Startup & VC Glossary

What this glossary is

A working dictionary of the language venture capital investors use when reading pitch decks. Every entry includes a definition, what investors look for, common mistakes founders make, and how the term shows up in Deckmetric's analysis. Maintained by Sebastian Scheplitz and updated whenever an entry needs revising.

The Deckmetric glossary covers 237 essential startup, fundraising, and venture capital terms, written for founders preparing pitch decks. Each entry includes a plain-English definition, the formula or worked example where relevant, common pitfalls, and how the concept shows up in real investor meetings.

Product & PMF

MVP, The smallest version of a product that delivers real value to early users so the team can learn what to build next.
Product-Market Fit, The point at which a product satisfies a market well enough that demand pulls the company forward instead of the team pushing it.
Pivot, A structured change in direction, usually customer, product, or business model, based on validated learning, not panic.
Lean Startup, A methodology for building startups under uncertainty using rapid Build-Measure-Learn cycles instead of long product plans.
Bootstrapping, Building a company without outside equity capital, financing growth from revenue, savings, or debt instead.
Stealth Mode, Operating without a public product or marketing presence while early development and customer work happen behind the scenes.
Customer Discovery, Structured interviews with potential customers to test whether the problem you assume exists is real and worth paying to solve.
Customer Validation, Proving that target customers will actually pay for, deploy, and renew a specific solution to the problem you discovered.
Jobs to Be Done, A framework that defines a product by the progress a customer is trying to make in their life, not by demographics or features.
User Persona, A composite description of a typical user, role, goals, constraints, behaviors, used to align product, design, and go-to-market decisions.
Aha Moment, The specific in-product event where a user first experiences the core value of the product and becomes likely to retain.
Time to Value, The elapsed time between a user signing up and reaching the first meaningful outcome the product promises.
Onboarding, The structured first-use experience that takes a new user from sign-up to the first moment of real value.
North Star Metric, The single metric that best captures the core value the product delivers and the long-term success of the business.
Vanity Metric, A metric that looks impressive in a deck but doesn't reflect the underlying health or growth of the business.
A/B Test, A controlled experiment that compares two versions of a feature, page, or flow to determine which produces a better outcome.
Feature Flag, A switch in code that lets a team turn a feature on or off for specific users or segments without redeploying.
Dogfooding, Using your own product internally for real workflows so the team experiences the same friction and bugs the customer does.

Growth & Engagement

AARRR (Pirate Metrics), Dave McClure's five-stage growth funnel: Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, and Revenue.
Acquisition Channel, A repeatable source of new users or customers, such as paid search, content SEO, partnerships, outbound sales, or virality.
Activation Rate, The percentage of new sign-ups who reach the product's defined aha moment within a target time window.
Retention Curve, A chart showing what fraction of a cohort is still active week-by-week or month-by-month after sign-up.
Viral Coefficient, The average number of new users each existing user invites who themselves convert into active users.
Conversion Rate, The percentage of users who complete a desired action, sign-up, purchase, upgrade, out of those who had the chance to.
Funnel Analysis, Decomposing a user journey into ordered steps and measuring conversion between each step to find the biggest drop-off.
Cohort Analysis, Grouping users by sign-up period and tracking each group's behavior over time to spot trends invisible in aggregate metrics.
DAU, Daily Active Users, the count of unique users who took a meaningful action in the product on a given day.
MAU, Monthly Active Users, the count of unique users who took a meaningful action in the product within a given month.
DAU/MAU Ratio, The ratio of daily to monthly active users, a measure of how many days per month the average user shows up.
Stickiness, A qualitative term for how habitual a product is, often quantified as the DAU/MAU ratio or session frequency.
Net Promoter Score, A 0-to-100 customer-loyalty score derived from one question: how likely you are to recommend the product to a friend.
Product-Led Growth, A go-to-market strategy where the product itself drives acquisition, conversion, and expansion with minimal sales involvement.
Sales-Led Growth, A go-to-market motion where dedicated sales teams identify, qualify, and close customers, typically for higher-priced or more complex products.
Freemium, A monetization model that offers a permanently free tier with limited features, monetizing a fraction of users on paid upgrades.
Free Trial, A time-limited window during which a prospect can use a paid product at no cost before being asked to convert.
Land and Expand, A motion where a small initial deployment grows into a much larger account through additional seats, products, or use cases.

