entrepreneurship

Definition

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.

Example Usage

After reading one book about entrepreneurship, Jake quit his job to launch a startup and discovered that motivation doesn't pay rent.

Source: Common business terminology

Related Terms

Intermediate

pro forma

Financial projections showing what a company's metrics would look like under hypothetical conditions or future scenarios. Latin for 'as a matter of form,' startup-ese for 'this is the fantasy we're selling investors.'

🚀 Startup / VC

Advanced

preferred return

The minimum annual return (typically 8%) that limited partners receive before general partners can claim carried interest, functioning as a hurdle rate to ensure LPs get paid first. Think of it as making the GP eat their vegetables before getting dessert.

🚀 Startup / VC

Advanced

reserve ratio

The percentage of a VC fund set aside for follow-on investments in existing portfolio companies. The math that determines whether your investor can actually support you in the next round or just awkwardly watch.

🚀 Startup / VC

Intermediate

secondary sale

Selling existing shares to other investors rather than the company issuing new shares, allowing early shareholders to get liquid without diluting anyone. The financial equivalent of sneaking out the back door.

🚀 Startup / VC

Intermediate

Vaporware

A product that has been announced and marketed but doesn't actually exist yet, which in Silicon Valley is just called a pre-launch strategy. It's the tech equivalent of selling tickets to a concert before you've learned to play an instrument.

🚀 Startup / VC

Intermediate

follow-on investment

Additional money invested in a portfolio company after the initial round—either because things are going great and you want more ownership, or things are terrible and you're protecting your original investment. Hope and desperation look surprisingly similar.

🚀 Startup / VC

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