Entrepreneurship vocabulary

137 vocabulary entries in our Entrepreneurship study dataset. These are study definitions, not official wording.

A-C

A method of comparing two versions of a webpage, app, or marketing campaign against each other to determine which one performs better.

A/B Testing (Split Testing)

A method of comparing two versions of a webpage, app, or marketing campaign against each other to determine which one performs better.

Accelerator

A program that gives developing companies access to mentorship, investors, and other support to help them grow quickly. Accelerators usually require an equity stake.

Acqui-hire

An acquisition where one company buys another primarily for the skills and expertise of its staff, rather than for its products or services.

Advisory Board

A group of external advisors chosen to provide strategic advice to the management of a corporation, organization, or foundation.

Advocate

A customer who is so satisfied with a product or service that they actively promote it to others, often through word-of-mouth.

Agile Development

A set of principles for software development under which requirements and solutions evolve through the collaborative effort of self-organizing cross-functional teams.

Angel Investor

A high-net-worth individual who provides financial backing for small startups or entrepreneurs, typically in exchange for ownership equity.

Anti-Dilution Provision

A clause in an option, security, or merger agreement that gives the investor the right to maintain their ownership percentage in a company by buying a proportionate number of shares of any future issue of the security.

Assumption

A belief or idea about a business model that has not yet been validated. Startups test assumptions through experiments.

Audience

The specific group of people that a startup aims to reach and serve with its product or service.

B2B (Business-to-Business)

A business model where a company sells products or services to other businesses.

B2C (Business-to-Consumer)

A business model where a company sells products or services directly to individual consumers.

Balance Sheet

A financial statement that reports a company's assets, liabilities, and shareholder equity at a specific point in time.

Beachhead Market

The first, small market segment a startup targets to establish a foothold before expanding into larger markets.

Bootstrapping

The process of starting a business with minimal external funding, relying on personal savings and revenue from the first sales.

Brand Identity

The visible elements of a brand, such as color, design, and logo, that identify and distinguish the brand in consumers' minds.

Break-even Point

The point at which total cost and total revenue are equal, meaning there is no loss or gain for the business.

Bridge Loan (Swing Loan)

A short-term loan used to bridge the gap between major financing rounds or until a long-term financing option can be arranged.

Burn Rate

The rate at which a company is spending its venture capital to finance overhead before generating positive cash flow from operations.

Business Incubator

An organization that helps startup companies and individual entrepreneurs to develop their businesses by providing a range of services, including office space, management training, and access to financing.

Business Model

A company's plan for making a profit. It identifies the products or services the business plans to sell, its identified target market, and any anticipated expenses.

Business Model Canvas

A strategic management template for developing new or documenting existing business models. It is a visual chart with elements describing a firm's value proposition, infrastructure, customers, and finances.

Buy-Sell Agreement

A legally binding agreement between co-owners of a business that governs the situation if a co-owner chooses to leave the business, retires, or dies.

C Corporation (C Corp)

A legal structure for a corporation in which the owners, or shareholders, are taxed separately from the entity.

Capital

Financial assets or the financial value of assets, such as cash and machinery, that a business uses to fund its operations.

Capitalization Table (Cap Table)

A spreadsheet or table that shows the equity capitalization for a company, including all ownership stakes, dilution, and the value of equity in each round of investment.

Cash Flow

The net amount of cash and cash-equivalents being transferred into and out of a business.

Cliff

A period of time in a vesting schedule during which an employee must remain with the company to earn any stock options. If they leave before the cliff, they forfeit all options.

Competitive Advantage

A condition or circumstance that puts a company in a favorable or superior business position.

Conversion Rate

The percentage of users or visitors who take a desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter.

Convertible Debt (Convertible Note)

A short-term loan that converts into equity at a later date, typically during a future funding round.

Convertible Note

A form of short-term debt that converts into equity, typically in conjunction with a future financing round.

Copyright

A legal right that grants the creator of an original work exclusive rights for its use and distribution.

Corporate Veil

A legal concept that separates the personality of a corporation from the personalities of its stockholders, and protects them from being personally liable for the company's debts and other obligations.

Cost of Customer Acquisition (CAC)

The total cost of sales and marketing efforts needed to acquire a customer.

Crowdfunding

The practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

The total cost of sales and marketing efforts needed to acquire a new customer.

Customer Discovery

The process of interviewing potential customers to understand their problems, needs, and pain points to validate a business idea.

Customer Lifetime Value (LTV or CLV)

A prediction of the net profit attributed to the entire future relationship with a customer.

