Terms of Service

1. About these terms#

Mentoring @ Invespire is operated by Invespire Startup Management Private Limited, S-12-13, Plot No. 88 to 91, Sector 19A, Nerul, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, 400706, India ("we", "us", "our").

These Terms of Service ("Terms") form an agreement between you and us for your use of the Mentoring @ Invespire website and services (the "Platform"). By creating an account, or by using the Platform while signed in, you accept these Terms, our Community Guidelines and our Cookie Policy. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal data.

If you do not agree, do not create an account or use the Platform.

2. Who can use the Platform#

• You must be at least 18 years old. The Platform is not intended for anyone under 18, and we close accounts that we learn belong to someone under 18.
• You must be able to enter into a binding agreement under the law that applies to you.
• You must not use the Platform if we have previously suspended or removed your account, unless we have agreed otherwise in writing.
• Each account is for one person. Do not share your account or create accounts for someone else.

3. What Mentoring @ Invespire is, and what it is not#

Mentoring @ Invespire is a free platform that helps people looking for guidance ("mentees") find people offering it ("mentors"), request a 60-minute session, exchange messages and leave reviews. We do not charge mentees or mentors for using the Platform.

Mentors are independent individuals. They are not our employees, agents, contractors or representatives, and they do not speak for us. Each session is an arrangement between the mentor and the mentee.

Before a mentor profile is published, an administrator reviews the profile content submitted (headline, biography, skills, experience and link) and approves or rejects it. Changes to an approved profile are reviewed the same way before they go live. This review is limited: we do not verify identity, qualifications, employment, experience or any other claim a mentor makes, and approval is not an endorsement, recommendation or guarantee of any mentor. Mentor names and profile photos are published without prior review.

Sessions take place outside the Platform, on a third-party video service chosen by the mentor (for example Google Meet or Zoom). We do not host, attend, monitor or record sessions, and we are not responsible for those services. Their own terms and privacy policies apply when you use them.

Mentoring on the Platform is general guidance and experience-sharing. It is not professional advice. Nothing on the Platform or in a session is legal, medical, mental-health, financial, investment, tax or other regulated professional advice, even if a mentor has relevant qualifications. Consult a suitably qualified professional before acting on anything that needs such advice.

Mentoring @ Invespire is not an emergency or crisis service. If you or someone else is in danger, contact your local emergency services.

4. Your account#

• Give accurate information and keep your name and time zone up to date.
• Confirm your email address. Until you do, you cannot book sessions, send messages or apply to become a mentor.
• Keep your password secret and use one you do not use elsewhere. You are responsible for activity on your account unless it results from our failure to take reasonable security measures.
• If you sign in with Google, Google's terms also apply to your Google account. We receive only the information described in our Privacy Policy.
• Tell us promptly at info@invespire.com if you think someone else has accessed your account.

5. Becoming a mentor#

• Any account holder with a confirmed email address can apply to become a mentor. An administrator approves or rejects each application and, if it is rejected, tells you why. You may update and resubmit it.
• After approval your profile (name, photo, headline, biography, skills, years of experience, link, rating and reviews) is public, including to people who are not signed in, and your open time slots are shown to visitors.
• You are responsible for everything in your profile being true, current and not misleading. Do not claim qualifications, titles, employers or experience you do not have.
• Sessions booked through the Platform are free. Do not ask a mentee for payment, gifts or other benefits in return for a session booked through the Platform.
• Add a working meeting link when you accept a request, use a video service you are allowed to use, and turn up at the agreed time.
• If you break these Terms or the Community Guidelines, we may reject changes to your profile or suspend your account, which hides your profile (see section 12).

6. Booking and attending sessions#

• Mentors publish weekly availability. Mentees request an open slot, optionally with a short note. You can have up to 5 pending requests at a time.
• The mentor accepts (adding the meeting link) or declines, with a reason. A slot is only taken once a request is accepted; if a mentor accepts one request, other pending requests for the same time are declined automatically. Requests that are still unanswered when the slot starts expire.
• Either side can cancel an accepted session, with a reason, up to 2 hours before it starts. A mentee can withdraw a pending request at any time. Both sides are emailed when a session is cancelled.
• Times are stored in UTC and shown in the time zone set on each account. Check your time zone in your account settings.
• Keep meeting links private. Do not record a session unless everyone in it has agreed and recording is lawful where each participant is.
• Do not share passwords, financial details, government identity numbers or other sensitive information in a session or message unless you are comfortable doing so. Neither party is obliged to share personal contact details.
• We do not guarantee that any mentor will be available, respond, accept a request or attend a session.

