Last updated:27 February 2023

Ready with your idea? Planning to enter the entrepreneurial world? If the answer is ‘yes’, then this article is for you. Entrepreneurial world is not so glittery as is seems to be. Your ride to this fancy world will be full of challenges and hardship. And you know what is the major problem which aspiring entrepreneurs faces? It is the language. Yes, for aspiring entrepreneurs, language act as hiccups in their journey as they are not aware about the most common startup jargon used by the entrepreneurial world. Entrepreneurial world is full of startup jargons and if you want to create an impact, you need to know these startup culture lingos. So to make your ride bit easier, we at IndianWeb2 has penned down few startup jargons with their definition.

So below are the few must know lingos & Jargons for all the aspiring entrepreneurs:
  1. Accelerator - Accelerators are essentially 'training schools' for expanding startups. Accelerators generally offer startups a specific amount of capital and guidance in exchange for a percentage (usually 6-8%) of ownership in the company.

  2. Acqui-hire - buying out a company primarily for the skills and expertise of its staff, rather than for its products or services.
    • MBO buyout - A management buyout — mbo buyouts — is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company/start-up, whether from a parent company or individual. MBOs generally occur to take companies private in an effort to streamline operations and improve profitability.
    • LBO Buyout - A leveraged buyout (LBO) is when a company is purchased using a combination of debt and equity, wherein the cash flow of the business is the collateral used to secure and repay the loan

  3. Alpha Test - It is a trial of machinery, software, or other products carried out by a developer before a product is made available for beta testing.

  4. Accredited Investor - An individual potentially interested in investing in the company which can deal with securities not registered with financial authorities by satisfying one of the requirements regarding income, net worth, asset size, governance status or professional experience.

  5. Bleeding Edge - The very forefront of technological development.

  6. Buyout - It is the purchase of a company's shares in which the acquiring party gains controlling interest of the targeted firm.

  7. Bootstrapped - it is a situation in which an entrepreneur starts a company with little capital.

  8. Cliff - It means that the founders will not get vested with regards to any shares until the first anniversary of the founders stock issuance.

  9. Co-invest - It is a minority investment, made directly into an operating company, alongside a financial sponsor or other private equity investor, in a leveraged buyout, recapitalization or growth capital transaction.

  10. Dragon - While a ‘unicorn’ denotes an unlisted company that has achieved a valuation of over $1 billion based on funds raised, a ‘dragon’ is one that raises $1 billion from investors in a single round.

  11. Decacorns – Term used for companies valued at over $10 Billion. Some of the notable members of the club are WhatsApp and Snapchat.

  12. Elevator Pitch - An elevator pitch, elevator speech or elevator statement is a short sales pitch which is often an ice breaker, that will (hopefully) lead into a deeper dialogue about the functionality, and specialty, of what you and your startup can offer. In practice you typically have just 60 seconds to leave an exciting, impactful and meaningful impression with whomever you come in contact with

  13. Exit Strategy - It is a strategic plan of entrepreneurs to sell his or her investment in a company he or she founded. The strategy gives owner a way to reduce or eliminate his or her stake in the business and, if the business is successful, make a substantial profit.

  14. Full stack developer - A developer with specialized knowledge in all areas of software development

  15. Gamification - the application of typical elements of game playing (e.g. point scoring, competition with others, rules of play) to other areas of activity, typically as an online marketing technique to encourage engagement with a product or service.

  16. HockeyStick Chart - A line chart in which a sharp increase or decrease occurs over a period of time. The line connecting the data points resembles a hockey stick, with the "blade" formed from data points shifting diagonally and the "shaft" formed from the horizontal data points. Hockey stick charts have been used as a visual to show dramatic shifts, such as global temperatures and poverty.

  17. HoneyPot - A highly attractive offering used to entice a specific, targeted audience.

  18. Institutional Investor - It is a term for entities which pool money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include banks, insurance companies, pensions, hedge funds, REITs, investment advisors, endowments, and mutual funds.

  19. Iterate - The term is used for trying something, do it wrong, and try it again in a slightly different way with the hopes of achieving a better result.

  20. Liquidation - It is an event that usually occurs when a company is insolvent that is it cannot pay its obligations as and when they come due.

  21. MVP (Minimum Viable Product) - It is a development technique in which a new product or website is developed with sufficient features to satisfy early adopters.

  22. NASDAQ - An automated information network which provides brokers and dealers with price quotations on securities traded over the counter.

  23. Quinquagintacorn - A term used for a startup worth $50 billion or more. Uber is one of the best example of quinquagintacorn.

  24. Unicorns - It is the most common term used in startup industry. It is used for a startup companies who are valued at more than a billion dollars, typically in the software or technology sector. Flipkart is one of the unicorns for Indian startup world.

  25. Unicorpse - It is one of the current buzz word in the startup world. Unicorpse are former unicorn, now valued at less than $1 billion. The best example of unicorpse (in India) is Snapdeal [Read Here].

These are few startup jargons which every budding entrepreneurs should know and I hope this will help entrepreneurs to write their success story. If you have any startup lingo which I have missed out, please do mention it our comments below.
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