About FiSMA

Introduction

FiSMA is a not for profit organisation seeking to encourage enterprise within the UK by providing a low-cost, secure environment where investors can meet and communicate with entrepreneurs and each other online.  On FiSMA, we aim to replicate the real-life E2I (entrepreneur to investor) experience by using enhanced social networking technology in an intuitive way.  Investors get to see interesting investment opportunities and entrepreneurs get to showcase their businesses.  FiSMA has been developed by former City lawyers who are familiar with financial services law. The site allows E2I communications in a way which facilitates compliance with the complex UK law dealing with financial promotions.   We have built in safeguards such as self-certification for investors and confidentiality agreements to protect the entrepreneurs.

History of the site

The founder of FiSMA is Tom Mackay. When he was making money during the dot-com era one of his clients persuaded him to give something back and he set up Tomslaw which was a web site giving free precedent documents to entrepreneurs and their investors. That was for many years a hugely popular site and as far as Tom is aware he never made a penny from the site. During that time Tom worked with a number of entrepreneurs (including his dear departed friend David Beer) trying to crack the problems of using the web for raising capital for small and medium sized businesses. Tom reached the conclusion that it is very difficult to use the law relating to self-certificated high net worth and sophisticated investors on a mass scale without a philanthropic motive.  The difficulty is that anyone incurring the expenditure of setting up the infrastructure to comply with the law relating to communications between entrepreneurs and investors is inclined towards seeking a monopoly over who uses the infrastructure (by way of fees for due diligence or commissions on the introductions etc.).  Tom's thinking is that what is needed is a bridge (allowing passage for entrepreneurs and suitable investors) without giving the bridge owner a monopoly over who uses it.  In 2003 he set up FiSMA on a not for profit basis with intent of it being used as a utility (to be used by any interested party) for enabling entrepreneurs communicate with investors. Tom has now retired from the daily commute to London and with a colleague has resurrected FiSMA using modern social media networking tools. Tom has for over 35 years worked as a corporate/commercial solicitor in private practice mainly as a partner in international law firms in the City but also as head of legal department at the London Stock Exchange and also many years at 3i PLC where he was also head of legal department. From 1/1/11 Tom set up Mackay Carter Shaw LLP with a former colleague as a virtual law firm focusing on entrepreneurs and investors and in his spare time with the help of various friends will pursue his interest in FiSMA as a serious hobby.

Details about the FiSMA website 
CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION
2. GOALS OF THE WEBSITE
3. REGISTER
4. MY PROFILE
5. TOMSLAW
6. INVESTORS
7. INVESTORS AND ACCESS TO PROJECTS
8. INVESTOR GROUPS
9. INVESTOR INDIVIDUAL PRIVATE ROOMS
10. ENTREPRENEURS
11. ADVISERS
12. NOTIFICATIONS
13. SELF-MANAGEMENT AND THE FISMA CODE
14. PROJECTS
15. FISMA CHECKED PROJECTS
16. HOW THE ROOMS WORK
17. COMMUNICATION METHODS
18. DOCUMENT TYPES
19. DEFINITIONS

1. INTRODUCTION
FiSMA is a not for profit community web site for Entrepreneurs, Investors and their Advisers. The aim is to have communication facilities that can help build trust and relationships within the site. The web site attempts to copy what happens in real life between Entrepreneurs and their Investors and Advisers. Entrepreneurs will be able to bring their Projects to a wide range of Investors, helping them to gain interest, investment and advice for their venture in a way which complies with UK law and regulation. Meanwhile Investors can get access to a wide range of Projects that they can invest in as well as being able to group together with other Investors to share risk and experiences.

2. GOALS OF THE WEBSITE
The main objective of the website is to facilitate communications between Entrepreneurs and Investors. The website provides secure virtual communication rooms with document facilities that can be used by companies or other associations. Communications can be by Skype, online chat, private messaging and forums.
Entrepreneurs and Investors can communicate with one another on a one to one basis although we encourage you to use Groups to gain the full benefit of FiSMA. There are facilities to ensure that once you have exchanged contact details you can see which of your contacts are on the site. You can belong to a temporary Group for a discussion one evening or you could choose to be a member of a more permanent Group. Investors are encouraged to use FiSMA to develop links with other like-minded Members with a view to exchanging ideas or knowledge and exploring common investment opportunity interests.
FiSMA is not just for Entrepreneurs wanting to raise money but also companies that want a way to communicate with their Investors. FiSMA will remain open to companies after funding to continue to act as a useful document, discussion and collaboration tool throughout the life of a company.
As a Member you will have the opportunity to moderate content on FiSMA yourself.