Sales & GTM

Ideal Customer Profile, A precise definition of the buying organization that gets the most value from your product and is the cheapest to acquire.
TAM, Total Addressable Market, the total revenue opportunity if the product captured 100% of every customer who could conceivably buy it.
SAM, Serviceable Addressable Market, the portion of the TAM that the company's product, geography, and channels can realistically serve.
SOM, Serviceable Obtainable Market, the realistic share of SAM the company can capture in a defined planning horizon.
Bottoms-Up Market Sizing, Calculating market size by counting the actual eligible customers and multiplying by realistic per-customer revenue.
Top-Down Market Sizing, Estimating market size from a published total (analyst report, government data) and applying assumed share percentages.
Sales Development Representative, A sales rep responsible for outbound prospecting and inbound qualification, handing qualified opportunities to Account Executives.
Business Development Representative, An outbound-focused sales rep who creates pipeline by prospecting target accounts, often used interchangeably with SDR.
Account Executive, The sales rep who owns the deal cycle from qualified opportunity to signed contract, carrying revenue quota.
Customer Success Manager, The post-sale owner of the customer relationship, responsible for adoption, retention, and expansion of an account.
Sales Pipeline, The set of qualified opportunities currently moving through the sales cycle, segmented by stage and weighted by probability.
Sales Velocity, A composite measure of how quickly a sales team converts pipeline into closed revenue, derived from deals × win rate × ACV ÷ cycle length.
Win Rate, The percentage of qualified sales opportunities that result in closed-won deals over a given period.
Total Contract Value, The total value of a customer contract over its full term, including recurring fees, one-time fees, and committed expansion.

Strategy & Moats

Moat, A structural advantage that protects a business from competition over time, network effects, switching costs, scale, brand, or proprietary technology.
Network Effects, A property where each additional user makes the product more valuable for existing users, creating compounding defensibility.
Two-Sided Marketplace, A platform that connects two distinct user groups, typically buyers and sellers, and creates value by enabling transactions between them.
Take Rate, The percentage of gross transaction value a marketplace or platform retains as revenue, usually charged to the supply side, the demand side, or both.
GMV, Gross Merchandise Value, the total dollar value of transactions processed through a marketplace or platform over a given period.
Marketplace Liquidity, The probability that a buyer or seller arriving at a marketplace finds a successful match within their tolerance window.
Cold Start Problem, The chicken-and-egg challenge of bootstrapping a marketplace or network where each side requires the other to be useful.
Switching Costs, The financial, operational, or psychological cost a customer would pay to switch from one solution to a competing one.
Wedge, The narrow initial use case or segment a startup attacks first, used as the entry point into a much larger market.
Category Creation, A go-to-market strategy where a company defines and dominates a new market category instead of competing within an existing one.
Blitzscaling, Reid Hoffman's framework for prioritizing speed over efficiency to win winner-take-most markets before competitors do.
Power Law, The empirical pattern where venture returns are dominated by a tiny number of outsized winners, not by average outcomes.
Vertical SaaS, Software built specifically for a single industry, dental practices, restaurants, construction, instead of horizontal use across industries.

