Startup Glossary

A 409A valuation is an independent appraisal of a private company's common stock fair market value, required by IRS Section 409A. It determines the mi...

A/B testing is an experiment where two or more variants are shown to different user groups to determine which performs better for a specific goal. A/B...

An accelerator is a fixed-term program that provides startups with mentorship, resources, and often investment in exchange for equity. Programs like Y...

Acceptance criteria are specific, testable conditions that a feature must meet to be considered complete. They provide clear boundaries for what's in...

An Account Executive (AE) owns the sales process from qualified opportunity to closed deal. AEs run demos, manage relationships, negotiate contracts,...

Account management is the ongoing management of customer relationships after initial sale, focused on retention, satisfaction, and growth. Account man...

Account-based marketing is a B2B strategy that focuses marketing and sales resources on a defined set of target accounts, treating each account as a m...

Account-based selling is the sales counterpart to ABM, where sales teams focus efforts on specific high-value target accounts rather than pursuing any...

Accounts Payable (AP) is money a company owes to suppliers and vendors for goods or services received but not yet paid. AP appears as a liability on t...

Accounts Receivable (AR) is money owed to a company by customers for products or services delivered but not yet paid. AR appears as an asset on the ba...

Accrual accounting records revenue when earned and expenses when incurred, regardless of when cash changes hands. This differs from cash accounting, w...

An acquisition occurs when one company purchases another, either for cash, stock, or a combination. For startups, being acquired is a common exit path...

Activation rate is the percentage of new users who complete key actions that indicate they've experienced your product's core value. The activation mo...

An advertising model generates revenue by showing ads to users, typically in exchange for free access to content or services. Success requires large,...

An advisor is an experienced professional who provides guidance to startups in exchange for a small equity stake (typically 0.25-1%). Advisors offer e...

An affiliate model earns revenue by referring customers to other businesses, typically receiving a commission on resulting sales. Affiliates leverage...

Agile is an iterative approach to software development and project management that emphasizes flexibility, collaboration, and customer feedback. Agile...

An all-hands meeting is a company-wide gathering where leadership shares updates, celebrates wins, and addresses questions. Effective all-hands balanc...

An ambassador program formalizes relationships with enthusiastic customers or community members who promote your brand. Unlike one-off influencer deal...

An angel investor is a high-net-worth individual who invests personal funds in early-stage startups, typically in exchange for equity. Angels often in...

Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) is the yearly value of recurring subscription revenue, calculated as MRR multiplied by 12. ARR is the primary metric fo...

Anti-dilution protection gives investors additional shares if the company raises money at a lower valuation than their investment. The two main types...

Asynchronous communication is messaging that doesn't require immediate response—enabling work across time zones and protecting focus time. Async-first...

At-will employment is a doctrine where either employer or employee can terminate the relationship at any time, for any legal reason, without advance n...

Attribution modeling is the process of determining which marketing touchpoints contribute to conversions and how to assign credit among them. Models r...

Average Contract Value (ACV) is the average annual revenue per contract, typically used for B2B subscription businesses. It's calculated by dividing t...

Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA) is total recurring revenue divided by the number of accounts. It measures typical customer value and trends over ti...

Business-to-Business (B2B) refers to companies that sell products or services to other businesses rather than consumers. B2B startups typically have l...

Business-to-Consumer (B2C) refers to companies that sell directly to individual consumers. B2C startups typically have shorter sales cycles, lower pri...

A balance sheet shows a company's financial position at a point in time—listing assets (what you own), liabilities (what you owe), and equity (owner v...

Beta is a pre-release version of a product made available to a limited group of users for testing before general availability. Beta users help identif...

Blended rate is the weighted average of different pricing tiers or cost structures. In startups, it often refers to the average equity ownership cost...

Blitzscaling is a strategy of prioritizing speed over efficiency in scaling a company, accepting significant losses to capture market opportunity befo...

Blue ocean strategy creates new market space ('blue oceans') rather than competing in existing crowded markets ('red oceans'). It involves value innov...

A board deck is a presentation shared with the board of directors before board meetings, covering company performance, key metrics, strategic issues,...

A board observer can attend board meetings and access board materials but cannot vote on board matters. Investors who don't warrant a full board seat...

The board of directors is a group of individuals elected to represent shareholders and oversee company management. The board approves major decisions,...

A board seat is a position on a company's board of directors. VCs typically require board seats in financing rounds. The board oversees company strate...

Bootstrapping is building a company without external funding, relying on personal savings, revenue, and profitability. Bootstrapped founders maintain...

Bounce rate measures the percentage of visitors who leave a website after viewing only one page without taking any action. A high bounce rate may indi...

Brand awareness measures how familiar your target audience is with your brand and how well they recognize it. It ranges from recognition (identifying...

Brand equity is the commercial value derived from consumer perception of a brand name rather than the product itself. It represents the premium custom...

Brand positioning defines how a company wants to be perceived in the minds of its target audience relative to competitors. It encompasses the unique v...

A bridge round is short-term financing meant to bridge a company to its next major funding round or milestone. It's typically structured as a converti...

A bug report documents a product defect—unexpected behavior, errors, or failures—with enough detail to reproduce and fix it. Good bug reports include...

Build-Measure-Learn is the core feedback loop of the Lean Startup methodology. Teams build a minimum viable product, measure how customers respond, le...

Burn rate is the speed at which a company spends its cash reserves before generating positive cash flow. Gross burn is total monthly expenses, while n...

The Business Model Canvas is a one-page strategic tool that maps nine key business components: value proposition, customer segments, channels, custome...

A buying committee is the group of stakeholders involved in evaluating and approving a purchase decision. In B2B sales, deals rarely involve just one...

Bylaws are the internal rules governing how a corporation operates—including board structure, officer roles, meeting procedures, voting requirements,...

CAC payback period is the number of months required to recover the cost of acquiring a customer. It's calculated by dividing CAC by the monthly gross...

