50 Terms Every Inspiring Tech Startup Entrepreneur Should Know

1. A/B Testing: a kind of user research experience where the version A typically acts as the control, and is compared to an iteration called version B, which provides useful data for startups to develop and optimize the best solution 
2. Accelerator: Typically geared for early-stage startups to offer equity in the startups in exchange for offering advice, capital, living expenses, and more within a business incubator format 
3. Agile Development: Creating software that is creative and flexible in software development, with incremental improvements to the software which is tested often
4. Angel Investor: high net worth individuals who provide funding for startups, typically very early in the funding process in exchange for a percentage of equity
5. API (Application Programming Interface): Helps make software easy to use by helping different components/parts of software work together 
6. ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue): Commonly used metric for startups to calculate how much money they make from repeating profits on an annual basis, such as a subscription-based startup 
7. Attrition: The rate at which a startup loses its employees, also known as employee turnover 
8. Beta: A trial for a new product such as software that can be tested for final modifications 
9. Bootstrapped: A word typically associated with early-stage startups, meaning that the startup is entirely funded by the founders and has not received or used outside funding from venture capitalists, for instance 
10. Burn Rate: How fast a startup burns through cash 
11. Business Model Canvas: An overview/layout of a startup’s key components, which are commonly used when forming a business plan, including revenue streams, customer segments, and value proposition 
12. Churn Rate: The rate at which a startup loses customers, which is a similar concept as Attrition 
13. Convertible Debt: a type of financing, typically in a seed round, which can be later converted to equity 
14. Cottage: A startup that may have the potential to succeed, but not scalable enough at the level that would entice VC investors 
15. CRM: Customer Relationship Management software is oftentimes used by startups to keep track of organization and relationships both internally and externally
16. Crowdsourcing: A large endeavor which is outsourcing tasks/soliciting funding to a large group of people, oftentimes the general public, including funding for a startup idea or crowdsourcing data/code to solve a problem 
17. Customer Discovery: From business model hypotheses to presenting a solution to customers, customer discovery outlines the process to understand customer wants/needs and develop a solution meeting those wants/needs 
18. Disruptive Technology: When a new technology surprisingly displaces an existing one, such as the journey of computer storage from floppy disks to physical flash drives to the cloud 
19. Earlyvangelists: early users and adopters of technology, before the technology becomes popularized and used by the masses 
20. Equity: The amount of ownership in a given startup, which is oftentimes held by the founders, early employees, and investors 
21. Exit Strategy: The strategy that a startup provides its investors for them to make a successful exit with a profit should they invest, typically when a startup sells itself to a larger firm or IPOs 
22. Inbound Marketing: Marketing tailored to the specific appeals of consumers in ways such as content marketing, social media, and branding 
23. Incubator: Provides resources for startups typically in early stages, such as an office space and other factors to provide success for startups (see accelerator)
24. IP (Intellectual Property): Protected inventions, such as patents or trademarks which prohibits others from using or copying the technology 
25. IPO (Initial Public Offering): Represents one of several exit opportunities for startups who successfully grow to a level that can be publicly traded on a stock exchange 
26. Launch: A startup bringing its product or service to market, and making it available for public use 
27. Marketing Automation: Part of the broader concept of marketing which uses technologies to digitize repetitive tasks in marketing a specific product or service
28. MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue): Commonly used metric for startups to calculate how much money they make from repeating profits on a monthly basis, such as a subscription-based startup 
29. Multiplier: a metric by which to value a startup, such as a valuation multiplier based on projected revenues 
30. MVP (Minimum Viable Product): Using feedback from the beta version to create the simplest functional first product iteration, typically associated with startups
31. Open Source: Publicly available code for anyone to use/modify, promoting collaboration and customization, such as availability on GitHub 
32. Persona: The characteristics of a buyer, which are useful to identify to structure how to appeal to the target audience such as demographics and psychographics
33. Pitch Deck: A compilation of slides with a target audience of investors that highlight the most important parts of a startup (e.g., the team, technology, value proposition, funding request amount, etc.) 
34. Platform: A type of business model that involves two groups, and allows for an exchange between the two such as sellers and buyers
35. Product/Market Fit: How much a startup’s product meets market demand. Startups typically try to build products as much as there is customer demand 
36. Proof of Concept: The point at which a startup has viable proof that its technology is effective 
37. Prototype: A model, which can either be physical or visual that demonstrates the basic function for a product of a startup 
38. ROI (Return on Investment): Contrasting the amount of capital put into an investment such as a VC investing in a startup and the profit gained from the investment
39. SaaS (Software as a Service): Delivering software on demand through the Internet, such as project management software 
40. Seed Stage: A round of funding typically after angel investors have invested into a startup and the startup has demonstrated a viable proof of concept. This round can be funded by family and friends, angel investors, VCs, and others 
41. Series A: A round of funding, typically after any angel investments and seed rounds, after a startup has established its viability to continue growing 
42. Technical Founder vs. Non-Technical Founder: Who should have a greater stake is a large debate between a founder with technical expertise such as coding versus the business mind of a startup 
43. Term Sheet: Associated with investors providing startups with funding, consisting of the basic terms and conditions of an agreement/contract between the investor and startup
44. Traction: When a startup gains traction, it means that users are adopting its products, and the startup is generating revenue 
45. Tranche: investments in a startup typically invested over time, conditional on the startup meeting milestone targets 
46. Unicorn: Startups with a valuation of $1B+, such as Airbnb, SpaceX, Uber, and more 
47. User Experience: How a person interacts with a product: a person’s emotions or experience as a result of using a technology service or product 
48. User Interface: Interactions between the user and the machine, often iterated for maximal convenience and ease of use 
49. Valuation: A numerical value that shows what a startup is valued at. Pre-valuation is what a startup is valued at before raising a round of capital, and post-valuation is the pre-valuation + investments 
50. Venture Capital: Investors in startups oftentimes contributing connections and capital to fund entrepreneurs and their technology ideas 

Together, all of these terms are helpful to understand when launching your own venture. Use this list as a springboard to do deeper dives into these tech startup concepts.

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