Funding Stages & Instruments

Pre-Seed, The earliest priced or convertible round, typically raised on an idea, prototype, or very early traction with $250K to $2M from angels and pre-seed funds.
Seed, The round raised to find product-market fit, typically $1M to $5M on $8M to $25M post-money valuations from seed and multi-stage funds.
Series A, The first major priced round, typically $8M to $20M raised on the strength of early product-market fit and a repeatable go-to-market motion.
Series B, The growth round raised to scale a proven business model, typically $20M to $50M+ on $100M to $300M post-money valuations.
Series C, A late-stage growth round used to accelerate scale, expand internationally, or prepare for an IPO, typically $50M to $200M.
Series D, Late-stage funding round, often a final pre-IPO round or a 'bridge to liquidity' for companies that have grown past Series C.
Bridge Round, A short-term funding round between priced rounds, often a SAFE or note from existing investors, used to extend runway to the next milestone.
SAFE, Y Combinator's Simple Agreement for Future Equity, a contract that gives an investor the right to equity in a future priced round, with no debt or interest.
Post-Money SAFE, The 2018 YC SAFE variant where the valuation cap is computed on a post-money basis, making the investor's ownership share predictable.
Pre-Money SAFE, The original (2013) SAFE variant where the valuation cap was computed on a pre-money basis, sharing dilution across SAFE holders.
Convertible Note, Short-term debt that converts into equity at a future priced round, typically with a discount, a valuation cap, and an interest rate.
Discount Rate (Convertible), The percentage discount a convertible note or SAFE holder receives off the next priced round's price per share.
Valuation Cap, The maximum company valuation at which a SAFE or convertible note will convert into equity, protecting early investors from dilution at high prices.
MFN Clause, A 'Most Favored Nation' provision letting an early investor automatically adopt better terms offered to any later investor on the same instrument.
Priced Round, A funding round where investors purchase shares at an agreed price per share, establishing a clear pre-money valuation and cap-table impact.
Equity Round, Any priced funding round in which investors purchase equity in the company, as opposed to convertible instruments or debt.
Venture Debt, Debt financing extended to venture-backed startups, often used to extend runway between equity rounds with minimal additional dilution.
Revenue-Based Financing, A non-dilutive financing structure where a lender advances capital and is repaid as a fixed percentage of monthly revenue until a multiple is reached.
Equity Crowdfunding, Raising capital from a large number of small investors via online platforms under regulations like Reg CF or Reg A+ in the US.
Strategic Round, A funding round led or anchored by a corporate strategic investor (CVC) whose interest extends beyond financial returns to commercial alignment.
SEIS, UK tax-advantaged scheme giving angels up to 50% income-tax relief on up to £200k/yr invested into very early-stage UK companies.
EIS, UK scheme offering investors 30% income-tax relief on up to £1m/yr (£2m if knowledge-intensive) in qualifying UK growth-stage companies.
VCT, UK listed vehicle pooling retail money into qualifying small-company investments, giving subscribers 30% income-tax relief on up to £200k/yr.
ASA (Advance Subscription Agreement), UK SEIS/EIS-compatible alternative to a SAFE: cash paid up-front for shares issued at the next round, with a 6-month longstop to keep relief.
R&D Tax Credits (UK), Two HMRC schemes (SME and RDEC) refunding a percentage of qualifying R&D spend in cash or as a CT credit, often £30 to 80k for early-stage UK startups.
BSA-AIR, French convertible-warrant on the SAFE model: investors subscribe now and convert at the next round at a discount or cap, no current valuation set.
JEI (Jeune Entreprise Innovante), French status for under-8-yr-old R&D-heavy companies (≥15% R&D spend), granting payroll-tax exemption on R&D staff and reduced CT in early years.
CIR (Crédit d'Impôt Recherche), France's research tax credit: 30% refundable credit on the first €100M of qualifying R&D spend per year, paid as cash to loss-making startups.
EIC Accelerator, EU flagship deep-tech grant + equity programme: up to €2.5M grant + up to €15M EIC Fund equity per company, on a competitive 3-stage application.
Sharia-compliant financing, Funding structures (Murabaha, Mudaraba, Musharaka, Sukuk) compliant with Islamic law's ban on interest (riba), used by Sharia LPs and family offices.
Enterprise Singapore EDG / MRA Grants, Two Enterprise Singapore grants: EDG funds up to 50% of qualifying capability-building project costs; MRA funds up to 50% of overseas market entry.
Section 13O / 13U, Two Singapore tax-exemption schemes (13O for onshore funds, 13U for enhanced-tier funds) widely used by VC and PE funds for Singapore tax exemption.
R&D Tax Incentive (Australia), Australia's flagship R&D tax credit: 43.5% refundable offset on qualifying R&D for companies with under A$20M turnover, paid as cash to startups.
SR&ED, Canada's flagship federal R&D tax credit: 35% refundable for CCPCs (first C$3M of spend), 15% non-refundable otherwise. Often the largest non-dilutive line.
Flow-Through Shares, Canadian tax instrument letting mining, oil & gas, and clean-energy issuers 'renounce' Canadian Exploration Expense to investors, who deduct it personally.
Section 80-IAC, India's tax holiday for DPIIT-recognised startups: 100% deduction of profits for any 3 consecutive years of the first 10 from incorporation, board-approved.
AIF Category I/II, India's SEBI-registered VC/PE fund vehicles: Category I (VC, SME, social, infra) and Category II (PE/debt), with pass-through tax and ₹1 Cr LP minimum.
Convertible Notes (India), Indian convertible-note rules (Companies Act + RBI FEMA): typically Compulsorily Convertible Debentures with a 5-yr maximum tenor and FEMA-compliant pricing.