A capitalization table (cap table) is a spreadsheet or database showing the equity ownership of a company, including shares held by founders, employee...

A carve-out is an allocation of acquisition proceeds set aside for key employees, outside the normal cap table distribution. It's used when liquidatio...

A cash flow statement shows how cash moves in and out of a business over a period. It has three sections: operating (core business), investing (assets...

Category creation is the strategy of defining and dominating a new market category rather than competing in existing ones. Category creators frame the...

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the highest-ranking executive responsible for overall company strategy, operations, and performance. The CEO repo...

The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) leads a company's financial strategy, including accounting, financial planning, risk management, and investor relati...

The Challenger Sale is a sales methodology where salespeople teach, tailor, and take control of conversations. Based on research identifying top-perfo...

A champion is an internal advocate within the prospect organization who actively supports and promotes your solution. Champions have personal motivati...

Channel strategy defines how products reach customers—direct sales, self-service, partnerships, marketplaces, or resellers. Effective channel strategy...

Churn is when customers stop using a product or cancel their subscription. Logo churn counts lost customers, while revenue churn measures lost revenue...

Churn rate measures the percentage of customers or revenue lost over a period. Customer churn counts lost accounts, while revenue churn measures lost...

Click-through rate measures the percentage of people who click on a link, ad, or call-to-action compared to those who view it. It's calculated by divi...

A cliff is a period of time, typically one year, that an employee must work before any equity vests. If they leave before the cliff, they forfeit all...

Closing techniques are methods salespeople use to move prospects from consideration to commitment and signed contracts. While traditional closing focu...

The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) leads a company's marketing strategy and execution, including brand, demand generation, product marketing, and commu...

Cohort analysis groups users by a shared characteristic (typically signup date) and tracks their behavior over time. It reveals how different user gro...

Commoditization is the process where products become interchangeable, competition shifts to price, and margins erode. It threatens companies relying o...

Common stock is the standard ownership class, typically held by founders and employees. Common shareholders have voting rights but are last in line fo...

Community-led growth is a go-to-market strategy that leverages a community of users, advocates, and enthusiasts to drive awareness, acquisition, and r...

Company culture is the shared values, beliefs, behaviors, and practices that define how work gets done and how people interact within an organization....

A company wiki is a centralized repository for internal documentation, processes, and knowledge. Wikis enable self-service information access, reduce...

Competitive analysis systematically evaluates competitors' strengths, weaknesses, strategies, and market positions. It informs positioning, pricing, p...

Consultative selling is a sales methodology where the salesperson acts as a trusted advisor, focusing on understanding the prospect's problems and nee...

A content calendar is a scheduling tool that plans when and where content will be published. It typically includes publication dates, content topics,...

Content marketing is a strategic approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant content to attract and retain a target audience. Unl...

Content strategy is the planning, development, and management of content to achieve specific business goals. It defines what content to create, for wh...

Contribution margin is revenue minus variable costs, showing how much each sale contributes to covering fixed costs and profit. It's expressed as a do...

Conversion optimization is the systematic process of increasing the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action like signing up, purchasing,...

Conversion rate is the percentage of users who complete a desired action, such as signing up, starting a trial, or making a purchase. It's calculated...

A convertible note is a form of short-term debt that converts into equity during a future financing round. It includes interest, a maturity date, and...

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) oversees a company's day-to-day operations, ensuring business processes run efficiently. COOs often complement CEO w...

Core values are the fundamental beliefs and principles that guide a company's behavior and decision-making. Effective values are specific enough to be...

Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) is a venture investment arm of a large corporation, investing in startups for strategic and financial returns. CVCs ca...

Cost of Goods Sold is the direct cost of delivering your product or service, including hosting, support, and payment processing for SaaS. COGS subtrac...

Cost per acquisition measures the total cost to acquire one paying customer or complete a specific action like a signup or purchase. Unlike CPC which...

Cost per click is the amount an advertiser pays each time someone clicks on their digital advertisement. CPC varies widely by industry, keyword compet...

Cost per mille is the cost an advertiser pays for one thousand impressions (views) of their advertisement. CPM is the standard pricing model for displ...

Cost-benefit analysis systematically compares the costs and benefits of a decision, project, or policy. By quantifying both sides in comparable terms...

The Chief Product Officer (CPO) leads product strategy, vision, and execution. CPOs translate company mission into product direction, manage product t...

The Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) owns all revenue-generating functions—typically sales, customer success, and sometimes marketing. The CRO role emerged...

Cross-selling is selling complementary products or services to existing customers. While upselling offers upgrades, cross-selling introduces related o...

The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) is the executive responsible for a company's technology strategy and technical vision. CTOs oversee product develop...

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is the total cost of acquiring a new customer, including marketing, sales, and onboarding expenses. CAC is calculated...

Customer discovery is the process of validating business hypotheses by talking to potential customers. It involves identifying target customers, under...

Customer Effort Score (CES) measures how easy it is for customers to accomplish their goals with your product or support. Typically asked after intera...

A customer health score is a metric that predicts customer satisfaction, renewal likelihood, and expansion potential based on product usage, engagemen...

Customer interviews are structured conversations with users or prospects to understand their experiences, problems, and needs. Effective interviews us...

A customer journey map visualizes the complete experience customers have with a product or company—from initial awareness through purchase, use, and a...

Customer journey mapping visualizes the complete experience a customer has with your company, from initial awareness through purchase and beyond. It i...

Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) is the total revenue a business can expect from a single customer account over the entire relationship. LTV is calculate...

Customer onboarding is the process of helping new customers start using your product and achieve initial value. Effective onboarding includes technica...

Customer Success is a business function focused on ensuring customers achieve their desired outcomes while using a product. CS teams proactively help...

A Customer Success Manager (CSM) ensures customers achieve their desired outcomes with your product, driving retention, expansion, and advocacy. CSMs...

Daily Active Users (DAU) is the number of unique users who engage with your product in a single day. The definition of 'active' varies by product but...

