Last updated 9 September 2026
This Agreement sets out the commercial and service terms of the 1:1 cybersecurity mentorship programme delivered through Folio. It is a separate, independent document from the Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, and Refund & Cancellation Policy — read together, they govern your participation in the programme.
This Mentorship Service & Enrolment Agreement (“Agreement”) is entered into between:
Sarath G, an individual, of Souparnika, Karakkad PO, Chengannur, Alappuzha, Kerala, India – 689504 (the “Mentor”, “I”, “me”), who provides this mentorship personally and not through any registered company, LLP, or other business entity;
and
The individual who applies for, is accepted into, and enrols in the mentorship programme described below (the “Student”, “you”), or, where the Student has not completed 18 years of age, the Student's parent or legal guardian, who reviews and accepts this Agreement on the Student's behalf and is responsible for the Student's compliance with it.
This Agreement takes effect on the date the Student accepts it (the “Effective Date”), which occurs on submission of the enrolment application, on first payment toward the mentorship, or on first use of the Student's Folio account, whichever happens first.
“Folio” means the private web platform (folio.sarathg.me) I built and operate to run this mentorship: scheduling, materials, assignments, hour tracking, invoicing, and communication.
“Programme” means the 1:1 cybersecurity mentorship (offensive security / penetration testing / VAPT) delivered personally by me to the Student under this Agreement.
“Session” means a live, 1:1 video call between the Mentor and the Student conducted as part of the Programme.
“Hour Balance” means the running balance of mentorship time, tracked on Folio, available to the Student for Sessions.
“Fee Arrangement” means the billing structure agreed for the Student under Section 4: either a Monthly Retainer or a Fixed-Term Package.
“Plan” means the description of the subject areas, sequencing, and goals the Mentor prepares for the Student, which may be revised over time.
2.1 The Programme is bespoke and diagnostic, not a packaged course. There is no fixed curriculum, no fixed total duration (other than what is agreed under a Fixed-Term Package), and no published price list. The Mentor determines each Student's Plan, cadence, and fee individually, based on that Student's background, goals, and availability.
2.2 The Programme is invite-only. There is no public sign-up; a Student joins only after being personally invited to apply, and only after the Mentor has reviewed and accepted the application.
2.3 The Programme is educational. The Mentor does not guarantee any specific outcome, including certification results, employment, promotions, or income, as these depend substantially on the Student's own effort and on factors outside the Mentor's control.
3.1 This Agreement begins on the Effective Date and continues until ended in accordance with Section 13 (Termination).
3.2 Where the Student's Fee Arrangement is a Monthly Retainer, the Programme itself is open-ended and has no fixed end date.
3.3 Where the Student's Fee Arrangement is a Fixed-Term Package, the Programme is a bounded engagement for the agreed total scope of hours and duration; reaching that total does not automatically end this Agreement, but the Mentor is under no obligation to continue providing Sessions or accepting further Hour Balance once the agreed total hours have been used and paid for, unless the parties agree to extend or convert to a new Fee Arrangement.
4.1 Two Fee Arrangements. Every Student is on exactly one Fee Arrangement at a time, priced by an hourly rate agreed individually with the Student. That hourly rate is not disclosed to the Student on Folio; only the resulting figures below are shown.
(a) Monthly Retainer, an open-ended arrangement. The Mentor and Student agree an hourly rate and a number of hours per day, week, month, or year; Folio derives the equivalent monthly hours and monthly fee. This arrangement renews every month, on the anniversary of the day the Student joined, until ended under Section 13.
(b) Fixed-Term Package, a bounded arrangement. The Mentor and Student agree an hourly rate, an hours-per-period figure, and a total duration; Folio derives the total number of hours and the one total fee for the whole engagement. There is no recurring monthly bill; the Mentor invoices the total fee on whatever schedule is agreed with the Student (for example, in full upfront, or in staged instalments across the engagement).
4.2 Hours are earned on payment, not on invoicing. Under either Fee Arrangement, Hour Balance is added only once a corresponding payment is actually received, never merely because an invoice is issued, a Session is scheduled, or a billing period begins. A partial payment against an invoice adds a proportional share of the hours; the remainder is added once the balance is paid.
4.3 Custom charges. The Mentor may raise a one-off, itemised invoice for anything else agreed with the Student outside the standing Fee Arrangement. The Mentor decides, and states on the invoice, whether that charge also adds to the Student's Hour Balance once paid, or is unrelated to mentoring hours (for example, a pass-through of a third-party lab-platform subscription).
4.4 Top-ups. The Student may, at any time, make an additional payment of at least ₹1,000 toward their account, which converts to Hour Balance at the same agreed rate once paid.
4.5 Payment methods. Invoices are payable online via Razorpay through a link sent by email or shown on the Student's Folio portal, or by an offline arrangement the Mentor records directly. The Mentor does not receive or store the Student's card, UPI, or bank account details.
4.6 Late payment. Continued access to Sessions and materials on Folio is conditional on invoices being paid by their stated due date. The Mentor may pause the Programme for an overdue account after reasonable notice.
4.7 Taxes. Fees are inclusive of any taxes the Mentor is required to account for as an individual, unless stated otherwise on the invoice.
5.1 Sessions are held on a recurring weekly schedule agreed between the Mentor and Student, and generated in advance on Folio with date, time, and video link (currently Google Meet).
5.2 A Student may request to reschedule a Session. A request made more than 48 hours in advance, within the Mentor's normal working hours, and without clashing with another student's Session, is approved automatically; otherwise the Mentor reviews it.