3. REGISTER
You must agree to our Terms and Conditions. Then you can register as a Member on the site as an Entrepreneur, Investor or Adviser. Each type of Member has different roles and privileges within the site. This is a requirement under UK law and regulation.
REGISTRATION DETAILS
Everyone is required to complete the following details:
• Surname*
• First name*
• Date of birth*
• Email address*
• Skype number or name (optional)
• Password* (choose your own but minimum 6 characters).
• Site nickname* (must not be same as password)
• If authorised, FSA number
• Acceptance of terms and conditions*
FURTHER DETAILS
Investors and Advisers are required to submit additional details in order to complete their registration.
INVESTORS
The only Investors that may get entry are those who self-certify as High Net Worth or Sophisticated.  Investors can self-certify as both if they are able.   After completing the first stage of registration, Investors are given a choice to self-certify as High Net Worth or Sophisticated.   They click on a link which takes them to a page with their name already inserted and asked to self-certify if able.
Investors are required to self-certify once a year and therefore a reminder is given after 11 months to remind Investors to self-certify again and if they have not self-certified themselves within a 12 month period they will not gain full access to the site.  The self-certification process is easy, but you must be eligible.
ADVISERS
If a Member has registered as an Adviser, they are also asked to certify themselves as a High Net Worth or Sophisticated investor (because the law does not provide for all Advisers to see financial promotions).   In addition, Advisers are asked to complete the following information:
• Adviser type (e.g. corporate finance Adviser, banker/debt provider, investment banker, accountant, lawyer)
• Organisation name*
• Organisation type*
• Web URL*
ENTREPRENEURS
Entrepreneurs need to take no further action after registration but their access is limited to an Entrepreneur’s space and their own documents.
LOGIN
Once registered, you can login again to FiSMA using your email address and password used at registration.
If you forget your password, you can click the forgotten password link below the login box.

4. MY PROFILE
You can edit your profile.  Your contacts will be able to see your full profile.   A profile contains the following information which you may complete if you wish:
• Profile image
• Brief Bio
• Detailed Bio
A Members bio page is accessible by clicking on a name or photo throughout the site.
We recommend that you complete your profile.   For Entrepreneurs, a more detailed profile is more likely to attract potential Investors.  For an Investor, it will help you network with other Investors and could even make a difference when you are pitching against other Investors to become involved in a Project.
PROFILE PAGES
Members have 3 levels of profile, each giving more information.
PROFILE COLOURS
Your profile colour will be determined by how you register. This will help other Members differentiate what type of Member you are.
• Entrepreneur – Green
• Investor – Blue
• Adviser - Orange

5. TOMSLAW
TomsLaw is a free document library of legal templates relevant to entrepreneurs and investors. The documents are provided only as a first discussion draft and you should consult a solicitor before relying on any of the documents in the TomsLaw library. Nothing on FiSMA or TomsLaw constitutes legal advice. FiSMA does not know the context in which the documents may be used and cannot know whether the documents are suitable for intended use. As the law changes all the time, the documents displayed may be out of date and should not be used without seeking the advice of a solicitor.
Guests are able to access only a limited number of TomsLaw documents. If you wish to see all public documents in TomsLaw, you must first become a Member of FiSMA. In order to become a Member you must register and meet the registration eligibility criteria and sign in. Once signed in, you will be allowed to see all public documents in TomsLaw.
You are free to browse the TomsLaw library. TomsLaw is ordered by category or you can search for documents using our content or title search facility.  [Note: TomsLaw is currently being updated but at the moment many documents have not been reviewed for some years]

6. INVESTORS
INVESTOR FUNCTIONALITY
Investors can:
• Register as a High Net Worth Individual or a Sophisticated Investor
• Edit their online profile
• Create an Investor Group (and Investor Group page)
• Create any number of private rooms
• View Projects
• View documents and comment on Projects
• Add Projects to their shortlist
• Add contacts
• Send private messages to contacts
• Chat online privately
• Chat online within Groups
• Chat online within Project rooms
• Click Skype button to start Skype conversation with online contacts
INVESTOR HOME PAGE

