Startup & VC Jargon
71 buzzwords: the vocabulary of pitch decks, board meetings, and term sheets. Each links to a full breakdown with the plain-English swap.
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10x"10x" means ten times the output, impact, or growth, though it is often used loosely to mean simply "much bigger" or "way better."→ much bigger996"996" refers to a work schedule of 9am to 9pm, six days a week, a practice common in some tech companies that is sometimes presented as a sign of dedication.→ brutal work hoursAcquihire"Acquihire" means buying a company primarily to gain its employees rather than its product, technology, or revenue.→ buy a company for its peopleActivation"Activation" means the moment a new user takes their first meaningful action in a product, demonstrating they have understood its value and are likely to keep using it.→ a new user's first real winAgentic"Agentic" describes an AI system that can take sequences of actions or make decisions on its own to complete a goal, rather than just answering a single question.→ acts on its ownAha moment"Aha moment" refers to the specific point when a new user first understands the value of a product and decides it is worth their time.→ when the product clicksAI-first"AI-first" describes an approach in which artificial intelligence is treated as the primary driver of a product or company's strategy, not an add-on feature.→ AI at the coreAI-native"AI-native" means a product or company built around artificial intelligence from the start, rather than one that added AI capabilities to an existing system.→ built around AIARR"ARR" stands for annual recurring revenue, the total predictable revenue a company expects to collect from subscriptions or contracts over one year.→ yearly recurring revenueAsymmetric bet"Asymmetric bet" describes an investment or decision where the potential upside is much larger than the potential downside, making the risk worth taking.→ small risk, big upsideBlitzscale"Blitzscale" means to grow a company as fast as possible, deliberately accepting chaos and inefficiency in exchange for speed.→ grow fast at all costsBridge roundA "bridge round" is a small, short-term fundraise intended to give a startup enough runway to reach its next major funding milestone.→ short-term funding to reach the next roundBuild in public"Build in public" means sharing your company's progress, metrics, and setbacks openly as they happen, usually on social media.→ sharing progress openlyBurn rate"Burn rate" means how quickly a company is spending its cash reserves each month, typically before reaching profitability.→ how fast cash goesCap table"Cap table" is short for capitalization table, the document that shows who owns what percentage of a company and on what terms.→ ownership spreadsheetCapital efficient"Capital efficient" means achieving significant output or growth while spending relatively little money, often by keeping costs lean.→ does a lot with little moneyCategory-defining"Category-defining" means creating or dominating a market segment so thoroughly that the company becomes the reference point for that type of product.→ first of its kindChurn"Churn" means the rate at which customers cancel or stop paying, typically expressed as a percentage of total subscribers lost over a given period.→ customers leavingCohort analysis"Cohort analysis" means grouping users or customers by a shared characteristic (usually the date they signed up) and tracking their behavior over time to identify patterns.→ tracking users by signup dateConviction"Conviction" in investing means a strong, well-founded belief that a particular deal or company will succeed, often used to justify a significant financial commitment.→ strong belief in the dealDeep work"Deep work" means focused, uninterrupted time spent on a cognitively demanding task, free from meetings and notifications.→ focused, uninterrupted timeDefault alive"Default alive" means a startup can reach profitability on its current trajectory without raising additional funding.→ profitable without more fundingDisrupt"Disrupt" means to fundamentally change or overturn an established industry, market, or process through a new approach or technology.→ shake upDisruptive"Disruptive" means that a product, company, or idea is significantly changing how an existing industry or market works.→ industry-changingDogfooding"Dogfooding" means having a company's own employees use its product internally before releasing it to customers.→ using our own productDown round"Down round" means a funding round where a company raises money at a lower valuation than its previous round, signaling the company is worth less than before.→ lower-valuation raiseExpansion revenue"Expansion revenue" means additional revenue generated from existing customers through upsells, upgrades, or add-on purchases.→ more revenue from existing customersFail fast"Fail fast" means to test ideas quickly, surface what does not work as soon as possible, and use that information to improve or change direction.→ learn quickly from mistakesFirst principles"First principles" thinking means breaking a problem down to its most basic, fundamental elements and reasoning up from there rather than relying on assumptions or precedent.→ from the ground upFlywheel"Flywheel" means a self-reinforcing business loop where each part of the cycle makes the next part stronger over time.→ self-reinforcing loopFounder mode"Founder mode" means a leadership style where founders stay deeply involved in operational details rather than delegating to a management layer.→ hands-on leadershipFounder-led sales"Founder-led sales" means the company's founder personally handles the early sales process because the product and pitch are not yet easy for anyone else to carry.→ the founder doing the sellingFounder-market fit"Founder-market fit" means the alignment between a founder's specific background, skills, or experience and the problem their startup is trying to solve.→ why you're right for this problemGenerational company"Generational company" means a business claimed to be so rare and significant that it only comes along once in a generation, a label applied most often in pitch decks.→ once-in-a-generation companyGo-to-market"Go-to-market" refers to the strategy and plan for how a company will bring a product to customers, including pricing, positioning, channels, and timing.