Customer Segmentation

The practice of dividing a customer base into groups of individuals that are similar in specific ways relevant to marketing, such as age, gender, interests, and spending habits.

Customer Validation

The process of testing whether a proposed product or service solves a significant problem for a target customer segment.

D-L

Raising capital by borrowing money that must be repaid, usually with interest.

Debt Financing

Raising capital by borrowing money that must be repaid, usually with interest.

Deck (Pitch Deck)

A brief presentation, often created using PowerPoint, Keynote, or Prezi, used to provide a quick overview of a business plan to potential investors.

Deep Dive

An in-depth analysis or discussion of a particular topic.

Demand Validation

The process of confirming that there is a genuine market need for a product or service before building it.

Demographics

Statistical data relating to the population and particular groups within it.

Design Thinking

A human-centered approach to innovation that integrates the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.

Disruption

An innovation that creates a new market and value network and eventually displaces established market-leading firms, products, and alliances.

Disruptive Innovation

An innovation that creates a new market and value network and eventually disrupts an existing market and value network, displacing established market-leading firms, products, and alliances.

Distribution Channel

The path through which goods and services travel from the vendor to the consumer.

Diversification

The strategy of expanding a business into new products or markets to reduce risk.

Down Round

A round of financing where investors purchase stock from a company at a lower valuation than the preceding round.

Early Adopter

An individual who is among the first to use a new product, technology, or service.

Elevator Pitch

A brief, persuasive speech that you can use to spark interest in what your organization does.

Entrepreneur

An individual who founds and operates a new business, assuming significant financial risks to do so.

Equity Crowdfunding

A form of crowdfunding where individuals invest in a startup in exchange for equity in the company.

Equity Financing

Raising capital by selling shares of ownership in the company.

Exit Strategy

A plan for how an entrepreneur will eventually sell their stake in the business to realize a profit, such as through an IPO, acquisition, or merger.

Expansion Stage

The phase of a company's life cycle where it is growing in terms of revenue, customers, and market share.

Financial Projections

Forecasts of a company's future financial performance, including revenue, expenses, and profit.

First Mover Advantage

The competitive advantage gained by the initial significant occupant of a market segment.

Founders' Agreement

A legal contract between the founders of a startup that outlines ownership, roles, responsibilities, and what happens if a founder leaves.

Freemium

A business model where a company offers basic services for free, while charging a premium for advanced or additional features.

Friends and Family Round

An early stage of seed funding where an entrepreneur raises capital from their personal contacts.

Frugal Innovation

The process of reducing the complexity and cost of a good and its production.

Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy

An action plan that specifies how a company will reach target customers and achieve competitive advantage.

Go-to-Market Strategy (GTM)

An action plan that specifies how a company will reach target customers and achieve competitive advantage.

Growth Hacking

A marketing technique that uses creativity, analytical thinking, and social metrics to sell products and gain exposure.

Hockey Stick Growth

A pattern of rapid growth that, when plotted on a graph, resembles the shape of a hockey stick.

Ideation

The creative process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas.

Income Statement

A financial statement that reports a company's financial performance over a specific accounting period.

Initial Public Offering (IPO)

The process of offering shares of a private corporation to the public in a new stock issuance.

Intrapreneurship

Behaving like an entrepreneur while working within a large organization.

Iteration

The process of repeating a cycle of development and testing to refine a product or business model.

Key Man Insurance

An insurance policy taken out by a business to compensate that business for financial losses that would arise from the death or extended incapacity of an important member of the business.

Landing Page

A single web page that appears in response to clicking on a search engine optimized search result, marketing promotion, marketing email, or an online advertisement.

Lean Startup Methodology

A method for developing businesses and products that aims to shorten product development cycles by adopting a combination of business-hypotheses-driven experimentation, iterative product releases, and validated learning.

Letter of Intent (LOI)

A document outlining the main points of an agreement between two or more parties before the agreement is finalized.

Lifestyle Business

A business set up and run by its founders primarily with the aim of sustaining a particular level of income and no more; or to provide a foundation from which to enjoy a particular lifestyle.

Lifetime Value (LTV)

A prediction of the net profit attributed to the entire future relationship with a customer.

Limited Liability Company (LLC)

A business structure in the U.S. that protects its owners from personal responsibility for its debts or liabilities.

Liquidation Preference

A clause in a contract that dictates the payout order in case of a corporate liquidation.

M-S

A measure of how much a product or service is being used by customers compared to the total estimated market for that product or service.

Market Opportunity

A situation where a company can meet an unmet need in a market.