A Data Analyst examines data to find patterns, trends, and insights that inform business decisions. Analysts build dashboards, run analyses, and trans...

A data room is a secure online repository where companies share confidential documents with potential investors, acquirers, or partners during due dil...

DAU/MAU ratio divides Daily Active Users by Monthly Active Users, measuring what percentage of monthly users engage daily. A 50% ratio means users eng...

Dead equity is ownership held by people no longer contributing to the company, such as departed co-founders who vested shares. It can demotivate curre...

Deal size refers to the average value of closed sales transactions, typically measured as average contract value (ACV) for subscriptions or average se...

A decision maker is someone with authority to approve and finalize a purchase decision. In small companies, this might be the CEO; in large enterprise...

Deferred revenue is cash received for goods or services not yet delivered—a liability on the balance sheet representing the obligation to deliver. Com...

Definition of Done (DoD) is a team's shared understanding of what 'done' means for any piece of work. Beyond feature completion, DoD typically include...

Demand generation encompasses all marketing activities focused on creating awareness and interest in your product or service. Unlike lead generation w...

A demo is a live presentation of your product to prospects, typically following discovery to show how your solution addresses their specific needs. Ef...

Demo Day is an event where accelerator cohorts pitch to a large audience of investors. Startups typically present brief pitches showcasing their progr...

Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate people's needs, technology possibilitie...

A Designer creates user experiences and visual interfaces for products. Specializations include UX design (user flows, information architecture), UI d...

Dilution occurs when a company issues new shares, reducing existing shareholders' ownership percentage. In each funding round, founders and early inve...

A direct listing is an alternative to a traditional IPO where a company goes public by listing existing shares directly on an exchange without underwr...

A discovery call is an initial sales conversation focused on understanding the prospect's situation, challenges, goals, and buying process. The goal i...

Display advertising refers to visual advertisements shown on websites, apps, and social media platforms. These include banner ads, video ads, rich med...

Disruption occurs when simpler, cheaper, or more convenient products initially serve overlooked segments, then improve to capture mainstream markets f...

A distributed team has members working from multiple geographic locations rather than a central office. Distribution can be regional, national, or glo...

Documentation is written material that records processes, decisions, technical systems, and institutional knowledge. Good documentation enables asynch...

Double trigger acceleration requires two events for equity to accelerate vesting: typically a change of control (acquisition) AND termination of emplo...

A down round is a financing round where the company raises capital at a lower valuation than the previous round. This results in significant dilution...

Drag-along rights allow majority shareholders to force minority shareholders to join in the sale of a company on the same terms. This ensures that a b...

A drip campaign is an automated series of emails sent on a schedule or triggered by user actions. Each email 'drips' out over time, gradually nurturin...

Dual-track agile runs product discovery and delivery in parallel. The discovery track validates what to build through research, prototyping, and exper...

Due diligence is the investigation process investors conduct before finalizing an investment. It typically covers financials, legal matters, technolog...

Early adopters are the first customers willing to try new products before they're mainstream. They're typically more tolerant of bugs and missing feat...

Earned media is publicity gained through organic efforts like PR, press coverage, social shares, reviews, and mentions rather than paid advertising. I...

An earnout is a portion of an acquisition price paid contingent on the acquired company hitting future performance targets. Earnouts bridge valuation...

The economic buyer is the person who controls or authorizes the budget for a purchase. They may not be the end user or even the primary evaluator, but...

An editorial calendar is a strategic planning document that schedules content creation and publication over time. Unlike a simple content calendar, ed...

The Eisenhower Matrix categorizes tasks by urgency and importance into four quadrants: do first (urgent + important), schedule (important, not urgent)...

Email marketing uses email to communicate with prospects and customers, including newsletters, promotional campaigns, product updates, and automated s...

An empathy map captures what a customer or user thinks, feels, says, does, hears, and sees—building deeper understanding of their perspective. Used in...

Employee engagement measures how committed, motivated, and connected employees feel to their work and organization. Engaged employees deliver discreti...

An employee handbook documents company policies, procedures, benefits, and expectations for employees. It covers topics like PTO, conduct, benefits, a...

Employee NPS (eNPS) measures how likely employees are to recommend their company as a workplace, using the same 0-10 scale as customer NPS. Promoters...

Employer branding is how a company positions itself as a desirable workplace to attract and retain talent. It encompasses the company's reputation, cu...

An employment agreement formalizes the relationship between employer and employee, covering role, compensation, equity, benefits, confidentiality, IP...

An Engineering Manager (EM) leads a team of engineers, focusing on people management, team health, and delivery. EMs handle hiring, career development...

Enterprise sales involves selling to large organizations with deal sizes typically exceeding $100K annually. These sales feature long cycles, multiple...

Equity represents ownership in a company, typically through shares of stock. Founders receive equity at formation, employees through stock options, an...

Event tracking captures specific user actions—button clicks, page views, feature usage—as discrete data points for analysis. A well-designed event tax...

Evergreen content is content that remains relevant and valuable long after publication, driving consistent traffic over months or years. Unlike news o...

Exercising stock options means buying the underlying shares at the strike price. Early exercise purchases unvested shares, while standard exercise pur...

An exit is an event that allows startup investors and shareholders to convert their equity into cash. Common exits include acquisition by another comp...

Expansion revenue is additional revenue from existing customers through upsells, cross-sells, or increased usage. Strong expansion revenue can offset...

A family office manages wealth for a high-net-worth family, often including venture investments. Family offices can be patient, long-term investors wi...

A fast follower strategy involves quickly entering a market after pioneers prove viability, learning from their mistakes while avoiding market-educati...

Feature adoption rate measures what percentage of users or accounts use a specific feature. It helps prioritize product development—low adoption of im...

A feature flag is a software technique that allows teams to enable or disable features without deploying new code. Feature flags enable gradual rollou...

A feature request is a customer suggestion for new functionality or improvements to a product. Managing feature requests involves collecting, organizi...