→ launch planGrindset"Grindset" refers to a mindset centered on relentless hard work and productivity, often treated as a core part of one's identity.→ hustle mentalityHeads down"Heads down" means deeply focused on execution work, not attending meetings or responding to non-urgent requests for a period of time.→ focused on the workHigh agency"High agency" describes someone who acts on problems without waiting to be told, finding ways around obstacles rather than stopping at them.→ takes initiativeHypergrowth"Hypergrowth" describes a phase of extremely rapid business expansion, typically defined as annual growth of 40 percent or more.→ very fast growthIterate"Iterate" means to improve something through repeated cycles of testing, feedback, and revision rather than getting it perfect in a single pass.→ improve in roundsLand and expand"Land and expand" means a sales strategy of winning a small initial deal with a customer, then growing the relationship and revenue over time.→ start small, then grow itLocked in"Locked in" means fully focused and committed to a task, with no distractions pulling attention elsewhere.→ focusedLTV:CAC"LTV:CAC" is a ratio comparing how much revenue a customer generates over their lifetime to how much it cost to acquire them, used to assess whether a business model is financially healthy.→ customer value vs. cost to winMoat"Moat" refers to a lasting competitive advantage that makes it difficult for rivals to erode a company's market position.→ lasting advantageMoonshot"Moonshot" means an extremely ambitious project or goal that has a low probability of success but a very high potential payoff.→ huge betMove fast and break things"Move fast and break things" is a Silicon Valley philosophy that prioritizes speed of execution over caution, accepting that mistakes will happen along the way.→ ship quickly, fix laterMRR"MRR" stands for monthly recurring revenue, the total predictable subscription revenue a company generates each month.→ monthly recurring revenueNet revenue retention"Net revenue retention" measures how much revenue a company keeps and grows from its existing customer base over a given period, accounting for upgrades, downgrades, and churn.→ how much existing customers grow or shrinkNetwork effects"Network effects" describes the dynamic where a product or service becomes more valuable as more people use it.→ value from more usersOversubscribed"Oversubscribed" means a fundraising round received more investor interest than it had available space, so not every interested investor could participate.→ more demand than space in the roundPicks and shovels"Picks and shovels" refers to the strategy of investing in or building tools that serve a growing market rather than betting on which participant in that market wins.→ sell the tools, not the productPower users"Power users" are the small group of highly active customers who use a product most intensively and tolerate its rough edges better than anyone else.→ your most active usersProduct-led growth"Product-led growth" is a strategy where the product itself drives user acquisition and expansion, rather than relying primarily on a sales team.→ growth through the product itselfProduct-market fit"Product-market fit" means a product genuinely meets the needs of a real market, shown by strong demand and retention from actual customers.→ people actually want itRaise a roundTo "raise a round" means to secure a new batch of investment from venture capital or other investors in exchange for equity.→ get fundingRamen profitable"Ramen profitable" means a startup is generating just enough revenue to cover the founders' minimal living expenses, which is considered a meaningful early milestone.→ covering basic living costsRise and grind"Rise and grind" is a phrase celebrating early-morning hustle and relentless work, borrowed from fitness culture and widely adopted (and later mocked) in startup circles.→ start the workdayRocketship"Rocketship" means a startup or company growing extremely fast, used by founders and investors to convey momentum and excitement to potential hires or backers.→ fast-growingRunway"Runway" means the number of months a company can continue operating before it runs out of cash at its current spending rate.→ months of cash leftScrappy"Scrappy" means accomplishing goals with limited resources through improvisation and a willingness to do whatever it takes.→ resourcefulShip it"Ship it" means to release something now, pushing past hesitation or the desire for more polish.→ release itStealth mode"Stealth mode" describes a startup or project that is kept secret from the public, usually to avoid tipping off competitors before launch.→ kept quietStickiness"Stickiness" is a product metric that measures how frequently users return to an app or service, indicating how well it holds their attention over time.→ how often users returnTalk to users"Talk to users" means to conduct direct conversations with customers to understand their actual needs, problems, and behaviors.→ interview your customersTerm sheet"Term sheet" means a non-binding document that outlines the basic financial terms and conditions of a proposed investment or deal.→ deal outlineTime to value"Time to value" means how quickly a new user or customer gets a meaningful benefit from a product after signing up or purchasing.→ how fast onboarding pays offTotal addressable market"Total addressable market" (TAM) is an estimate of the maximum revenue a company could earn if it captured every possible customer in its target market.→ total market sizeUnicorn"Unicorn" means a privately held startup that has reached a valuation of at least one billion dollars.→ billion-dollar startupVibe coding"Vibe coding" means writing software by describing what you want to an AI tool and shipping the output with minimal review or traditional coding.→ coding by prompting AIWarm intro"Warm intro" means an introduction to someone made through a mutual contact, rather than reaching out cold to a stranger.→ intro through a mutual contactZero to one"Zero to one" means creating something genuinely new that did not exist before, rather than improving or copying something that already exists.→ building something new
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