7. Messages#

A conversation opens between a mentee and a mentor when the mentee requests a booking. Use messages only for arranging and following up on mentoring.

Messages are stored on our systems and are not end-to-end encrypted. We do not routinely read them. Authorised administrators may view a message when it is reported to us, and may access messages when needed to investigate abuse, security incidents or to respond to lawful requests. The recipient is emailed a short preview of new messages.

8. Reviews and replies#

• Only the mentee of a session can review it, and only after the session's scheduled end time. Each session can be reviewed once, with a 1 to 5 star rating and a written review.
• Reviews must describe your own genuine experience of the session. Do not post reviews in exchange for anything, on behalf of someone else, about yourself, or to harm a competitor.
• Reviews are public on the mentor's profile with the reviewer's first name. The mentor's average rating is calculated from reviews that have not been removed.
• A mentor may post one public reply to each review.
• We do not edit reviews or replies. We do not remove a review simply because it is negative; we remove reviews and replies that break these Terms or the Community Guidelines.
• You cannot edit a review once posted, but you can delete a review you wrote from your dashboard at any time; the mentor's rating is then recalculated. A review under an open report is hidden rather than erased until the report is dealt with.

9. Rules of conduct#

You must follow our Community Guidelines, which form part of these Terms and list prohibited content and conduct. In particular, you must not host, display, upload, publish, transmit or share any information that:

• belongs to another person and to which you have no right;
• is obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, invasive of another's privacy (including bodily privacy), insulting or harassing on the basis of gender, racially or ethnically objectionable, relates to or encourages money laundering or gambling, or promotes enmity between groups on grounds of religion or caste with the intent to incite violence;
• is harmful to children;
• infringes any patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary right;
• deceives or misleads the recipient about its origin, or knowingly and intentionally communicates misinformation or information that is patently false or misleading;
• impersonates another person;
• threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign states or public order, incites the commission of any cognisable offence, prevents investigation of any offence, or insults another nation;
• contains software viruses or any other code designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer resource;
• violates any law in force.

10. Your content and the licence you give us#

You keep ownership of what you post: your profile, photo, messages, booking notes, reviews and replies ("your content"). You are responsible for it and confirm that you have the rights needed to post it.

You give us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, copy, display, format and transmit your content only as needed to operate, secure and improve the Platform. For public content (mentor profiles, reviews and replies), this includes showing it to visitors of the Platform. The licence ends when your content is deleted from the Platform, except for copies we must keep for the limited periods and purposes described in our Privacy Policy.

If you send us feedback or suggestions, we may use them without any obligation to you.

11. Our platform#

The Platform's software, design, text and the Mentoring @ Invespire name belong to us or our licensors. You may use the Platform only as these Terms allow.

Do not copy, scrape or harvest data from the Platform by automated means; interfere with or overload it; probe, scan or test its vulnerability except under our Security and Responsible Disclosure Policy; circumvent rate limits, suspensions or other access controls; or access it other than through the interface we provide.

12. Reporting, moderation and suspension#

Anyone can tell us about content they believe is illegal or breaks these Terms. Signed-in users can use the Report buttons on reviews, mentor replies, messages and meeting links. Anyone, including people without an account, can report a mentor profile, a person or any other content on our report page, or by email as explained there. We confirm that we received your report and tell you the outcome.

Administrators, who are people and not automated systems, review reports. We may dismiss a report or remove the content. When content is removed, it is hidden from everyone but kept for a limited period for investigation and legal purposes.

We may reject a mentor application or profile changes (with a reason), remove content, or suspend an account. Suspension means you cannot sign in and any existing sessions end; your mentor profile is hidden; your upcoming and pending sessions are cancelled and the other participants are told; and other users cannot send you messages.