A financial audit is an independent examination of a company's financial statements by a certified public accountant. Auditors verify that statements...

A financial model is a spreadsheet-based representation of a company's financial performance and projections. Models typically include revenue, costs,...

First Call Resolution (FCR) measures the percentage of customer issues resolved in a single interaction without follow-up. High FCR indicates efficien...

First principles thinking breaks problems down to their fundamental truths, then reasons up from there—rather than reasoning by analogy to how things...

First-mover advantage is the competitive benefit gained by being first to enter a market. Advantages include brand recognition, customer lock-in, and...

A flat round is a financing round at the same valuation as the previous round. While better than a down round, it indicates the company hasn't grown a...

A founder is someone who starts a company, taking on the risk and responsibility of building a new business. Founders typically have significant equit...

Freemium is a business model offering a free version of the product with limited features, alongside paid tiers with additional capabilities. The goal...

Funnel analysis tracks user progression through sequential steps toward a goal—signup, activation, purchase, etc. By measuring drop-off at each stage,...

A go-to-market (GTM) strategy is the plan for launching a product or entering a new market. It defines target customers, positioning, pricing, distrib...

Go-to-market (GTM) strategy defines how a company will sell and deliver its product to customers. It encompasses target customers, value proposition,...

Gross margin is revenue minus the cost of goods sold (COGS), expressed as a percentage of revenue. For SaaS companies, COGS typically includes hosting...

Gross Revenue Retention (GRR) measures the percentage of recurring revenue retained from existing customers, excluding expansion. It only counts downg...

Growth equity provides capital to mature companies for expansion—typically late-stage startups with proven business models seeking to scale. Growth eq...

A growth hacker is a marketer focused on rapid experimentation across marketing channels and product development to identify the most efficient ways t...

Growth loops are self-reinforcing cycles where outputs of the system become inputs that fuel further growth. Unlike linear funnels, loops compound—eac...

The halo effect in startups refers to the positive bias that comes from association with prestigious investors, accelerators, advisors, or customers....

A heatmap visualizes aggregate user behavior data—clicks, mouse movement, or scroll depth—as color-coded overlays on product interfaces. Hot spots sho...

Hockey stick growth describes a revenue or user growth pattern that shows slow initial progress followed by sudden, rapid, and sustained growth - rese...

Hybrid work combines remote and in-office work, with employees splitting time between locations. Models range from structured (specific office days) t...

ICE is a simple prioritization framework scoring initiatives on Impact (potential value), Confidence (certainty of success), and Ease (simplicity of i...

An Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) describes the type of company that would get the most value from your product and provide the most value to your busin...

Inbound marketing is a strategy that attracts customers through relevant content and experiences rather than interruptive advertising. It includes con...

Incentive Stock Options are a type of employee stock option with favorable tax treatment. If holding requirements are met (1 year from exercise, 2 yea...

An income statement (P&L) shows a company's financial performance over a period—revenue, costs, and resulting profit or loss. It tracks whether the bu...

Incorporation is the legal process of forming a corporation, creating a separate legal entity from its founders. Most VC-backed startups incorporate a...

An incubator is an organization that supports early-stage startups with resources like office space, mentorship, and services. Unlike accelerators, in...

Influencer marketing involves partnering with individuals who have influence over your target audience to promote your product or brand. This ranges f...

Information rights entitle investors to receive regular financial and operational updates from the company. Typical rights include quarterly financial...

Integration strategy defines how a product connects with other tools in customers' technology stacks. Strategic integrations increase product value, r...

Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind that are legally protected, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. F...

The interview process is the structured series of evaluations candidates undergo before receiving an offer. A well-designed process balances thoroughn...

Inversion is a mental model that approaches problems backward—instead of asking how to succeed, ask how to fail, then avoid those failure modes. Inver...

An investor memo is a written document articulating the investment thesis for a company—covering market opportunity, product, team, traction, risks, a...

An investor update is regular communication to investors about company progress, metrics, challenges, and asks. Good updates are consistent (monthly o...

An IP assignment agreement transfers ownership of intellectual property created by employees or contractors to the company. Without proper IP assignme...

An Initial Public Offering (IPO) is when a private company offers shares to the public for the first time on a stock exchange. IPOs provide liquidity...

An IPO window refers to market conditions favorable for initial public offerings, or the specific trading windows when insiders can sell shares. Post-...

Iteration is the process of making incremental improvements to a product based on feedback and data. Rather than building a complete solution upfront,...

A job description defines the responsibilities, requirements, and expectations for an open role. Effective job descriptions balance comprehensiveness...

Jobs To Be Done is a framework for understanding customer needs by focusing on the 'job' they're trying to accomplish rather than demographic characte...

Kanban is a visual project management method that uses boards with columns representing workflow stages (e.g., To Do, In Progress, Done). Cards repres...

A knowledge base is a centralized repository of information, documentation, and institutional knowledge. Internal knowledge bases help employees find...

A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a quantifiable measure used to evaluate success in meeting objectives. For startups, KPIs typically include metri...

Land and expand is a sales strategy where you first win a small deal or single team, then grow the relationship over time into larger deployments and...

A landing page is a standalone web page designed for a specific marketing campaign or conversion goal. Unlike general website pages, landing pages foc...

Lead generation is the process of attracting and converting potential customers who have shown interest in your product. Leads are typically captured...

Lead nurturing is the process of developing relationships with prospects at every stage of the sales funnel. It involves providing relevant content an...

Lean Canvas adapts the Business Model Canvas for startups, replacing components with startup-focused elements: problem, solution, key metrics, and unf...

Lean Startup is a methodology for building businesses through validated learning, rapid experimentation, and iterative product releases. It emphasizes...

Lifecycle marketing tailors messaging and campaigns to where customers are in their relationship with your product. It recognizes that prospects, new...

Liquidation preference determines how proceeds are distributed when a company is sold or liquidated. Investors with liquidation preference get paid be...