FEATURED PROJECTS
This shows the two most popular Projects (number of views) in the last 30 days.
LATEST DISCUSSION FORUMS
This links to the three most recent forums that Members have commented on. This can come from the main forum or the Investor specific forum.
PROJECT SHORTLIST
The Projects that you have recently added to your shortlist.   If you have no Projects yet, this will contain information to guide you on what you might be interested in on FiSMA.
YOUR GROUPS / ROOMS
You can belong to as many Investor Groups as you want and can have access to many rooms. However as an Investor you can only mark one Group as your main Group at one time. If you do not belong to an Investor Group or room, follow the online instructions.

7. INVESTORS AND ACCESS TO PROJECTS
PROJECT SEARCH
If you are an Investor or Adviser you can search through Projects to find the type of Project you are looking for. Click on search Projects. You will be able to search by:
• Category
• Investment required
• Investment stage
• Date (the date on which the Project was created)
• Location
• FiSMA checked
• Free text search that searches any text within Projects
Search results are listed 10 per page. If you like the look of a Project, you will be able to enter the room through a link.
PROJECT INTRODUCTION PAGE
If the Investor clicks on a link he or she gains access to the Project public page (which will include the profile information of the Project Leader that established the Project).   At this point the Project Leaders do not know who have visited the page and the visitors remain anonymous.  This page will give access to all information the Project Leader is prepared to make public but there will probably be private information which the Project Leader only wishes to show to Investors who give them some basic information.  If you want to read the private information, you may request access by clicking the enter room button.   At this point you will be warned that your contact details will be passed to the Project Leader who is running this Project. If you do not want the Project Leader to see your contact details you can cancel at this point.   You will then be asked to click to agree a short confidentiality agreement to keep the private documents confidential.
If you proceed, the Project Leader will be able to view your private profile and add you as a contact if they wish. Once you have accepted you can access the Project private details page (which displays the private Project documents available).
RELATED PROJECTS
The Investor may see a list of similar Projects which FiSMA believes the Investor might be interested in (linked by category, location and investment required).
PROJECT DETAILS PAGE
If you are an Investor or an Adviser you can access Project details from a search result.   If you are an Entrepreneur for legal reasons you can only see your own Project.
PROJECT INTRODUCTION
All Projects have a brief summary introduction to enable Investors quickly to see what the Project is about.   The Project Leader defines the Project title and introduction.
PROJECT ACTIVITY
On the Project page there is a Project activity link displaying the latest discussions on the Project.   Anyone visiting the Project page can create a discussion topic. The discussion topics are free for all to view and contribute towards.
This box displays the top 3 most recent discussion topics, with a link to view all topics.
SKYPE
From the Project page you can see which of the Members involved with the Project are online and logged into Skype (if they have registered their Skype account).   We encourage you to open conversations with other Members about Projects and recent discussion topics.
PROJECT DOCUMENTS
On the Project page you can see a list of the documents that the Project Leaders have uploaded to the Project. Documents can be made private and an Investor or Adviser will need to be invited before they can view the document.  Private documents have a padlock next to them to indicate they are private.
If an Investor clicks on a document with a padlock, you will be reminded that the document is private and invited to request access to view it.
1. Request access
2. Investor warned that profile info released to Project Leader
3. If OK press yes
4. Project Leader sent email saying Investor has requested access with a click through to profile page of Investor
5. Project Leader says yes or no
6. if no nothing further happens and Investor is then hidden from Project Leader
7. If yes the Investor will receive an email notification containing a link back to the document.
ADD TO SHORTLIST
By clicking on “Add to Shortlist” as an Investor you can add the Project to your shortlist for quick access later and to be notified of any changes / updates to the Project.
RATE THE PROJECT
As an Investor you can rate the Project for others to see.   We encourage you to do this to help other Members with their own review.  You can rate the following aspects of the Project out of 5 stars:
• Management
• Product
• Marketing
• Finance
• Overall
Using Nicknames, Investors can also leave a comment on the Project for others to read.
ENTREPRENEURS’ PROFILES
On Project pages, Investors can see a list of Entrepreneurs’ profiles.   As an Investor you can request contact details from an Entrepreneur and add them to your contact list. You can remove people from your contact list at any stage.
REPORT THE PROJECT
Investors who feel that a Project is not legitimate can register this fact and record their disapproval.  You should think carefully before registering your disapproval, as it could cause the Project to be removed from the site. Projects getting repeat disapproval notifications will be removed although Entrepreneurs can appeal.

