Stands for "doing business as". When an entrepreneur operates a company using any name except their personal name, then the DBA or fictitious business name registration establishes the legal ownership to satisfy banks, local authorities, and customers.

Certain assets can be used up over time and this affects your taxation level. Your accountant will advise you on what can be expensed and depreciated.

Differentiation is an approach to create a competitive advantage based on obtaining a significant value difference that customers will appreciate and be willing to pay for, and which ideally will increase their loyalty as a result.

A decrease of an existing stockholder's ownership percentage of a company after the company issues new stock

Describe buyers that follow innovators rather than be the first to purchase. They are close to being first but not on the bleeding edge.

Also called net income or profits, earnings are the bottom line: sales subtracting out costs of sales and all expenses.

Business may be called entities.  This refers to the type of business that is LLC, C Corp, LLP, B Corp, etc.  Most entrepreneurs will be fine starting their business as an LLC.   Conversion to another entity type is always an option.  LLCs are preferred over a sole proprietorship or partnership because the LLC gives some legal protections and separation of the entity from the owner's personal assets.

Is business ownership - capital. It's what you own. Stock or units are way to quantify equity.

Term used to describe DOING. It's the actual delivery of a plan, tactic or strategy.

A term used to describe something slowing your business down. You could have operational friction, Channel partner friction, personnel frictions etc.

Investment into your idea from friends and family. This is still governed by SEC rules and regulations.

A term used to describe capturing customers. Funnels start with a wide mouth and you start with a broad market. You bring customers down the funnel with various marketing and sales techniques in order to close the sale.

Refers to marketing via events and stimulated media coverage rather than paid advertisements. It may be less formal, more ado, scrappy.

Legal risk that your business is may need to address or mitigate. An attorney may help you define areas of exposure and how-to best deal with it.

To change your product or service based on hard data from customers in order to better serve them and create a stronger demand

A unit of performance or benchmark that measures a marketing activity's success.

A webpage tailored to a specific audience, used for lead generation.

A potential or prospective customer.

Businesses may need certain licenses and permits to conduct business. Trade organizations, advisors, local, state and federal over and attorneys can advise on which permits you may need.

Refers to prospective buyers, individuals or organizations, willing and able to purchase the organization's potential offering.

Set of tools centered on 4 Ps used to pursue marketing objectives.

A broad plan or approach toward achieving a goal.

The specific action to execute a strategy.

A term used to describe your communications to your customer. Messaging can be physical, digital and print. It can be written, visual, auditory, cinematic, etc.

A legal document that is a few pages long stating one party will not divulge certain information about another. NDA are part of protecting a trade secret, process, methodology etc. They can one-way or mutual.

A term used to describe revenue after costs and expenses are factored in.

Refers to the resource use options that are given up because of pursuing one activity among several possibilities. Potential benefits foregone as a result of choosing an alternative course of action.

The pillars of a marketing strategy, based on Price, Product, Placement, Promotion

Statement also known as the Income statement.

Typically a digital ad in which you pay a certain rate for each click that is garnered.

Short for account payables - bills to be paid as part of the normal course of business.

Continue to push your product/service forward based on evidence. You may not be 100% correct but the market validation suggests you are on the right track.

A pipeline is like a funnel the farther a customer is down the pipeline the more likely they are going to finalize a purchase.

Short for account receivables, this refers to debts owed to your company, usually from sales on credit. Accounts receivable is a business asset, the sum of the money owed to you by customers who haven't paid.

Length of time before your startup runs out of cash.

The potential stages a prospect goes through to become your customer. Typically: Awareness, Interest, Evaluation, Trial, Adoption.

Investment contributed at a very early stage of a new venture, usually in relatively small amounts. It comes even before what they call "first round" venture capital. How much is that "relatively small amount?" Some high-end high-tech ventures in the heart of Silicon Valley call an investment of $500K seed capital, and other ventures that called $35K investment seed capital, and the following $300K investment the first round. It depends on the point of view..

As the first official equity funding stage, seed funding helps startups finance their first steps, like market research and product development

A subset of your overall market. Segments help you break up the market into specialized chunks so you can get very specific with the bait you use to attract them.

Many traditional VC funds often begin investing in this stage, which helps more established startups further develop their business model, scale their product or service and expand operations.

A group or segment of prospective customers. Is a segment of the market that is the strategic focus of a business or a marketing plan. Normally the members of this segment possess common characteristics and a relative high likelihood to purchase a product or service. Member of this segment represent the greatest potential for sales volume and frequency. The target market is often defined in terms of geographic, demographic, and psychographic characteristics.

Terms and conditions of a non-binding agreement to invest in your startup.

A polite term you'll hear from investors who aren't interested in your business. They are saying there isn't enough proof your business will return at least 7 to 10 times their investment.

How many customer or sales or other metrics showing you are making progress.

Your company is on the way to meeting a real need of a customer or market.

Selling more to your target customer. This may include selling more expensive services and product (upsell) or selling complimentary product/services.

How much your company is worth. Is what a business is worth, as in, "this company's valuation is $10 million". This would mean that a company is valued at $10 million, or worth $10 million. Valuation is the price of a share times the number of shares outstanding, and the price of a share is the total valuation divided by the number of shares outstanding.

How do solve your customer's problem or address their needs and desires. What is that worth to them. How are you making their lives and world better, easier, faster, etc.

A form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms.

Expense reported to account for unreceived payments or losses on assets. Write-offs are a business expense that reduces taxable income.