Iterate

Definition

To make small, incremental improvements to something, which is a sophisticated way of saying "it's not done but we're shipping it anyway." The philosophy of iterate fast, break things has broken many things and iterated on surprisingly few.

Example Usage

"We'll iterate on the design based on user feedback," said the PM, translating to "we'll ship this mess and see who complains the loudest."

Related Terms

Intermediate

priced round

A funding round where the company's valuation is explicitly set and shares have a specific price—as opposed to convertible instruments where everyone kicks the valuation can down the road. Forces uncomfortable conversations about what the company is actually worth.

🚀 Startup / VC

Advanced

carry

Short for 'carried interest'—the percentage of fund profits that goes to VCs as performance compensation, typically 20%. It's why venture capitalists drive Teslas even when most of their portfolio is worthless.

🚀 Startup / VC

Beginner

grayhair

An experienced executive or advisor brought into a startup to add operational credibility and grown-up supervision to a young founding team. Think adult daycare, but for unicorn hopefuls.

🚀 Startup / VC

Advanced

chaos engineering

The practice of intentionally breaking things in production to make sure your systems can handle failure gracefully. It's like testing your smoke detector by setting small fires, except your boss approves.

💻 Tech / IT

Intermediate

biometrics

The automated measurement and recognition of biological characteristics, or as privacy advocates call it, 'turning your face and fingerprints into passwords you can't change.' Modern tech companies use biometrics to unlock your phone, track employees, and occasionally misidentify people in hilariously problematic ways. It's the future of security, assuming you're comfortable with your unique biological features being stored in some database somewhere.

💻 Tech / IT

Beginner