5.3 Cancellation policy. If a Student cancels or reschedules a Session with 48 hours' notice or more, no Hour Balance is deducted for it. If cancelled with less than 48 hours' notice, or if the Student does not attend, the full Session's hours are deducted as normal, since that time was reserved for the Student and could not reasonably be reallocated. The Mentor may, at their sole discretion, waive this deduction for a specific Session.
5.4 A reschedule initiated by the Mentor never consumes the Student's Hour Balance, and the Mentor will make reasonable efforts to find a mutually workable alternative time.
6.1 Beyond live Sessions, the Programme may include a resource library, assignments (with instructions and, optionally, a rubric and due date), references to external practice-lab platforms, self-directed research activities, and multi-round deliverable reviews.
6.2 The Mentor tracks the Student's progress across named skill areas on a defined competency scale. Progress is recorded only on the basis of real evidence (a graded assignment, a completed lab, session notes) and is reviewed and approved by the Mentor; it is never awarded automatically and does not constitute or imply any external certification.
6.3 All of the above are visible to the Student in their own Folio portal at all times.
The Student agrees to:
8.1 The Mentor will provide the Programme personally, using reasonable professional skill and care, and will make reasonable efforts to keep Folio available and to hold Sessions as scheduled.
8.2 The Mentor does not warrant that Folio or any Session will be uninterrupted or error-free, and is not liable for downtime, data loss, or interruption beyond using reasonable efforts to restore service promptly (see Section 14, Limitation of Liability).
The Programme is educational and mentorship-based. The Mentor makes no representation or warranty that participation will result in any particular skill level, certification, employment outcome, promotion, or income, since these depend substantially on factors within the Student's own control and outside the Mentor's control.
10.1 All learning materials, session plans, assignments, and resources provided through Folio remain the Mentor's intellectual property (or that of the Mentor's licensors), licensed to the Student for personal, non-commercial learning only.
10.2 The Student may not copy, resell, publish, sublicense, or redistribute those materials, in whole or in part, without the Mentor's prior written permission.
10.3 The Student retains ownership of their own original work product (reports, code, write-ups) submitted as part of the Programme, subject to the Mentor's right to retain a copy for record-keeping, grading, and quality/administrative purposes.
Each party treats as confidential: information the Student shares during Sessions about themselves, their work, or their goals; and any non-public materials, methods, or information the Mentor shares with the Student. This does not prevent disclosure required by law. This clause survives termination of this Agreement.
12.1 Either party may end this Agreement with reasonable notice to the other.
12.2 On termination: any outstanding dues remain payable; the Student's access to Folio and its materials ends; any refund is handled under the separate Refund & Cancellation Policy; and Sections 7.4, 7.5, 9, 10, 11, 14, and 16 survive termination.
12.3 The Mentor may end this Agreement immediately, without refund beyond what the Refund & Cancellation Policy provides, if the Mentor reasonably believes the Student has breached the Rules of Engagement & Ethical Conduct Agreement or used the Programme for an unlawful purpose.
Refunds are governed by the separate, standalone Refund & Cancellation Policy, which is incorporated into this Agreement by reference. In the event of any direct conflict between that Policy and this Section, the Refund & Cancellation Policy governs on refund matters specifically.
14.1 To the extent permitted by law: the Mentor is not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential losses; is not liable for outcomes that depend on the Student's own effort, actions, or circumstances beyond the Mentor's control; and is not liable for downtime, data loss, or interruption of Folio beyond using reasonable efforts to restore it.
14.2 The Mentor's total liability arising from the Programme or the Student's use of Folio is limited to the fees the Student paid in the 3 months preceding the event giving rise to the claim.
14.3 Because the Programme is provided by the Mentor as an individual rather than through a registered company, this liability is the Mentor's personally. Nothing in this Agreement limits or excludes liability that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded.
Neither party is liable for delay or failure to perform an obligation under this Agreement caused by circumstances beyond reasonable control, including illness, internet or platform outages, or other unforeseeable events. Affected Sessions are rescheduled where reasonably possible.
This Agreement, the Terms & Conditions, the Privacy Policy, the Rules of Engagement & Ethical Conduct Agreement, and the Refund & Cancellation Policy together govern the Student's participation in the Programme. Each is a separate, independent document addressing a different aspect of that relationship. Where two of these documents address the same specific point and genuinely conflict, the more specific document on that point governs (for example, the Refund & Cancellation Policy governs on refund calculations; the Rules of Engagement & Ethical Conduct Agreement governs on authorised use of techniques taught).
Notices to the Mentor must be sent to sarathg.alp@gmail.com. Notices to the Student may be sent to the email address registered on the Student's Folio account, or delivered through Folio itself, and are treated as received when sent.
This Agreement is governed by the laws of India. Subject to any statutory consumer protection rights the Student may have, the courts at Alappuzha, Kerala, India have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising from this Agreement.
The Mentor may update this Agreement to reflect changes in the Programme, Folio, or applicable law, and will notify active Students by email or through Folio before a material change takes effect. Continuing in the Programme after a change takes effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Agreement.
20.1 This Agreement, together with the Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, Rules of Engagement & Ethical Conduct Agreement, Refund & Cancellation Policy, and the Student's individually agreed Fee Arrangement, forms the entire agreement between the parties regarding the Programme.
20.2 If any provision of this Agreement is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force.
21.1 By submitting the enrolment application, making any payment toward the Programme, or using the Folio student portal, whichever happens first, the Student (or, where applicable, their parent or legal guardian) accepts this Agreement. This electronic acceptance is valid and binding under Section 10A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
21.2 A minor cannot personally enter into a binding contract under Indian law (Section 11, Indian Contract Act, 1872). Where the Student has not completed 18 years of age, their parent or legal guardian must review and accept this Agreement on the Student's behalf, and is personally responsible for every obligation under it, including all fees.