8. INVESTOR GROUPS
To encourage community collaboration between Investors, we allow Investors to set up Investor Groups which are simply Groups of Investors operating under a name, with an associated private room. You can go into your private Investor Group room to share documents and discuss issues with other Members in your Investor Group. Investors can only visit the private Investor Group room if they have been invited.
Any Investor can form a Group and you can be a Member of any number of Groups. Once you have set up your Group you can invite any Investor or Adviser to be a member and you can also remove them from your Group. If you no longer wish to be a Member of a Group you can remove yourself, or the Group Leader can remove you. If the Group Leader leaves, the leadership of the Group passes to the Member who has belonged to the Group for the longest.
When in your private Investor Group room you will be able to have private individual or Group discussions with other Members of your Investor Group.
Any Member of the Investor Group can add a discussion to the forum or add/edit a document, but only the Group Leader can invite others to join the Group.  When inviting an Investor, an email is sent to the invited Investor and they can accept or reject the invitation.
Investors can belong to as many Investor Groups as they want.
INVESTOR GROUP PROFILE PAGE
This page shows a summary of information about the Group such as name of the Group and an introduction to what they do and to their shared interest/philosophy.   The Group profile will be useful when contact requests are made with invited Investors and Entrepreneurs.
INVESTOR PROFILES
The Group profile will show the detailed profiles of the Investors that are associated with the Group.   When the Group Leader invites another Investor to become part of the Group, profile information is pulled in from the Investor’s own online profile information.   Only Group Members and those invited to make contact will be able to see the profile of Group Members.
SKYPE
You will be able to see which other Members of your Group are online and logged into Skype (if they have registered their Skype account).
PROJECT INVITE
Project Leaders can invite the Investor Group to come and view their Project. When inviting an Investor Group, an email notification is sent to the Investors in that Group containing a link to the Project. At this stage the Entrepreneur sees only the Investor Group Profile page. They do not see detailed Investor profiles.

9. INVESTOR INDIVIDUAL PRIVATE ROOMS
Investors can create private rooms which has the exact same functionality as an Investor Group private room except it is only visible to invited Members. The Investor setting up the room may invite any number of other Members to the room, including Advisers and Entrepreneurs. When creating the room simply select which contacts you want to invite from your contact list.
When setting up a private room, Investors are required to give the room a name and are asked to invite Members (optional at this stage). The Group Leader can invite other Investors at any time. When you invite another Investor, an email is sent out informing them they have been invited with a link to access the room.
As an Investor you can use this room to invite new Members (and unlike the Investor Group room you can invite other Investors, Entrepreneurs and Advisers), remove Members and maintain documents (add, edit, delete). As a Group Leader you will have full administration control of the room. However, any Member of the Investor room can:
• Add documents
• Post messages to the forum
• View other room Members’ profile pages
• Communicate with other room Members (Skype, instant chat, private message)

10. ENTREPRENEURS
HOME PAGE - MY PROJECTS
Here you will see lists of all Projects that you as an Entrepreneur have created with links to the Project page.
LATEST DISCUSSION FORUMS
You can see a list of the three most recent forums that Members have commented on.
UPDATES
You can see a list of all updates that have happened in your network such as
• New comments on a forum you have already participated in
• Comments on your Projects
• Private messages received.

11. ADVISERS
Advisers, like Investors, must self-certify either as High Net Worth Individuals or Sophisticated Investors. On FiSMA, Advisers have the same privileges as Investors. However Advisers are distinguishable by their profile colour – orange. (Entrepreneurs are green and Investors are blue.
ADVISER DIRECTORY
Advisers can add themselves to a directory to advertise their services. Inclusion in the Adviser directory is currently free for a limited time only.
PROJECT ACCESS
Advisers can point people to their directory page but as an Adviser if you sell your services aggressively (e.g. on the Project forum) you will be exterminated.