Valuation & Cap Table

Pre-Money Valuation, The agreed-upon value of the company immediately before a new investment round closes, pre-money + new money = post-money.
Post-Money Valuation, The company's value immediately after a new investment closes, equal to pre-money valuation plus the new investment amount.
Fully Diluted Shares, The total share count assuming every option, warrant, convertible note, SAFE, and reserved pool has been exercised or converted.
Option Pool, Equity reserved for future employee, advisor, and contractor grants, usually sized as 10 to 20% of fully diluted shares.
Option Pool Shuffle, The negotiation tactic where investors require the option pool to be expanded pre-money, diluting only the founders rather than the new investors.
Dilution, The reduction in an existing shareholder's ownership percentage caused by issuing new shares in a financing or an option grant.
Anti-Dilution (Full Ratchet), The most aggressive anti-dilution provision: in a down round, prior preferred holders' conversion price ratchets down to the new round's price.
Anti-Dilution (Weighted Average), A standard anti-dilution provision that adjusts a prior preferred holder's conversion price using a formula weighted by the size of the down round.
Pro Rata Rights, The right of an existing investor to participate in future rounds at a level that maintains their current ownership percentage.
Common Stock, The base equity class held by founders and employees, with voting rights but no preference rights or dividends.
Preferred Stock, The equity class issued to investors, carrying special rights such as liquidation preference, anti-dilution protection, and protective covenants.
Liquidation Preference, The right of preferred shareholders to be paid a defined amount before common shareholders receive any proceeds in a liquidation event.
Participating Preferred, A liquidation preference structure where preferred holders receive their preference and also share pro rata in the remaining proceeds, a 'double dip'.
409A Valuation, An IRS-required independent valuation of a private company's common stock, used to set the strike price for new option grants.
Down Round, A funding round priced at a lower valuation per share than the previous round, typically triggering anti-dilution adjustments and signaling stress.