A lock-up period is a time after an IPO during which insiders (founders, employees, investors) cannot sell their shares, typically 180 days. It preven...

Logo churn measures the percentage of customers who cancel within a period, regardless of their revenue value. If 10 of 100 customers cancel monthly,...

Logo retention measures the percentage of customers (logos) retained over a period, regardless of revenue changes. If you start with 100 customers and...

A lookalike audience is a targeting method that finds new users who share characteristics with your existing customers or engaged users. Platforms lik...

The LTV to CAC ratio compares customer lifetime value to the cost of acquiring that customer. A ratio of 3:1 or higher is generally considered healthy...

The Magic Number measures sales efficiency by dividing net new ARR by sales and marketing spend from the prior quarter. A magic number above 0.75 sugg...

Market entry strategy defines how a company will enter and compete in a new market—including target segments, positioning, pricing, and channels. Entr...

Market size estimates the revenue opportunity for a product. TAM (Total Addressable Market) is total potential revenue. SAM (Serviceable Addressable M...

Marketing automation uses software to automate repetitive marketing tasks like email sends, social posting, lead scoring, and campaign management. It...

A marketing qualified lead is a prospect who has demonstrated interest through marketing engagement and meets predefined criteria indicating they're r...

A marketplace model connects buyers and sellers, facilitating transactions between them rather than owning inventory or delivering services directly....

A Minimum Viable Product is the simplest version of a product that can be released to early customers to validate a business hypothesis. The goal is t...

A mission statement articulates why a company exists and what it aims to accomplish for its customers or the world. Unlike vision (aspirational future...

A moat is a sustainable competitive advantage that protects a business from competition. Moats can come from network effects, switching costs, brand,...

Month-over-month (MoM) growth measures the percentage change in a metric from one month to the next. It's commonly used for revenue, users, or other k...

Monthly Active Users (MAU) is the number of unique users who engage with your product within a 30-day period. MAU is a key metric for measuring the si...

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) is the predictable revenue a subscription business expects to receive every month. It's calculated by multiplying the...

MoSCoW categorizes requirements into Must have (essential), Should have (important but not critical), Could have (nice to have), and Won't have (exclu...

Multi-touch attribution is an advanced attribution method that assigns credit to multiple marketing touchpoints in the customer journey rather than ju...

A mutual action plan is a shared document outlining the steps, owners, and timelines both buyer and seller commit to for completing a deal. MAPs creat...

A Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) is a legal contract protecting confidential information shared between parties. NDAs define what's confidential, how...

Net dollar retention measures revenue from existing customers over time, accounting for expansion, contraction, and churn. Calculated as (starting MRR...

Net Promoter Score measures customer loyalty by asking 'How likely are you to recommend us?' on a 0-10 scale. Promoters (9-10) minus Detractors (0-6)...

Net Revenue Retention measures the percentage of recurring revenue retained from existing customers over a period, including expansions, contractions,...

Network effects occur when a product becomes more valuable as more people use it. Direct network effects mean users benefit from other users (social n...

Non-Qualified Stock Options are stock options taxed as ordinary income on the spread (difference between exercise price and fair market value) at exer...

A North Star Metric is the single metric that best captures the core value your product delivers to customers. It serves as a company-wide focus point...

Objection handling is the skill of addressing buyer concerns, doubts, and resistance during the sales process. Rather than avoiding objections, skille...

An offer letter is a formal document extending a job offer to a candidate, detailing compensation, start date, role, and terms of employment. It typic...

OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) is a goal-setting framework that defines objectives (what you want to achieve) and key results (measurable outcomes...

Onboarding is the process of guiding new users to experience a product's core value. Effective onboarding reduces time-to-value, improves activation r...

A one-on-one is a regular private meeting between a manager and direct report focused on coaching, feedback, career development, and removing blockers...

A one-pager is a single-page document summarizing a company, product, or initiative. Used for investor outreach, sales collateral, or internal communi...

An operating agreement defines how an LLC is governed—including member ownership, profit distribution, voting rights, and management structure. Even s...

Operating expenses (OpEx) are the ongoing costs to run your business that aren't directly tied to delivering the product. They include R&D, sales & ma...

An Operations Manager oversees business processes, ensuring efficient day-to-day operations. Responsibilities vary widely—from managing facilities and...

Opportunity cost is the value of the best alternative you give up when making a choice. Every decision—to build a feature, hire a role, pursue a marke...

An option pool is a portion of company shares reserved for future employee equity grants. Investors typically require a 10-20% option pool before inve...

An org chart visually represents a company's structure, showing reporting relationships, departments, and hierarchy. Beyond basic structure, org chart...

Organic growth refers to customer acquisition and revenue growth achieved without paid advertising. This includes word-of-mouth, SEO, content marketin...

Owned media consists of marketing channels a company controls, including its website, blog, email list, mobile app, and social media profiles. Unlike...

Paid acquisition refers to customer acquisition strategies that involve paying for advertising or promotions to attract users. This includes search ad...

Paid media refers to marketing exposure obtained through paid placement, including search ads, social ads, display advertising, sponsorships, and paid...

The Pareto Principle observes that roughly 80% of effects come from 20% of causes. In business: 80% of revenue from 20% of customers, 80% of bugs from...

Partnership strategy leverages relationships with other companies to create mutual value—through integration, co-selling, distribution, or co-marketin...

Pay-per-click is an online advertising model where advertisers pay each time a user clicks on their ad. PPC is commonly used in search engine advertis...

Payback period is how many months it takes to recover customer acquisition cost through gross margin. A 12-month payback means you break even on a cus...

People Operations (People Ops) is a modern approach to HR that emphasizes employee experience, data-driven decisions, and strategic talent management....

Performance reviews are formal assessments of employee work quality, accomplishments, and growth over a specific period. Modern approaches favor frequ...

Pillar content is comprehensive, foundational content that covers a broad topic in depth and links to related cluster content. It serves as the hub in...

