Learning The Language

Glossary

Advisor

A person with deeper knowledge in a specific area that can provide guidance and advice on a business.

Angel Investor

A high net worth individual who financially backs startups or entrepreneurs, typically in exchange for ownership equity in the company.

Assumption

A thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof or evidence.

Board of Directors

A team of people elected by a company to support their long-term strategic direction and ensure that the company's management makes decisions to benefit the shareholders' interests.

Bootstrap

Starting a company with little capital, using all available resources at hand without relying on money outside.

Brainstorming

A method of shared problem solving in which all members of a group spontaneously and rapidly contribute ideas.

Brainwriting

A method of shared problem solving in which each member generates ideas on their own before coming to the group for brainstorming.

Brand

How your audience sees and recognizes you.

Brand assets

Unique elements of your brand that make it more distinguishable in the market (ex. logos, colours, slogans)

Brand awareness

The extent to which customers are able to recall or recognize a brand

Brand engagement

The deliberate process of forming an emotional attachment between a consumer and a brand.

Brand identity

The visible elements of a brand (colours, design, logotype, name and symbol) that together identify and distinguish the brand in the mind of your consumer.

Brand voice

The personality and emotion conveyed in a company's communications.

Branding

A combination of the effort and activity that is devoted to building, growing and cultivating your brand.

Burn rate

How quickly a company is losing money, usually expressed in dollars per month.

Burnout

A state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands.

Business Model

A company's plan for how it will successfully operate, identifying a clear solution, revenue sources, customer base, etc.

Capital

Financial assets or their financial value owned by an individual or organization.

Cash flow

The amount of cash moving in and out of a company.

Channel

A single way to reach customers.

Co-founder

A person who establishes a business with another person.

Competitive landscape

An assessment of a company's direct and indirect competitors at a given time.

Competitor analysis

An assessment of current and potential competitors and how they compare to your company.

Cost

An expense, could be an expenditure of money, time, labour, resources.

Creativity

The ability to perceive the world in new ways and transform traditional ideas, rules, patterns, or relationships to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations.

Crowdfunding

Soliciting support in the form of funds from a large group of people, often in exchange for a good or a service. Usually done via the internet (think of sites like Kickstarter or Indiegogo).

Customer

A person or organization that buys products or services from a business.

Customer discovery

The process of obtaining a deep understanding of the needs and wants of customers through empathy.

Customer interview

The process of conversing with customers, asking questions to understand them more.

Customer persona

A description of a hypothetical customer in their market, helping companies determine customer needs, desires, and motivations.

Customer segments

A segment of customers within the target market with common characteristics allowing companies to market to each group effectively and appropriately.

Customer story

A story, real or not, that illustrates a customer's needs and wants and why a solution is necessary.

Digital marketing

A method of marketing involving the Internet and online-based devices.

Economic impact

The effect on the economy. Think money, jobs, affordability, etc.

Economy

The area of our society that concerns the production, use, and management of resources.

Energy management

Being aware of how much mental and physical energy you have throughout your day to do your planned activities.

Entrepreneur

A person who takes on the initiative and risk to start and manage a business.

Environmental impact

The effect on the environment resulting from an organization's activities, products or services.

Equity investment

Cash in exchange for stakes/ownership in your business.

Feedback cycle

An iterative process that collects feedback, implements the feedback, and seeks further feedback.

Forecast

To predict future occurances or circumstances, to calculate in advance.

Fundraising

The process of seeking and gathering financial contributions from people and organizations outside the company.

Grants

Money given by the government or other organizations under certain conditions or when certain criteria are met. Normally this money is not expected to be paid back.

Grit

The ability to persist in something you feel passionate about and persevere when you face obstacles.

Growth rate

The rate at which a company grows over a period of time.

Human-centered design approach

An approach to problem solving that involves the human perspective in all steps of the process.

Hypothesis

A proposed explanation made with limited evidence with the purpose of further investigation. When you create your business, you have a series of ‘hypothesis’ or guesses about your business model, your customers, etc. which can be proven right or wrong once you begin validating.

Ideation

The process of producing ideas and solutions.

Impact indicators

Chosen metrics that demonstrate progress towards desired outcomes/impacts.

Innovation

The act of changing or creating new ideas, processes, products, and/or markets.

