Disrupting disruption with disruptive disruptions since 2010.
The phase between seed funding and Series A where many startups run out of money and crash; basically startup purgatory.
In medieval times, a water-filled ditch that kept invaders at bay; in modern business, the metaphorical competitive advantages that protect a company from rivals trying to steal its lunch money. Warren Buffett popularized this term to describe sustainable competitive advantages like strong brands, network effects, or regulatory barriers. The wider the moat, the harder it is for competitors to storm your castle and the more VCs will swoon over your pitch deck.
The romanticized art of starting businesses, taking risks, and pretending to enjoy working 80-hour weeks for the slim chance of eventual success. It's capitalism's version of the hero's journey, complete with failure, redemption arcs, and way too many LinkedIn posts about "grinding." Business schools teach it, VCs fund it, and most people quit it within three years.
An operating style where founders maintain deep involvement in company details rather than delegating everything to managers. Popularized by Paul Graham as a counterpoint to conventional management wisdom that says CEOs should stay hands-off.
A startup that aims to be both profitable AND socially responsible, as opposed to unicorns that prioritize growth at any cost. They're real, sustainable, and less likely to leave a trail of layoffs and burned capital.
Total Addressable Market, Serviceable Addressable Market, and Serviceable Obtainable Market—three increasingly pessimistic estimates of how much money you might theoretically make. The trilogy of optimism, realism, and 'if everything goes perfectly.'
An internal document where VCs justify their investment thesis to partners, typically written with supreme confidence that will be mocked at the next downturn. The receipts for future 'I told you so' moments.
A marketplace where shareholders can sell their existing equity to other investors, providing liquidity before an IPO or acquisition. It's the emergency exit when waiting for an actual exit feels like waiting for Godot.
The early-internet ideology that all digital content and services should be freely available to everyone, or at least subsidized by someone else willing to foot the bill. A utopian dream that helped kill the dot-com bubble.
When a startup's revenue covers basic operating expenses (ramen-level salaries), allowing it to survive without external funding.
To forcefully resurrect a dead project, company, or relationship using emergency measures and borrowed energy. Like CPR but for your failing startup's momentum.
Your strategy for acquiring customers—ranging from 'extremely detailed 50-page document' to 'hope LinkedIn organic works' depending on your VC's patience.
A reserve of shares set aside to recruit employees with stock options, typically carved out before valuation to dilute founders rather than investors. A necessary evil that feels like robbery when you're calculating founder ownership.
The actual money behind venture capital—pension funds, endowments, and rich people who give VCs money to invest and hope they know what they're doing. They're 'limited' because they can't tell the GP how to do their job.
The industry dedicated to using living organisms and biological systems to create products, solve problems, and generally play god in the most profitable way possible. It's where biology meets engineering meets venture capital, resulting in everything from life-saving drugs to designer yeast that makes better beer. Think of it as science's entrepreneurial phase, where petri dishes can lead to IPOs.
Contractual provisions granting investors access to a startup's financial statements, board minutes, and other operational data. Essentially, the legal right to know how badly founders are spending their money.
The speed at which a startup moves from inception to market dominance within its category. The term is sometimes used when discussing execution speed and competitive moats simultaneously.
A fundraising approach where a startup accepts investor commitments and transfers shares on multiple dates instead of a single closing. It's like a progressive dinner party for term sheets.
A venture capital firm that's functionally dead but still managing old funds, unable to raise new capital but too undead to fully shut down. They're not investing in new companies but still collecting management fees from their limited partners.
General Partner, the VC fund managers who make investment decisions and carry legal liability for the fund's operations. They're the ones whose names are on the door and whose reputations are on the line.
The year a venture capital fund closes and begins making investments, used to compare fund performance across similar time periods. It's like birth year for wine or funds—context that matters for quality assessment.
A handshake agreement between friends to keep something confidential—no lawyers, no paperwork, just mutual trust and the vague hope nobody steals your million-dollar idea. It's an NDA for people too broke to afford an actual NDA.
A sudden, catastrophic drop in value, performance, or viability—the moment your startup's growth chart becomes a ski slope in the wrong direction. Often used in VC circles to describe what happens when a company hits its scaling limit without a parachute.
To launch a startup or project with minimal external funding by leveraging existing resources and sweat equity. The term originates from computing (where an OS loads itself into memory) but has become startup gospel—basically, pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps while investors watch from the sidelines.