12. NOTIFICATIONS
Members receive notifications when the following events happen:
• New Project for capital raising (when open for all Investors) – Investors and Advisers receive an email (unless their individual settings do not allow) with New Project summary.   Simply click through to the Project room without needing to login
• Activity on shortlist Project - private message
• Invitation to access a private room or Group
You can manage notifications through your account settings page.

13. SELF-MANAGEMENT AND THE FISMA CODE
FiSMA is intended as a self-regulating community site. Members can ‘black ball’ any other Member or Project on the site via a report button. Members can report another Member or a comment on the site. The rules are:
• If a comment has 3 reports, the comment is removed
• If a Member has 5 reports, they are banned from the site
• If a Member has 5 comments removed, they will be banned from the site
• An Administrator can remove any comment or ban anyone from the site at any time if in their sole discretion they believe that it is in the interests of FiSMA to do so or that there has been a breach of the FiSMA code.
The FiSMA code states:
1. You agree to act honestly in all your dealings with other users of FiSMA.
2. You agree to show respect and politeness to other users of FiSMA.
3. You will not assist any person to breach the FiSMA Code or applicable law.
4. You must comply with company law, financial services law and any professional rules applicable to you.
5. You will respect the confidentiality of, and not steal the property of, other users of FiSMA.
6. You will give feedback that is honest and helpful to other users of FiSMA.
7. You must not put any information on the site unless you:
(a) believe it (excluding opinions, views and forecasts) is true;
(b) believe any opinions, views and forecasts contained in such information are honestly held; and
(c) do not deliberately omit any material matter of which you are aware which makes such information to your knowledge, inaccurate or misleading.
Members are notified by email if any comments have been removed or if they are banned from the site.  The email will contain details of how to contact administrators to appeal.   Only an administrator can reinstate the Member or comment.

14. PROJECTS
MY PROJECTS
All Members including Entrepreneurs can create a new Project and edit their existing Projects.   Simply go to the Projects page to manage your Projects.
NEW PROJECT SETUP
To create a new Project, click the setup new Project button and complete the instructions online details.   You will need to provide the following information: Project name, summary, company name and address, contact person, email, telephone number.   If you are raising capital you will need to state the amount of investment you are looking for and then choose your category, location and investment stage.  You may also add a Member to your Project Team.
You need to save the information to create your Project.  Fellow Members must accept their invitation to join the Project before appearing on the Project details page.   If you need to purchase extra credits for your Project you will be asked to upgrade your subscription.
ADD DOCUMENTS
After setting up your Project, you can add documents.   Just click the edit button next to the Project to go to the edit page then click “add document” and follow the online instructions.   You can give the document a title and choose whether it is to be public or private.  Don’t forget to click save to upload the document.
Once added to the Project the document is displayed in a list on the Project page.
The document can then be removed by clicking the delete button.   If the document is deleted, it is removed from the site and all access details are lost.  There is no way to restore the file except to re-upload.
You can also upload/delete a video clip to the Project.
PROJECT TEAM
You will see a list of existing Projects where you are a member of the Project Team.   Members of a Project Team can add documents to any of the Projects they are associated with even if they are not the Project Leader.   The Project Leader also has the ability to specify who has access (if private) and invite others to view.
PUBLISH PROJECT
Before the Project is ready to go live, it will remain private to the Members in the Project Team.   When it is ready for general release to Investors and Advisers, the Project Leader can click the publish button and allow others to view it. Until this time it is considered to be a Project under construction and is hidden from Investor view.
CLOSE PROJECT
When the Project has achieved its objective (e.g. received the required funding), the Project Leader can close the Project.  At this point you will be asked to confirm the reason for closing the room (e.g. you have received the required investment).   Once the room is closed, it will only be available to the Project Leader and others in his or her Project Team.
After completion of a Project you may still want to keep the room open (e.g. as part of an Investor relations strategy so as to communicate documents and other information to your team or other specific Members). Therefore once the room has been closed, Members can be invited back to the room.   A Project Leader can give access to a Project room to specific Members (or Investor Groups).
The room will remain open until the Project Leader either closes it permanently or if you stop paying your subscription .
SUBSCRIPTIONS
You can construct a room without paying a subscription but it will remain “under construction” and you will not be able to make it visible to anyone else until you pay.   If payment is not made within 14 days the room under construction will be shut. In order to keep a room open or to make a room visible to anyone else Project Leaders must pay a monthly subscription.  [Initially the site is free to all]
Payment is taken through SagePay and is charged automatically on a monthly recurring basis.
Project Leaders have the ability to change their subscription through their accounts page.  If a Project Leader attempts to create a new room and they do not have the correct subscription, they are prompted to upgrade their subscription or close an existing room (assuming they have one open).   In addition, Project Leaders can reduce their subscription level at any time.   However if more rooms are open than the new subscription allows, it will reclassify the latest rooms as under construction and therefore remove them from public view.
 

