Yes, I don't understand, that's why I asked :-) The article mentioned begging friends and family for money (and this concept has come up in other fundraising situations), so I assumed there were certain loopholes for "personal" types of investment, and I wondered if this was codified, perhaps, or just an informal workaround.

Is the difference, perhaps, that you don't necessarily give family investors official shares but just offer to pay back the money personally, etc?