The term startup is generally used to refer to new companies in the initial stages of operations, usually characterised by high costs and limited revenue (funded either by the founders themselves are external investment).

A startup operating under the radar, keeping their value proposition / product a secret before an official launch so as not to alert competitors prematurely.

A compensation structure paid to a broker-dealer for successfully closing a transaction (i.e., providing funding via their network).

Awarding shares/equity in a startup to early employees or contractors in place of some (or all) of their salary.

TAM represents the entire potential market for a particular product or service. It includes every individual or organization that could possibly be a customer.
TAM is often considered the largest scope when assessing market potential.

The number of months the venture can run on its existing cash before it has to shut down. It is calculated by dividing the company’s cash by the monthly expenses.

Time to market (TTM) is the total length of time it takes to bring a product from conception to market availability

Agreed stipulation stating that if a founder decides to sell their shares to a buyer, an existing investor can offer their shares to the buyer for the same amount.

The group of consumers at which a product or service is aimed.

The founder responsible for all the tech-related processes of the startup. They have hard technical skills (for example, PHP development). They use their technical ability to build the product and have a share of the overall profit.

A Term sheet is a nonbinding agreement that shows the basic terms and conditions of an investment. The term sheet serves as a template and basis for more detailed, legally binding documents.

Evidence that users are willing to pay for your product or service. Traction represents progress or initial growth.

Trend analysis is a technique used to examine and predict movements of an item based on current and historical data. You can use trend analysis to improve your business using trend data to inform your decision-making

The design of an application, website, or software. In other words, anything the user can see and interact with.

The unique selling proposition. This is the one-of-a-kind benefit that the startup offers the customer.

The extremely important process that the design teams use to create products that provide meaningful and relevant experiences to users.

A company (often in the tech or software sector) with a valuation of over US$1 billion.

The financial metrics and analysis that focus on the direct revenues and costs associated with a particular business, product, or service, calculated on a per-unit basis. A "unit" in this context can represent any quantifiable item or transaction that generates revenue for the business.

A venture capitalist (VC) is a private equity investor that provides capital to companies exhibiting high growth potential in exchange for an equity stake.

Virtual Reality (VR) is a computer-generated environment with scenes and objects that appear to be real, making the user feel they are immersed in their surroundings.

The process of determining whether your product is of interest to a given target market and if there is a demand for it.

A period in the startup lifecycle that occurs after the startup launches a product but has not seen any revenue. This term is the result of plotting the shape of a company's cash flow onto a graph. The valley is the location on the graph where the cash flow is at a very low point.

The calculation of what the startup is worth.

The schedule under which founders and employees must remain in the company before receiving their full share of the equity.

A methodology for startups that begins with the requirements gathering stage and then moves on to the design stage before development begins. Once the product has been created, it moves through various testing phases. It is a linear, sequential process.

A wireframe is a basic, two-dimensional visual representation of a web page, app interface, or product layout. Usually one of the first steps in rapid prototyping.

Y Combinator. A startup accelerator that launched in March of 2005. Since then, it has launched more than 3,000 companies, including Airbnb, Coinbase, Cruise, DoorDash, Dropbox, Instacart, Quora, PagerDuty, Reddit, Stripe, and Twitch.

A startup that looks promising yet has failed to gain traction and grow into a successful enterprise.