Deal Terms & Legal

Term Sheet, A non-binding document outlining the principal terms of a proposed financing, used to align investor and founder before legal documents are drafted.
Cap Table, A spreadsheet or system-of-record showing every shareholder, share class, option, warrant, and convertible instrument outstanding in a company.
Vesting, The schedule by which equity grants are earned over time, typically 4 years with a 1-year cliff for founders, employees, and advisors.
Cliff, A vesting feature where no equity vests until a specified milestone (typically 1 year of service), then a chunk vests at once.
Acceleration (Single Trigger), A vesting acceleration provision where unvested equity vests automatically on a single triggering event, typically a change of control.
Acceleration (Double Trigger), A vesting acceleration provision requiring two events, typically a change of control AND involuntary termination, before unvested equity vests.
Drag-Along Rights, A provision allowing majority shareholders to force minority shareholders to participate in an approved sale of the company on the same terms.
Tag-Along Rights, The right of minority shareholders to join a sale by majority shareholders on the same terms, preventing 'cherry-picking' liquidity.
Right of First Refusal, The right of the company or existing investors to match any third-party offer to buy shares before the seller can transfer them externally.
Information Rights, An investor's contractual right to receive periodic financial statements, operating updates, and inspection rights from the company.
Board Seat, A formal director position on the company's board of directors, typically granted to a lead investor in a priced round.
Board Observer, A non-voting attendance right at board meetings, typically granted to follow-on investors who don't get a full board seat.
NDA, A confidentiality contract restricting how shared information may be used or disclosed; common with customers and partners but uncommon for VC pitches.
No-Shop Clause, A binding term sheet provision preventing the company from soliciting or accepting competing offers for a defined window after signing.
Founder Vesting, A vesting schedule applied to founder equity, typically required by VC investors to align founders with the long-term outcome.
Advance Assurance, Non-binding HMRC pre-clearance that a UK company's planned share issue likely qualifies for SEIS or EIS, used to de-risk angel investment.
Articles of Association (UK), UK company's constitutional document at Companies House setting share rights, transfer restrictions, board powers, drag/tag and decision thresholds.
Substantial Shareholding Exemption, UK CT exemption letting a trading company sell a 10%+ stake in another trading company tax-free if held for 12+ months in the past six years.
Notary Requirement (Germany), German law requiring share allotments, transfers, and capital changes in a GmbH/UG to be witnessed by a notary, adding €1 to 5k per cap-table change.
SFA (Singapore Founders Agreement), Standardised early-stage funding documents (term sheet, SHA, subscription) widely used in Singapore's seed market, modelled on US YC SAFE / NVCA.
FEMA / ODI Compliance, Indian FEMA and RBI Overseas Direct Investment rules governing inbound foreign equity, share-pricing minimums, and Indian residents' overseas investments.

Returns & Fund Performance

MOIC, Multiple on Invested Capital, total value (realized + unrealized) divided by total capital invested, a simple time-insensitive return metric.
TVPI, Total Value to Paid-In capital, the sum of distributions and remaining NAV divided by capital paid in, used by VC LPs.
DPI, Distributions to Paid-In capital, the cash a fund has returned to LPs divided by total capital called, the realized portion of TVPI.
RVPI, Residual Value to Paid-In capital, the unrealized portion of fund NAV divided by capital called, the paper portion of TVPI.
IRR, Internal Rate of Return, the annualized return that makes the net present value of all fund cash flows equal to zero.
J-Curve, The pattern of early-fund losses followed by later gains as investments mature, which produces a J-shaped cumulative return chart for VC funds.
Carry (Carried Interest), The share of fund profits paid to the GPs above a defined hurdle, typically 20% in venture funds, 'carry' is the GP's economic upside.
Management Fee, An annual fee LPs pay GPs to operate the fund, typically 2% of committed capital during the investment period and lower after.
Hurdle Rate, The minimum annualized return GPs must deliver before they can begin earning carried interest.
GP Commit, The capital General Partners personally commit to their own fund, signaling alignment with the LPs they're raising from.
ESVCLP, Australia's tax-advantaged VC fund structure granting fund-level tax exemption and a 10% non-refundable carry tax offset for LPs, used by most AU VCs.
VCLP, Australia's older, larger-fund venture structure with the same fund-level tax exemption as ESVCLP but no fund-size cap and a higher portfolio bar.