A pilot program is a controlled, limited deployment of a product or service with a subset of users or use cases before broader rollout. Unlike a POC f...

A Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) is a formal document outlining specific performance deficiencies and required improvements within a defined timel...

A pitch deck is a presentation that gives investors an overview of your business, typically covering the problem, solution, market size, business mode...

A pivot is a fundamental change in a startup's business strategy while keeping one foot grounded in what has been learned. Pivots can involve changing...

A platform business creates value by facilitating interactions between two or more user groups—rather than producing goods or services directly. Platf...

Porter's Five Forces analyzes industry attractiveness through five competitive forces: rivalry among existing competitors, threat of new entrants, bar...

Post-money valuation is the value of a company immediately after receiving new investment. It equals the pre-money valuation plus the investment amoun...

A post-mortem is a structured analysis conducted after an incident or project to understand what happened, why it happened, and how to prevent recurre...

Pre-money valuation is the value of a company immediately before receiving new investment. It determines how much equity investors receive for their i...

Pre-seed is the earliest stage of startup funding, typically used to validate an idea, build an initial prototype, or conduct customer discovery. Pre-...

Preferred stock is a class of ownership with rights superior to common stock, typically held by investors. Preferences usually include liquidation pre...

Pro forma financials are projected or hypothetical financial statements showing expected future performance or the effect of proposed transactions. Us...

Pro rata rights allow existing investors to maintain their ownership percentage by participating in future funding rounds. If an investor owns 10% and...

A probationary period is an initial employment phase (typically 30-90 days) where new hires are evaluated more closely before full confirmation. Durin...

Procurement is the department or process responsible for purchasing goods and services on behalf of an organization. In enterprise sales, procurement...

Product analytics measures how users interact with a product—what features they use, how they navigate, where they drop off, and what correlates with...

Product discovery is the process of understanding customer problems and validating potential solutions before committing to build them. Through resear...

Product Hunt is a platform where makers launch new products to an audience of early adopters, investors, and press. A successful Product Hunt launch c...

A product launch is the coordinated release of a new product or major feature to customers. Launches involve cross-functional preparation—product read...

A Product Manager is responsible for the strategy, roadmap, and feature definition of a product. PMs work at the intersection of business, technology,...

A Product Qualified Lead is a user who has experienced meaningful value with your product through a free trial or freemium model. PQLs are identified...

A Product Requirement Document (PRD) specifies what a product or feature should do to solve a customer problem. Modern PRDs focus on problem context,...

A product roadmap is a strategic document that outlines the vision, direction, and progress of a product over time. It communicates planned features a...

A product roadmap is a strategic document that outlines the planned evolution of a product over time. It communicates vision, priorities, and directio...

Product strategy defines how a product will achieve business objectives and create customer value over time. It connects company vision to product roa...

Product vision describes the future state a product is working toward—the ultimate impact it will have on customers and the market. Vision inspires te...

Product-Led Growth is a go-to-market strategy where the product itself is the primary driver of customer acquisition, conversion, and expansion. PLG c...

Product-market fit is the degree to which a product satisfies strong market demand. It occurs when a startup has identified a target customer segment,...

Profit margin is the percentage of revenue that remains as profit after all expenses. Gross margin subtracts only direct costs, while net margin subtr...

A proof of concept is a limited implementation of your product in the prospect's environment to demonstrate feasibility and value before full commitme...

Protective provisions give investors veto power over certain company actions, such as selling the company, raising more money, changing the charter, o...

A quota is the sales target assigned to an individual salesperson or team for a specific period, typically monthly, quarterly, or annually. Quotas are...

RACI is a framework clarifying roles for tasks or decisions: Responsible (does the work), Accountable (owns the outcome), Consulted (provides input),...

Radical Candor is a feedback framework that combines caring personally about people with challenging them directly. Created by Kim Scott, it contrasts...

Reference checks involve contacting a candidate's former colleagues, managers, or reports to verify information and gather additional perspective on t...

A referral program incentivizes existing customers to recommend your product to others, typically offering rewards to both the referrer and referred....

Release management is the process of planning, scheduling, and controlling software deployments from development through production. It encompasses de...

Remote-first is an operating model where remote work is the default, not an exception. Unlike remote-friendly (office-centric with remote option) or f...

Renewal rate measures the percentage of customers or revenue that renews when contracts come up. Gross renewal rate counts only retained revenue; net...

Restricted Stock Units are a promise to deliver shares upon vesting, with no purchase required. Unlike options, RSUs have value even if the stock pric...

Retargeting is a digital advertising strategy that shows ads to users who have previously visited your website or engaged with your content. By placin...

Retention rate measures the percentage of customers who continue using a product over time. It can be measured at various intervals (daily, weekly, mo...

Revenue is the total income generated from selling products or services before any expenses are deducted. For subscription businesses, revenue is ofte...

Revenue churn measures recurring revenue lost from existing customers due to cancellations and downgrades, expressed as a percentage of starting reven...

Revenue per employee measures how efficiently a company generates revenue relative to headcount. It's calculated by dividing annual revenue by number...

Revenue recognition determines when revenue can be recorded on financial statements. Under ASC 606 (the current standard), revenue is recognized when...

A Request for Information is a preliminary document organizations use to gather information about vendors and solutions before issuing formal RFPs. RF...

A Request for Proposal is a formal document organizations use to solicit bids from vendors for a defined project or purchase. RFPs specify requirement...

A Request for Quote is a procurement document requesting pricing for specific goods or services. Unlike RFPs which evaluate solutions broadly, RFQs as...

RICE is a prioritization framework scoring initiatives on Reach (how many users affected), Impact (effect per user), Confidence (certainty of estimate...

Right of first refusal (ROFR) gives certain parties the right to match any offer before shares can be sold to an outside buyer. Companies and existing...

A rolling close allows a startup to accept investments incrementally as they come in, rather than waiting for a single closing date. Common with SAFEs...

The Rule of 40 states that a healthy SaaS company's revenue growth rate plus profit margin should exceed 40%. A company growing 30% with 15% margins (...