Iterate

Small changes or adjustments to your business model and its components. They are not massive changes and do not fundamentally change your core idea for your business model.

Lean canvas model

A business model used by early stage startups to validate their business ideas. It is a one-page business plan that deconstructs an idea and is more actionable and entrepreneur-focused.

Loans

Money borrowed from banks or other sources that is expected to be returned. This money will have certain fees attached to it, namely interest. The exact schedule for repayment and fees/interest are variable from loan to loan. There are various loan types, and conditions for qualifying for a loan.

Logo

Graphical element or design that is the recognizable visual representation of your brand—it may be a stylized name, symbol or other graphical element.

Market opportunity

A situation where a product or service is potentially wanted or needed by consumers but is not being satisfied by current solutions, and where a new company can enter.

Mental health

Level of psychological well-being. How people think, feel, behave and cope with the demands and stress of day to day living.

Mentor

A person who regularly offers guidance and support.

Metrics

A standard for measuring or evaulating something.

Milestone

A significant event or stage in the development of a business.

Mission

A definition of what an organization is, why it exists, its reason for being. It describes a company's function, markets and competitive advantages.

MVP (Minimum Viable Product)

The simplest version of a product or service that solves a customers problem, delivers value and helps collect the maximum amount of customer feedback with the least effort.

Needs assessment

An evaluation of the needs in a particular group of customers. It is generally conducted through interviews and surveys.

Network

Connections and associations with other people. Networking is the act of interacting and building relationships with people around you.

Non-dilutive funding

Funding that does not take an equity stake, or affect the current distribution of equity within a company.

Outcome

A final consequence of activities within a company.

Output

What a company produces through its business operations.

Pitch

A short talk or presentation that aims to summarize a business by describing the problem, solution and opportunity and sway the audience to buy into the vision.

Pivot

A significant change in a company's business model, ultimately landing on a new version of the idea or the product/service. Reasons for a pivot include a lack of a product market fit; wrong customer; value proposition does not resonate; pricing is off; and/or external forces make an impact on the ability to build the actual business.

Primary research

Research that is conducted directly with the source - usually customers - to ask questions and gather information. This includes interviews, surveys, focus groups, etc.

Problem discovery

The process of gaining a better understanding of a problem through research.

Prototype

A preliminary, experimental version of a product that can be tested with customers.

Qualitative research

Research that is based on non-numerical, open-ended data.

Quantitative research

Research that is based on numerical data.

Resilience

Ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.

Resources

Assets that are useful to a business ex. knowledge, connections, money, technology.

Revenue

The money coming into a business.

Root cause analysis

A tool used to understand the reason why the problem even exists so that effective solutions can be built to directly address the root causes.

Runway

The amount of time before a company is out of business, assuming current numbers for burn rate and income stay the same.

Secondary research

Research that relies on information from existing data (ex. existing statistics, articles, literature reviews, databases).

SMART Goals

Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound goals.

Social enterprise

A business that exists to make a direct social and/or environmental impact on the world

Social entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship and business pursuits with the purpose of solving social and/or environmental issues

Social impact

The effect on people and society. Think happiness, human rights, equity, etc.

Social issue

A problem that influences many individuals within a society. Think bullying, gender inequality, climate change, etc.

Start Up

An organization that is created specifically to search for a repeatable and scalable’ business model.

Storytelling

The art of conveying messages, meanings, and emotions through oral stories.

Sustainable development goals

The 17 goals established by the United Nations and pursued internationally to solve social, environmental, and economic issues.

SWOT Analysis

A technique used to determine and define personal and/or organizational Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Target Market

A group of customers in the market that a company will focus on selling to.

Triple bottom line

A measurement of a company's social, economic, and environmental impact.

Unfair advantage

A feature or a condition that a business possesses that is not easily replicated or defeated. It’s the secret sauce that will make a business successful.

Validation

Prove the accuracy of the hypothesis in your business model.

Valuation

The process of determining the economic value of a business or company

Value proposition

A promise of values to be delivered to the customer by the company. It is a compelling reason why customers should buy from the company.

Values

The ideals that an individual or an organization strives for and provides meaning.

Venture Capitalist

A professional investor in companies, investing limited partners’ funds

Vision

The direction, goal, or dream that provides guidance on what a company is all about.