Metrics & KPIs

ARR, Annual Recurring Revenue, the value of subscription contracts on a normalized 12-month basis, the headline SaaS revenue metric.
MRR, Monthly Recurring Revenue, the normalized monthly value of all subscriptions in force, often used by month-to-month subscription businesses.
ARPU, Average Revenue Per User, total recurring revenue divided by active customer or user count, a measure of monetization depth.
ACV, Annual Contract Value, the recurring revenue value of a single customer contract on a per-year basis, a standard B2B SaaS deal-size metric.
LTV, Lifetime Value, the total margin a customer is expected to generate over their entire relationship with the company.
CAC, Customer Acquisition Cost, the total sales and marketing spend required to acquire one new paying customer over a given period.
CAC Payback Period, The number of months required for the gross profit from a customer to repay the cost of acquiring them.
LTV:CAC Ratio, The ratio of customer lifetime value to customer acquisition cost, a headline measure of unit economics health.
Gross Margin, The percentage of revenue remaining after subtracting cost of goods sold (COGS), reflecting the unit economics of delivering the product.
Net Revenue Retention, The percentage of recurring revenue retained from a cohort after one year, including expansion, contraction, and churn.
Gross Revenue Retention, The percentage of recurring revenue retained from a cohort after one year, excluding expansion, the pure retention metric.
Logo Churn, The percentage of customers (logos) who cancel in a given period, regardless of how much revenue they represented.
Revenue Churn, The percentage of recurring revenue lost from existing customers in a period through cancellation or downgrade.
Burn Rate, The rate at which a company spends cash, typically reported monthly. Reported as either gross burn or net burn.
Net Burn, Monthly cash outflow minus cash inflow, the actual rate at which the cash balance is depleted.
Gross Burn, Total monthly operating cash outflow before subtracting any revenue or financing inflow.
Runway, The number of months the current cash balance will last at the current net burn rate before the company runs out of money.
Burn Multiple, Net new ARR divided by net burn, the dollars of capital consumed per dollar of new ARR generated.
Rule of 40, A SaaS health benchmark: revenue growth rate plus profit margin should sum to at least 40%.
Magic Number, A SaaS sales-efficiency ratio: net new ARR divided by sales and marketing spend in the prior period.

Pitch & Process

The Ask, The explicit request a founder makes of an investor at the end of a pitch: how much capital, on what terms, and what to do next.
Pitch Deck, A short slide presentation a startup uses to introduce itself to investors, typically 10-20 slides covering problem, solution, market, traction, team, and ask.
Demo Day, An accelerator's culminating event where startups pitch to investors, typically a few minutes per company in front of a curated audience.
Data Room, A secure shared folder with every document an investor needs for due diligence, financials, contracts, cap table, team info, and customer references.
Due Diligence, The investigation an investor performs to verify the claims in the pitch and assess all material risks before signing a term sheet or wiring funds.
Lead Investor, The investor who sets the terms of a round, takes the largest check, and typically takes a board seat or significant governance role.
Follow-On Investor, An investor who joins a round after the lead has set the terms, taking a smaller check and rarely a board seat.
Syndicate, The group of investors participating in a round, including the lead and any follow-on investors. Also refers to angel syndicates organized through SPVs.
Bridge Loan, A short-term loan that bridges a company between funding events, often from existing investors as a SAFE or note pending the next priced round.
Letter of Intent, A non-binding document outlining the proposed terms of a customer agreement, partnership, or acquisition before formal contracts are drafted.
Closing, The legal completion of a financing round, signed documents, wired funds, updated cap table, all conditions satisfied.