15. FISMA CHECKED PROJECTS
[Note: This part still under construction]  At FiSMA we recognise that Investors are busy people who do not want to waste their time trawling through lists of potential amateur or unrealistic investments. Our solution is to filter investment opportunities to match an Investor’s criteria. For example, Investors may only be interested in Projects which have been FiSMA checked. The “FiSMA checked” stamp is only given to qualifying Projects. In order to qualify for the stamp, a Project Leader will have to pay for and pass a basic checking service to be undertaken by one of the site sponsors or an Adviser (usually a local accountant). The Adviser must be satisfied with 3 very basic checks: (1) that they have personally met and identified the management of the Project (2) that management have produced a business plan (3) the management are presentable to potential Investors with a slide deck ready.  
It must be understood that Advisers are not assessing the worthiness of the investment; they are simply indicating that the business exists and they have are satisfied with the 3 basic checks.
If a Project does not pass the FiSMA approved checks, the Project Leader will be told why and he may re-apply at any stage.
ANGEL ENDORSEMENTS – FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
We are currently working on our Angel endorsement feature. In the future FiSMA will allow Projects to be endorsed by an angel Investor Group. This will involve the Project Leader purchasing the service to allow them to show their investment opportunity to an Angel Group who will assess their proposal and provide training etc. Once complete, the Project will then receive an “Angel approved” status. This functionality will not be developed in the current version of FiSMA. In addition to this, we will undertake future development on a dedicated area for Angel Groups on FiSMA.
 
16. HOW THE ROOMS WORK
 PROJECT ROOM
This room is controlled by a Project Leader and can have both public and private areas. Investors or Investor Groups can request access to the private room (but there will be a message saying their profile details will be given to Project Leader and they can cancel the request if they do not want this).   After the request, Project Leaders are given the Investor’s (or the Investor Group’s) contact details.   Project Leaders can then give access to the private room.
Once you have been given Investor access to the private area in the Project room, you will be able to see the Entrepreneur’s private documents and private messages in that room, as well as all the messages left by any other Members in your Group.  You will be able to see if anyone else from your Group is present in the Project room or if they have visited previously or left a comment.   To keep things private, though, you will not be able to see the visits of any other Investors (except other Members of your Group, if there are any) or their comments. This lets Project Leaders converse in private with each Investor/Group.
INVESTOR ROOM
The Investor room is a forum where Investors can discuss issues with each other without Entrepreneurs.   In the Investor Room, Investors can see each other and can visit Investor Group public pages.
INVESTOR GROUP ROOM
An Investor Group room can be set up by an Investor Group Leader, who can construct both public and private areas.  Only Investors from the Investor Group can visit the private area.  The private area in the Investor room works in the same way as the private area in a Project room.
FISMA COMMUNITY FORUM
All Members are encouraged to visit the FiSMA community forum and Members who have left a comment can see each other.