Market Penetration

A measure of how much a product or service is being used by customers compared to the total estimated market for that product or service.

Market Research

The action or activity of gathering information about consumers' needs and preferences.

Market Validation

The process of determining if there\u2019s a need for your product in the market.

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)

The consolidation of companies or assets through various types of financial transactions.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

A version of a new product which allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort.

Monetization

The process of converting something (e.g., a service, data, or audience) into money.

Niche Market

A small, specialized segment of a larger market.

Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)

A legal contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties wish to share with one another for certain purposes, but wish to restrict access to.

Option Pool

A block of a company's stock that is reserved for issuance to future employees as part of their compensation package.

Pain Point

A specific problem that prospective customers of your business are experiencing.

Pitch

A concise presentation of a business idea to potential investors.

Pivot

A structured course correction designed to test a new fundamental hypothesis about the product, strategy, and engine of growth.

Post-Money Valuation

The value of a company after an external investment has been made.

Pre-money Valuation

The value of a company before it goes public or receives other investments.

Pro Rata Rights

The right for an investor to participate in a future funding round to maintain their percentage ownership in the company.

Product-Market Fit

The degree to which a product satisfies a strong market demand.

Proof of Concept (PoC)

A demonstration to verify that certain concepts or theories have the potential for real-world application.

Proprietary Technology

Technology that is owned exclusively by a single company and is protected by patents or trade secrets.

Prototyping

An early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process.

Raising Capital

The process of obtaining funding from investors to start or grow a business.

Return on Investment (ROI)

A performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or compare the efficiency of a number of different investments.

Revenue Model

A framework for generating financial income. It identifies which revenue source to pursue, what value to offer, how to price the value, and who pays for the value.

Runway

The amount of time a startup has before it runs out of money, assuming its current income and expenses remain constant.

S Corporation (S Corp)

A type of corporation that meets specific Internal Revenue Code requirements, allowing it to pass income directly to shareholders and avoid double taxation.

SaaS (Software as a Service)

A software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted.

Scalability

The capability of a system, network, or process to handle a growing amount of work, or its potential to be enlarged to accommodate that growth.

Seed Capital/Funding

The initial capital used to start a business, often coming from the founders' personal assets, friends, or family.

Seed Round

The first official equity funding stage. It typically represents the first official money that a business venture or enterprise raises.

Series A, B, C Funding

The stages of venture capital financing for a startup. Series A is for scaling, Series B is for expanding, and Series C is for further growth and market dominance.

Shareholder

An individual or institution that legally owns one or more shares of the share capital of a public or private corporation.

Silent Partner

An individual whose involvement in a partnership is limited to providing capital to the business.

Small Business Administration (SBA)

A U.S. government agency that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Social Entrepreneurship

The pursuit of innovative solutions to social problems.

Startup

A young company founded by one or more entrepreneurs to develop a unique product or service and bring it to market.

Stealth Mode

A company's temporary state of secretiveness, usually undertaken to avoid alerting competitors to a pending product launch or other business initiative.

Sweat Equity

Non-monetary investment that the owners or employees of a business contribute to its development.

T-Z

A particular group of consumers at which a product or service is aimed.

Target Market

A particular group of consumers at which a product or service is aimed.

Term Sheet

A non-binding agreement that outlines the basic terms and conditions under which an investment will be made.

Total Addressable Market (TAM)

The total revenue opportunity that is available for a product or service if 100% market share was achieved.

Trademark

A symbol, word, or words legally registered or established by use as representing a company or product.

Unicorn

A privately held startup company valued at over $1 billion.

Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

A clear statement that describes the benefit of your offer, how you solve your customer's needs and what distinguishes you from the competition.

User Acquisition

The process of gaining new users for an app, platform, or other service.

User Persona

A semi-fictional character based on your current or ideal customer.

Valuation

The process of determining the current worth of a business or asset.

Value Proposition

A promise of value to be delivered, communicated, and acknowledged. It is also a belief from the customer about how value will be delivered, experienced and acquired.

Venture Capital (VC)

A form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential.

Venture Capitalist

An investor who provides capital to startup ventures or supports small companies that wish to expand but do not have access to equities markets.

Vesting

The process by which an employee accrues non-forfeitable rights over employer-provided stock incentives or employer contributions to a retirement plan.

Viral Loop

A mechanism that encourages users to refer others, creating a cycle of exponential growth.

Other clusters

• Finance341 entries
• Business Management and Administration264 entries
• Hospitality and Tourism149 entries
• Marketing127 entries
• General93 entries