People & Structures

Founder, A person who started or co-started the company and (typically) holds founder common stock subject to founder vesting.
Co-Founder, An additional founder who joined at or near the company's inception, typically holding founder common stock and a meaningful equity stake.
CEO Equity, The equity stake held by the CEO, typically the largest individual founder share, that gradually dilutes through successive funding rounds.
ESOP, Employee Stock Option Plan, the legal structure that lets a company grant options to employees at a defined strike price, governed by board approval and 409A.
Advisor Shares, Equity granted to formal advisors, typically 0.1 to 1% of the company per advisor, vesting over 1 to 4 years for ongoing involvement.
Limited Partner, A passive investor in a venture fund, providing capital but not making investment decisions, and limited in liability to their commitment amount.
General Partner, A managing partner of a venture fund, responsible for sourcing, diligence, investment decisions, and value-add to portfolio companies.
Venture Partner, A non-general-partner role at a venture firm, typically a senior operator who sources deals, advises portfolio companies, and may take a small carry.
Family Office, A private wealth-management entity investing on behalf of one family (or a few), often allocating to startups directly or via VC funds.
Sovereign Wealth Fund, A state-owned investment fund, typically funded by oil revenues or trade surpluses, that increasingly participates in late-stage venture and growth rounds.
Companies House Filing, Mandatory public filings every UK Ltd makes to Companies House, incorporation, share allotments, PSC register, accounts, and confirmation statement.
Confirmation Statement, Annual UK Companies House filing (CS01) confirming directors, registered address, share capital, and persons with significant control are still accurate.
GmbH, Standard German limited-liability company: ≥€25k share capital (half paid in at incorporation), notarised formation. Default for German VC startups.
UG (haftungsbeschränkt), 'Mini-GmbH' German form founded with as little as €1 capital but must retain 25% of profits annually until €25k, then convert to a full GmbH.
KGaA, German hybrid 'partnership limited by shares' used by founder-led companies seeking a public listing while keeping a general partner in firm control.
AG (Aktiengesellschaft), German stock-corporation form (€50k min capital, two-tier board) used for IPOs and large companies but considered too rigid for venture rounds.
Bpifrance, France's state-owned investment bank, providing equity, grants, and innovation loans to French startups and acting as a fund-of-funds anchor LP.
EIF (European Investment Fund), EU fund-of-funds investing in European VC and PE funds, the largest single LP in European venture and a key anchor for first-time fund managers.
ADGM, Abu Dhabi's English-common-law financial free zone: Cayman/Delaware-style law, 100% foreign ownership, zero CT. Popular for VC funds and tech holdcos.
DIFC, Dubai's English-common-law financial free zone, regulated by the DFSA with its own DIFC Courts. Preferred holdco for MENA fintechs and asset managers.
Free Zone Company, UAE company in one of 45+ specialised free zones (DMCC, RAKEZ, Hub71): 100% foreign ownership, zero personal tax, but limited mainland trading.
Mainland LLC (UAE), UAE limited-liability company under federal commercial law, free to trade across the UAE mainland. Foreign ownership up to 100% in most sectors.
Golden Visa (UAE), 10-year renewable UAE residency visa for investors, founders, and high-skill specialists, decoupled from employer sponsorship, a talent lever.
Dubai Future District Fund, AED 1B Dubai government fund-of-funds and direct investor backing early-stage tech startups based in or relocating to Dubai's Future District.
Hub71, Abu Dhabi's flagship startup hub, offering free-zone licensing, subsidised housing/office, and equity-free incentives worth $5k to $250k/yr to founders.
Mubadala / PIF, Two dominant MENA sovereign wealth funds (Mubadala $300B, PIF $925B AUM), anchor LPs in global VC funds and direct investors in late-stage tech.
Pte Ltd (Singapore), Singapore's standard private limited company: minimum S$1 paid-up capital, one director and one shareholder, default holdco for SE-Asia tech startups.
ACRA Filing, Mandatory filings every Singapore Pte Ltd lodges with ACRA, incorporation, annual return, financial statements, and changes to directors or capital.
EntrePass, Singapore work pass for foreign founders of a venture-backed Pte Ltd, with eligibility tied to funding raised, IP, accelerators, or innovation track record.
Tech.Pass, Singapore work pass for established tech execs and founders (S$22.5k+/mo or 5+ yrs at a $500M+ tech firm), the most flexible tech-talent pass.
EDBI, Corporate investment arm of Singapore's Economic Development Board, investing in growth-stage tech globally to anchor company HQs and R&D in Singapore.
Temasek, Singapore's $390B+ state-owned investment company, active across late-stage tech, financial services, and infrastructure as a direct investor and global LP.
Pty Ltd (Australia), Australia's standard private-company structure, at least one Australian-resident director, no minimum share capital, ASIC-registered. Default for AU VC.
ASIC Filing, Mandatory filings every Australian Pty Ltd lodges with ASIC, incorporation, annual review, share-capital and director changes within 28 days of the event.
Significant Investor Visa (Australia), Australian residency-by-investment visa requiring A$5M of complying investments (with mandatory venture/emerging-companies allocation), a major LP source.
CCPC, Private Canadian corporation controlled by Canadian residents, eligible for the Small Business Deduction (lower CT rate) and SR&ED enhanced 35% credit.
BDC, Canada's federal development bank, providing growth-stage loans, venture equity (BDC Capital), and women-/Indigenous-focused funds. Frequent VC anchor LP.
DPIIT-Recognised Startup, Indian government recognition (Startup India) for under-10-yr-old, sub-₹100 Cr-revenue innovative companies, unlocks tax holidays and angel-tax exemption.
GIFT City Fund Structures, India's IFSC at Gandhinagar, tax-favoured (10-yr CT holiday, no STT), now a popular domicile for India-focused VC funds and family offices.