We act in a way that is proportionate, taking into account how serious and how frequent the breach is, and the rights and legitimate interests of everyone involved. We may act without warning where needed to protect people, the Platform or to comply with law.

When we remove your content or suspend your account, we will tell you what we did, why, and which rule we relied on, unless the law prevents us or the content is high-volume spam.

You can ask us to review any decision by writing to our Grievance Officer at info@invespire.com. A person will review it and reply within 15 days. Users in India may appeal the Grievance Officer's decision to the Grievance Appellate Committee within 30 days. You also keep any right to go to court.

13. Ending this agreement#

You can stop using the Platform at any time. You can delete your account from your account settings. This cancels your upcoming sessions and notifies the other participants. Our Privacy Policy explains what is deleted and what we must keep for a limited time.

We may suspend or close your account under section 12, or if we stop offering the Platform. Where we close the Platform entirely, we will give you reasonable notice and a chance to download your data where practical.

Sections 10 (to the extent needed for retained copies), 15, 16, 17, 19 and 20 continue after this agreement ends.

14. Third-party services and links#

The Platform links to services we do not control, including video-call services, mentors' LinkedIn or portfolio pages, and Google sign-in. We are not responsible for their content, availability or practices. Use them at your own discretion and under their terms.

15. Disclaimers#

We provide the Platform free of charge and "as is". We work to keep it available, accurate and secure, but we do not promise that it will be uninterrupted, error-free or that emails will always arrive. We may change, suspend or discontinue features.

We are not a party to the mentoring relationship. We are not responsible for what mentors or mentees say or do, in sessions, messages or otherwise, or for decisions you make based on a session. You are responsible for your own decisions and for taking professional advice where appropriate.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any warranty, guarantee or right that cannot be excluded or limited under the law that applies to you, including consumer protection law in your country of residence.

16. Limits on our liability#

To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for: loss or damage caused by other users or by third-party services; indirect or consequential loss; loss of profit, business, opportunity or data; or loss caused by events outside our reasonable control.

To the extent the law allows, our total liability to you for all claims relating to the Platform is limited to zero, since the Platform is provided free of charge and does not process payments.

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, for gross negligence or wilful misconduct, or for any other liability that cannot be limited or excluded by law.

17. Your responsibility to us#

To the extent the law allows, if you break these Terms or the law and that causes a claim against us by someone else, you will compensate us for the reasonable losses and costs that result. This does not apply to the extent the claim was caused by us.

18. Changes to these Terms#

We may update these Terms when the Platform or the law changes. For material changes, we will publish the new version, show you a summary of what changed and ask you to accept it the next time you sign in; the changes apply to you once you accept. We may also email registered users in advance. If you do not accept them, you can still download your data and delete your account.

Minor changes, such as corrections or clarifications that do not reduce your rights, take effect when published. The date and version at the top of this page show the current version.

19. Governing law and disputes#

These Terms are governed by the laws of India. Subject to the next paragraph, disputes are subject to the jurisdiction of the courts at Mumbai, Maharashtra.

If you are a consumer living in the European Union, the United Kingdom or another country whose law gives you mandatory protections, you keep those protections and may bring proceedings in the courts of your country of residence.

Please contact us first so that we can try to resolve the issue informally.

20. General#

• These Terms, together with the documents they refer to, are the whole agreement between you and us about the Platform.
• If a court finds part of these Terms invalid, the rest remains in force.
• If we do not enforce a right straight away, we can still enforce it later.
• You may not transfer your rights under these Terms. We may transfer ours to an organisation that takes over the Platform, and will tell you if we do; this will not reduce your rights.
• We will contact you by email at the address on your account or through notices on the Platform.
• These Terms are written in English. If we provide a translation, the English version applies to the extent the law allows.

21. Contact#

• Operator: Invespire Startup Management Private Limited, S-12-13, Plot No. 88 to 91, Sector 19A, Nerul, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, 400706
• General enquiries: info@invespire.com
• Support: info@invespire.com
• Grievance Officer: Invespire Startup Management Private Limited, info@invespire.com