How I Handle Your Application

The Startup Program at Interlinked Media. Last updated .

The short version: I read every application myself, and no other person does. I never sell what you send me. The only companies that touch it are the ones that run the site, and the tools I use to read applications. If you’re not selected, your application and files are deleted by January 31, 2027. Email hello@interlinkedmedia.com anytime to have them deleted sooner.

I’m Colton Adams, the founder of Interlinked Media. Here’s exactly what happens to what you give me when you apply.

What I collect

What you type, choose, or upload in the application:

  • About you: your email (you sign in with it), your name and preferred name, and whether you’re 18 or older.
  • School and schedule: whether you’re at Texas A&M, and your level, classification or program, major, and expected graduation year, or your school or situation if you’re not. If you’re not at A&M, where you’re based and your time zone (filled in from your device so you don’t have to type it). Whether you’d work in person or remote, and if in person, whether you could do both. The hours you can give, how busy you are right now, when you could start, your credit hours, job hours, and other commitments.
  • Your answers to every question.
  • Your files and links: your résumé, any work samples you upload, and any links you share.
  • How you found the page: your answer to “How did you hear about this?”
  • Your interview: if I invite you to one, the time you book.

And a few things the site records on its own:

  • Which link brought you: which position’s Apply button you clicked, and if the link or flyer you used has a tag on it, that tag and the page it opened. Your browser keeps the tag until you clear this site’s data. All of it is added to your application when you first sign in.
  • Dates: when you started, last saved, last signed in, were sent a reminder, and submitted.
  • Your sign-in: one cookie and a scrambled version of your network address, both explained under Keeping it safe.

The site has no ads, no analytics tools, and no location tracking. I do count visits to the recruiting page: just a number per day for each flyer’s QR code, with every other visit counted together. Nothing about you is recorded. Your browser remembers that it was counted, so a reload doesn’t count twice.

Why

To read your application, choose who to interview, schedule interviews, pick the first team for The Startup Program, and see which flyers and posts reached people. Nothing else.

Who sees it

  • Me. Right now I’m the only person who can open the review page. If anyone else ever helps review applications, I’ll update this page before they do.
  • The companies that run the site, which store and deliver it for me and use it for nothing else:
    • Vercel hosts the site and keeps your files in private storage. Files have no public links. The only way to open one is to be signed in as you, or as me. Like any web host, Vercel also keeps standard technical logs of visits.
    • Upstash stores your answers.
    • Resend sends the site’s emails: your sign-in codes, your reminders, your receipt, the emails about your interview booking, and my notices about your application.
    • Google runs my email. When you submit, I get a notice with your name, email, positions, and the flyer you came from. If I invite you to an interview, the invitation comes from my own email, and I get a notice with your interview time when you book, move, or cancel it. Google also serves the fonts the site uses.
    • Cloudflare runs the quick “are you human?” check on the application page before a sign-in code is sent.
  • The tools I use to read and organize applications.
  • If your interview is a video call, it runs on the service in the link I send you.

I never sell your information, never share it with anyone else, and never use it for ads.

The review page points out things like very short answers or a very full week, so I know where to read more carefully. It doesn’t decide anything. I do.

Emails

I only email you about your application: your sign-in codes, a receipt when you submit, and your interview. If you start an application and don’t finish it, you’ll also get a reminder about a day later and a few more before the deadline. They stop as soon as you submit. You won’t be added to any mailing list. If you’re not selected this time and I’d like to keep you in mind for a future opening, I’ll ask you first.

How long I keep it

  • Applications that were never submitted: deleted by November 30, 2026.
  • If you’re not selected: your answers, résumé, and work samples are all deleted by January 31, 2027. I keep only a one-line record (your name, email, the positions, the dates, and the outcome) for up to two years, so I know if you’ve applied before.
  • If you join: I keep your application while you’re in the program and delete it within six months after you leave, apart from that one-line record.
  • Any copy I download to review follows the same dates.

Your choices

  • Before you submit, while applications are open, you can change any answer and remove any file. Removing a file deletes it.
  • After you submit, email hello@interlinkedmedia.com from the address you applied with to see what I have, correct something, withdraw, or have everything deleted. I’ll do it within 30 days and confirm by email.

Keeping it safe

Your files sit in private storage with no public links. Signing in takes a one-time code that expires in 15 minutes, and the site limits how many codes and guesses anyone can try. The site uses one cookie, only to keep you signed in to your application, for up to 30 days. To stop spam, it briefly keeps a scrambled version of your network address, for no more than a day and never attached to your application.

If your information is ever exposed, I’ll tell you by email.

Age

The Startup Program is for people 18 and older. If someone under 18 starts an application, it’s deleted.

Questions

Email hello@interlinkedmedia.com. I’ll answer it myself.

Colton Adams
Founder, Interlinked Media