17. COMMUNICATION METHODS
FiSMA is all about making the right sort of communications between the Members.   There are many different ways to communicate with other Members on FiSMA.   Some methods are available to all Members; however some are restricted to certain Membership types only.   To get the most out of FiSMA communications you may want to use your FiSMA contacts list.  FiSMA is designed to make contact lists work easily for you.
MY CONTACTS
For all Members (Entrepreneurs, Investors and Advisers) there is a link at the top of the page which allows you to access your contact list.  This area of the site allows you to manage and maintain your full contact list.   Colours are shown on contacts so it is easy to identify who is Adviser (orange), Investor (blue) or Entrepreneur (green).
We recommend that you keep your contact list up to date so that you can see which of your contacts are currently online (and which of them are logged into Skype). From your contacts list you can also send private message to your contacts, invite them to share FiSMA with you (e.g. view a Project, join a Project, view a document etc.).
ADDING A CONTACT
The general rule is that when viewing the profile of another Member who is not already a contact, you can click the ‘add to contacts’ button shown.  Once a contact is requested, the Member is automatically added to your contact list; no confirmation is required.
However, at FiSMA we treat the confidentiality of our Investor Members very seriously.  So, we keep Investor profiles private from Entrepreneurs.  Only Investors that have visited an Entrepreneur’s private Project room are visible to Entrepreneurs.   A list of Investors that have visited the private pages of a Project can be seen by Project Leaders when they return to their Project room.
CONTACT LIST
Your contact list shows the following details:
• Name of contact – just click to go to the Member profile
• Send message button – use this to open up a new private message
• Call on Skype (if online and Skype name/number registered) – click to initiate a Skype call.
• Remove – click to remove the Member from your contact list (and you will also be removed from theirs). You can use this feature to ignore another member on FiSMA.
• Friend – Click the star next to the contact to categorise as a friend.   You can use this feature to create a list of your most frequently used contacts.   Your friends are always shown at the top of your contact list.
INSTANT MESSAGING FOR INVESTORS
Investors can send an instant message to anyone (Investors/Advisers/Entrepreneurs) who is currently logged into FiSMA.   When logged into the site, a contact list button will always appear on the bottom right of your screen.
It will display how many of your contacts are currently online and logged into the site.   Click this button to show your full contact list divided into friends (contacts you have starred as a friend), regular contacts (Members you have exchanged contact details with) and all others online (non-contacts).  Your contacts are coloured depending on their classification.
To send an instant message to someone, simply click the tick box next to the person (from any list) and click the private chat button.   This initiates a chat session with the selected Member (a new button appears in the bottom bar of the screen to show there is a new chat session open).
You can then type into the text box to send a message.   When a message is sent, the conversation box appears on the other Member’s screen.  You (or the other Member) can choose to close the window should you wish.  You can also minimise the chat window to continue browsing while maintaining the conversation.   When a new message is added to the conversation, the window pops up again.
The message bar stays at the bottom of the page whilst you navigate around FiSMA.
You have the option to ‘go offline’ which hides you from view in the contact list.   This means that other Members are unable to contact you through instant messaging.  You can “go offline” through the account settings link at the top of the screen.
INSTANT MESSAGING FOR ENTREPRENEURS
Entrepreneurs have access to the instant messaging functionality; but you can only send messages to your contacts/friends.  You do not have the opportunity to view a list of everyone that is online.
GROUP CHAT - INVESTORS
Investors have the option of selecting multiple contacts from their contact list to initiate a Group chat. By clicking multiple names, a “Start new room” button appears which will create a chat room with the selected contacts invited.
The invited Members will see the Group chat room appear in their menu bar across the bottom of the screen.
Investors can type and send a message to the room as a whole.   Group chat rooms operate the same as a private chat, except with multiple Members in there.
There is a settings tab in the top of the Group chat window, which allows Members in the Group chat room to click to see the participants.
From here, a Member in a Group chat room can start a private chat with another Member in the room.   Those chatting privately within the room still see the chat going on in that room around them, although their own private dialogue is secret between them.
You can maximise the Group chat box across the bottom of the screen.
When browsing a specific room within FiSMA, a Group chat tab is automatically created so that an Investor can talk to all the Members in that room without having to invite them individually.
You can close the Group chat window at any time.  Alternatively, if you don’t comment in the Group chat, the tab will disappear when you leave the room. If you add a comment to the Group chat, the tab will persist until you close it, regardless of which room you are in.
GROUP CHAT - ENTREPRENEURS
Entrepreneurs can create Group chat rooms but only with their existing contacts.   A Group chat button will only appear in rooms they have created or are Members of themselves.
MESSAGE BOARD
A message board is a place where Members can post feedback to be seen by all who have access to that board. A message board is a single thread from a forum.  By posting a message on a message board, all other Members who have access to that particular board can read and reply to the message by posting a message on the board themselves.
Message boards are available in the following places on FiSMA:
• Private Investor Group room
• Public Investor Group room
• Private Project room
• Public Project room.
You can use a message board to post information aimed at visitors to a room.   Typically it is used by Investors looking for others to join with them to invest in a Project.
PRIVATE MESSAGES
Members can send private messages to each other through the internal FiSMA email system.   You can only send messages to people who are on your contact list.  You can also send messages to Group lists.   Private messaging features include:
• View inbox
• Send message
• Reply to message
• Delete message.
Private messages are accessible via the menu bar at the top of the screen when logged in.   You might use private messages to send another Member a message via FiSMA when either of you is offline and unable to communicate through Skype or instant chat.
FISMA FORUMS
All Members are welcome to participate in the main FiSMA community forum, which gives Entrepreneurs, Investors and Advisers the chance to discuss issues together.   There are also separate forums available to Members in each room on the site (some of which are private) as well as a private forum for each type of Member (e.g. an Investor only forum which other Members are unable to access).
Participation in a forum is anonymous: other Members only your nickname and cannot access your profile.
The forum home page will list all forum categories and major forums within that particular category.   You can click on a category to list all major forums within that particular category.
You can search for forum topics under major forum headings. Each forum category will list the following information:
• Major Forum name
• Number of forum topics under that major forum
• Total number of replies in all forum topics
• Latest post in a particular forum topic
• How long ago it was posted
• Author
A forum post will contain the following information:
• Topic title
• Member nickname (of who made the post)
• Date posted
• Report button (Reports the content to administrators, however the post remains visible to all)
• Member photo (optional)
• Number of posts made by Member
• Date joined the community
• Post comments
• Reply button (allows Members to post a comment with the selected comment quoted)
• Post reply button
• New topic
• Related knowledge base articles and precedents from TomsLaw
• Related forums
• Related blog posts
CREATING A NEW FORUM TOPIC
When creating a new forum topic, you need to complete the following information:
• Topic title
• Comment
SKYPE
If you choose to register your Skype name or number when you sign up to FiSMA, other Members can contact you through Skype.   Skype is not installed within FiSMA but you will see if another Member is registered as a Skype user (even if they are not logged into FiSMA).   Next to the contact details (in the full contact list) is a Skype “Call” button.   You can call another contact via Skype if they are logged into FiSMA and registered as a Skype user by clicking the “Call” button next to their name.   This will open up the Skype application on your computer and establish a call.  This is a separate service from the website and will run entirely through the Skype software.