A runbook is a documented set of procedures for handling specific operational scenarios, especially incidents or recurring tasks. Unlike general docum...

Runway is the amount of time a startup can continue operating before running out of money, assuming current burn rate remains constant. It's calculate...

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a software distribution model where applications are hosted in the cloud and accessed via subscription. SaaS eliminate...

SaaS Quick Ratio measures growth efficiency by dividing revenue gained (new + expansion) by revenue lost (churn + contraction). A ratio above 4 is exc...

A SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) is an investment contract that gives investors the right to receive equity in a future priced round. Creat...

The sales cycle is the time from first contact with a prospect to closing the deal. It includes stages like prospecting, discovery, demo, proposal, ne...

A Sales Development Rep (SDR) focuses on top-of-funnel sales activities—prospecting, outbound outreach, qualifying inbound leads, and booking meetings...

Sales enablement is the process of providing sales teams with the resources, training, content, and tools they need to effectively engage buyers and c...

A sales funnel represents the journey customers take from first awareness through to purchase. The funnel narrows at each stage as prospects drop off,...

A sales pipeline is a visual representation of all active sales opportunities organized by stage in the buying process. Pipelines track deals from ini...

A sales playbook is a documented guide containing best practices, scripts, objection handling, competitive positioning, and processes that help sales...

A sales qualified lead is a prospect vetted by both marketing and sales as ready for direct sales engagement. SQLs have demonstrated genuine buying in...

Sales velocity measures how quickly deals move through the pipeline and generate revenue. Calculated as (number of opportunities × average deal value...

Scaling is the process of growing a company rapidly while maintaining or improving unit economics and operational efficiency. It involves expanding cu...

Scrum is an agile framework for developing complex products through iterative sprints, defined roles (Product Owner, Scrum Master, Development Team),...

Search Engine Marketing is the practice of marketing a business using paid advertisements that appear on search engine results pages. Unlike SEO, whic...

Seat-based pricing charges based on the number of users accessing the product. It's simple to understand and scales with organization size. However, i...

Second-order thinking considers not just immediate consequences of decisions, but the consequences of those consequences. First-order thinkers ask 'Wh...

A secondary sale is when existing shareholders sell their shares to other investors, rather than the company issuing new shares. This provides liquidi...

A seed round is typically the first official equity funding stage for a startup, used to develop the product, hire initial team members, and validate...

Segmentation divides your market or customer base into distinct groups based on shared characteristics, behaviors, or needs. Common segmentation crite...

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of improving a website's visibility in organic search results. It involves optimizing content, techni...

Series A is typically the first significant venture capital funding round after seed, usually ranging from $5M to $20M. At this stage, startups are ex...

Series B funding is raised by startups that have proven product-market fit and are ready to scale significantly. Rounds typically range from $20M to $...

Session recording captures user interactions with a product—clicks, scrolls, and navigation—for playback and analysis. Recordings reveal how users act...

Shape Up is a product development methodology from Basecamp that replaces sprints with 6-week cycles, preceded by shaping (senior team defines problem...

A shareholder agreement governs relationships between company shareholders—covering voting rights, transfer restrictions, drag-along/tag-along rights,...

Single trigger acceleration vests all unvested equity upon a single event, typically an acquisition. It's more employee-friendly but less common becau...

Situational Leadership theory posits that effective leaders adapt their style to followers' development level—from directing (high task, low relations...

A skip-level meeting is a conversation between an employee and their manager's manager, 'skipping' a level in the hierarchy. Skip-levels help senior l...

Social proof is a psychological principle where people follow the actions and opinions of others, especially when uncertain. In marketing, it includes...

Social selling uses social media platforms, primarily LinkedIn, to research prospects, build relationships, and engage buyers through valuable content...

A Software Engineer designs, builds, tests, and maintains software applications. The role spans multiple specializations—frontend, backend, full-stack...

Solution selling is a sales methodology that focuses on selling solutions to customer problems rather than product features. Salespeople identify pain...

A Solutions Engineer (SE) provides technical expertise during the sales process, supporting account executives with demos, technical discovery, proof...

A SPAC is a publicly traded company created solely to merge with or acquire a private company, taking it public. SPACs offer an alternative path to go...

SPIN Selling is a questioning methodology that guides sales conversations through four types of questions: Situation (context), Problem (challenges),...

A sprint is a fixed time period (typically 1-4 weeks) during which a development team works to complete a set amount of work. Sprints are a core eleme...

A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is a documented set of step-by-step instructions for completing routine tasks consistently. SOPs reduce errors, e...

Stickiness measures how often users return to your product, commonly calculated as DAU/MAU (Daily Active Users / Monthly Active Users). Higher stickin...

Stock options give employees the right to purchase company shares at a fixed price (strike price) after vesting. Options are a common form of equity c...

Story mapping is a visualization technique that arranges user stories in a two-dimensional grid—horizontal for user journey sequence, vertical for pri...

Strike price is the price at which an option holder can buy shares. For tax purposes (IRC 409A), the strike price must be at or above fair market valu...

A subscription model charges customers recurring fees for ongoing access to a product or service. Subscriptions create predictable revenue, improve cu...

The sunk cost fallacy is the tendency to continue investing in something because of previously invested resources (time, money, effort) rather than fu...

Sweat equity is ownership earned through work rather than cash investment. Founders earn sweat equity by building the company, and advisors or contrac...

SWOT analysis is a strategic framework examining Strengths (internal advantages), Weaknesses (internal disadvantages), Opportunities (external favorab...

A syndicate is a group of investors pooling capital to invest together, typically led by an experienced angel investor or small fund. Syndicates allow...

Tag-along rights allow minority shareholders to join a sale initiated by majority shareholders, selling their shares on the same terms. This protects...

Talent acquisition is the strategic process of identifying, attracting, and hiring skilled employees to meet organizational needs. Unlike reactive rec...