Equity Comp & Exits

ISO, A US tax-advantaged stock option for W-2 employees, eligible for long-term capital-gains treatment if holding-period requirements are met.
NSO, Non-Qualified Stock Options, a more flexible US option type than ISOs, available to contractors and advisors but without the same tax-advantaged treatment.
RSU, Restricted Stock Units, equity compensation that vests into shares without requiring exercise, common at late-stage and public companies.
Strike Price, The fixed price at which an option holder can purchase a share, set at fair market value on the grant date and locked in for the option's life.
83(b) Election, A US tax election letting restricted-stock recipients pay tax on the grant-date value (not at vesting), often saving early-stage founders meaningful tax.
Secondary Sale, A sale of existing shareholder stock (founders, employees, or early investors) to a new investor, providing partial liquidity before an IPO or acquisition.
Tender Offer, A company-organized program letting employees and early investors sell a portion of their shares back to the company or to outside investors at a set price.
IPO, Initial Public Offering, the first sale of a company's shares to public investors, transforming the company from private to publicly traded.
SPAC, A publicly listed shell company that raises capital to acquire and merge with a private company, offering an alternative route to the public markets.
Acquihire, An acquisition primarily motivated by the acquirer's desire to hire the target company's team, with little value placed on the product or revenue.
Earnout, A portion of acquisition consideration paid only if the acquired company hits specified post-close performance milestones over a defined period.
Lockup Period, The post-IPO window, typically 90 to 180 days, during which insiders are contractually prohibited from selling their shares on the public market.
EMI Options, UK tax-advantaged share-option scheme letting qualifying companies grant employees up to £250k of options each, taxed at 10% CGT not income.
VSOPs (Virtual Stock Options), Cash-settled phantom-share grants used by German GmbHs to give employees economic equity exposure without notarisation costs of issuing real shares.
BSPCE, France's tax-advantaged employee stock-option scheme: gains taxed at flat 30% PFU for employees with 3+ years' service, or 12.8% income tax otherwise.
ESS Startup Concessions (Australia), Australia's tax concession for employee share schemes at qualifying startups: no upfront tax on grant, CGT on sale (50% discount after 12 months held).
Stock Option Deduction (Canada), Canadian Income Tax Act §110(1)(d) deduction excluding 50% of stock-option exercise gains from employment income, capped at C$200k/yr for non-CCPCs.
ESOP under Companies Act 2013 (India), Indian employee stock-option scheme under §62(1)(b) of the Companies Act 2013, granted to employees and directors (excluding promoters), 1-yr vesting cliff.