18. DOCUMENT TYPES
Projects
The following document types can be uploaded to a Project:
• Word (doc, docx)
• Excel (xls, xlsx)
• PDF
• Image (jpeg, gif, png)
• Video (mpeg, mp4)
• Audio (mp3, wav)

19. DEFINITIONS
Throughout this document certain terminology is used. The following table aims to define this terminology for you.
TERMS  DEFINITIONS
User:   A person using the website
Adviser:   A Member who has indicated they are an adviser (e.g. corporate finance adviser, banker/debt provider, investment banker, accountant, lawyer) and have given various details about him or herself including a web site address which can be checked. In order to access the site an Adviser must be able to self-certify him or herself as a sophisticated investor. An Adviser has the same privileges as an Investor but an Adviser must always be shown (by colour and/or words) as an Adviser.
Administrator:   A designated person with appropriate access rights to manage the website using the content management system.
Entrepreneur:   A Member who has indicated he or she is an entrepreneur. An Entrepreneur is restricted to seeing only his or her own Projects (plus any content available to all Users in general).
Group:   A Group of Members. A Group is effectively a project room created by a Member of the site for others to join. This group is a room that the Members come to in order to share documents or discuss issues.
Group Leader:   The creator or originator of a Group. The Group Leader can invite or expel a Member from the Group. Group Leader can pass the leadership to any other member of the Group at any time. If the Group Leader leaves the Group (even for a moment) the longest serving member then becomes Group Leader.
Guest:   An anonymous visitor to the front end website (a User who isn’t registered or isn’t currently signed in).
Investor:   A Member who has self-certified him or herself as a high net worth or sophisticated investor.
Member:   A registered User of the site. Any Member can create a Project.
Project:  The name given to a room where Members can review a Project. The Project will often relate to fund raising but may simply be a means for the company to remain in contact with its investors and advisers.
Project Leader:   The Group Leader of a Project.
Project Team:   Members invited by a Project Leader to be part of a team connected with a Project. Any Member of the Project Team may amend the Project.
 

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