Tax credits reduce the amount of tax owed dollar-for-dollar, more valuable than deductions which only reduce taxable income. R&D tax credits are parti...

Team Topologies is a framework for organizing software delivery teams, defining four team types: Stream-aligned (deliver value), Platform (provide ser...

A Tech Lead provides technical leadership for a team or project—setting technical direction, making architectural decisions, mentoring engineers, and...

Technical debt refers to the implied cost of future rework caused by choosing quick, expedient solutions over better approaches that would take longer...

A tender offer is a structured opportunity for shareholders to sell their shares, often to the company or an outside investor. Late-stage startups use...

A term sheet is a non-binding document outlining the key terms of a proposed investment, including valuation, investment amount, board composition, li...

Thought leadership is a content and positioning strategy where individuals or companies establish themselves as experts in their field. It involves sh...

Tiered pricing offers multiple product packages at different price points, each with different feature sets or usage limits. Common structures include...

Time to First Value (TTFV) measures how quickly new users experience meaningful value from your product. Shorter TTFV improves activation, trial conve...

Time to Value is how long it takes a new customer to realize the value of your product after signup. Reducing TTV improves activation rates, reduces c...

Time zone management involves coordinating work across different time zones to enable collaboration while respecting work-life boundaries. Strategies...

Total Addressable Market (TAM) is the total revenue opportunity available if a product achieved 100% market share. It represents the maximum potential...

A transaction fee model charges a percentage or flat fee on each transaction processed through a platform. Common in marketplaces, payments, and finan...

The two-pizza rule, attributed to Jeff Bezos, suggests teams should be small enough to be fed with two pizzas—roughly 6-10 people. Small teams reduce...

Unit economics refers to the direct revenues and costs associated with a single unit of a business (a customer, product, or transaction). Positive uni...

Upselling is selling a higher-tier or more feature-rich version of a product to existing customers. Unlike cross-selling which offers different produc...

Usability testing evaluates a product by observing real users attempting to complete tasks. Unlike surveys or analytics, usability testing reveals why...

Usage-based pricing charges customers based on their actual consumption of a product or service—API calls, data storage, users, or transactions. This...

User experience (UX) encompasses all aspects of a user's interaction with a product—from first impression through ongoing usage. Good UX makes product...

User feedback is information from customers about their experience with a product—what works, what doesn't, and what they wish existed. Feedback comes...

User interface (UI) refers to the visual elements users interact with in a product—buttons, icons, typography, colors, and layout. UI design focuses o...

A user persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data. Personas include demographic informat...

User research systematically studies target users to understand their behaviors, needs, motivations, and pain points. Methods include interviews, surv...

User segmentation divides users into groups based on shared characteristics—demographics, behaviors, needs, or lifecycle stage. Segmentation enables t...

A user story is a short description of a feature from the perspective of the user, following the format: 'As a [user type], I want [goal] so that [ben...

User-generated content is any content created by users or customers rather than the brand itself. This includes reviews, testimonials, social media po...

A UX Researcher studies users to understand their behaviors, needs, and motivations. Through methods like interviews, usability testing, and surveys,...

Valuation is the estimated worth of a company at a given point in time. Pre-money valuation is the company's value before receiving new investment, wh...

A valuation cap is the maximum company valuation at which a convertible note or SAFE converts to equity. It protects early investors by ensuring they...

The Value Proposition Canvas zooms into customer segments and value propositions from the Business Model Canvas. It maps customer jobs, pains, and gai...

Value selling is an approach that focuses on quantifying and communicating the business value a solution delivers rather than competing on features or...

Value-based pricing sets prices based on the perceived value to the customer rather than cost or competitor pricing. This approach requires deep under...

Venture capital is a form of private equity financing provided by firms (VCs) to startups with high growth potential. VCs raise funds from limited par...

Vesting is the process by which employees earn their equity over time. The standard vesting schedule is 4 years with a 1-year cliff, meaning no equity...

The viral coefficient (K-factor) measures how many new users each existing user brings in through referrals. A coefficient above 1 means viral growth,...

A viral loop is a growth mechanism where existing users bring in new users through sharing or invitation. The viral coefficient (K-factor) measures ho...

A vision statement describes the aspirational future state a company is working toward—what the world or industry will look like if the company succee...

Voting rights give shareholders the ability to vote on corporate matters like electing directors, approving major transactions, and amending bylaws. T...

The VP Engineering leads engineering execution—managing engineering teams, establishing processes, and ensuring technical deliverables meet business n...

The VP Marketing leads marketing strategy and execution, typically owning demand generation, product marketing, brand, and communications. They transl...

The VP Sales leads a company's sales organization, responsible for revenue targets, sales strategy, team building, and sales operations. A good VP Sal...

Warrants are financial instruments that give the holder the right to purchase company stock at a specified price (exercise price) before an expiration...

A waterfall analysis shows how exit proceeds are distributed among shareholders based on their rights and preferences. It calculates payouts at differ...

Weighted scoring evaluates options by rating them against multiple criteria, with each criterion assigned a weight based on importance. Scores are mul...

Win rate is the percentage of sales opportunities that convert to closed deals. Calculated by dividing closed-won deals by total opportunities (won +...

Word of mouth is the organic sharing of information about a product or company through personal recommendations and conversations. It's considered the...

Workflow automation uses software to perform repetitive tasks and processes without manual intervention. From simple email sequences to complex multi-...

Working capital is the difference between current assets (cash, accounts receivable, inventory) and current liabilities (accounts payable, short-term...

The X-factor refers to a startup's unique and difficult-to-replicate competitive advantage that sets it apart from competitors. This could be propriet...

Year-over-year (YoY) growth compares a metric to the same period in the prior year, eliminating seasonality effects. It's the standard for reporting c...

Zero to One refers to creating something entirely new rather than incrementally improving existing solutions. The term was popularized by Peter Thiel'...

A zombie startup is a company that continues operating but has no realistic path to significant growth or a successful exit. These companies typically...