — our promise to you. Our editorial practice is to protect your identity. We will omit or mask your name, your firm or employer’s name, and the names of any vendors or products, and we will alter identifying details so the published piece does not identify you. We will not publish your name or your employer’s name in connection with your Contribution without your separate written consent. You understand that because a story keeps real texture, there is a residual chance someone could infer who is involved from the surrounding facts, and you accept that possibility as part of contributing.

4. Your accuracy review. Before your Contribution runs in Just Tell Jo, we will give you a chance to review the relevant portion for factual accuracy and to confirm it does not disclose anything you consider confidential. Final editorial and publication decisions remain ours.

5. Your promises to us. You represent and warrant that:

(a) you are at least 18 years old and have full authority to enter this Agreement and grant these rights;

(b) your Contribution is true and accurate to the best of your knowledge;

(c) the Contribution is yours to share, and sharing and publishing it will not breach any confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-disparagement, or similar obligation you owe to your employer or any third party, or any employer policy;

(d) you will not include trade secrets or the confidential or proprietary information of your employer or any third party that you are not authorized to disclose;

(e) your Contribution does not defame anyone and does not violate any third party’s privacy, publicity, contract, or other rights; and

(f) your Contribution arises from your own experience and does not infringe any copyright or other right.

6. Recording consent. If your Contribution is gathered by phone or video interview, you consent to being recorded and to our use of that recording as described in Section 2. You may decline to answer any question or end the interview at any time.

7. No compensation. You are contributing voluntarily. You are not entitled to any payment, royalty, or other compensation for your Contribution or its use. Any Cadalyst merchandise or “swag” we provide is a discretionary thank-you, not compensation. The mutual promises in this Agreement, the opportunity to have your story published, and any swag provided are the full and only consideration.

8. Release. To the fullest extent permitted by law, you release and discharge Cadalyst, Longitude Media LLC, and their affiliates, sponsors, licensees, and personnel from any claim arising out of our use of your Contribution consistent with this Agreement — including any claim for defamation, invasion of privacy, right of publicity, or emotional distress based on that use.

9. Your indemnity. You will indemnify and hold Cadalyst and Longitude Media LLC harmless from any third-party claim, and any resulting loss, damage, or reasonable expense, that arises from your breach of the promises you make in Section 5 — for example, a claim by your employer that your Contribution disclosed information you were not permitted to share. This does not make you responsible for editorial choices we make in producing the column.

10. Ownership. As between you and Cadalyst, the published column and all editorial materials we create are owned by Cadalyst. You keep ownership of your own underlying experience; nothing here prevents you from telling your own story elsewhere in your own words.

11. Irrevocable; no takedown obligation. Because the license in Section 2 is perpetual and irrevocable, once your Contribution has been published or distributed we are not obligated to recall, remove, or stop using it. We may, at our discretion, update or remove published material.

12. General. This Agreement is the entire agreement between us about your Contribution and replaces any prior understanding on that subject. It may be amended only in writing. If any provision is unenforceable, the rest stays in effect. This Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules, and the state and federal courts located in Delaware will have jurisdiction and venue over any dispute.

 Agreement. You agree that accepting this Agreement electronically — by signing, by checking a consent box online, or by confirming your agreement on a recorded interview — has the same effect as a handwritten signature.