Startup Business Guide

This book explains one topic per page, like a big glossary, easy wiki, quick encyclopedia, or summary notes. Edited by Joel Parker Henderson (@joelparkerhenderson).

Contents

Introduction

• What is this book?

• Who is this for?

• Why am I creating this?

• Are there more guides?

How to find startup help

• How to find startup ideas

• How to find startup mentors

• How to find startup investors

• How to find startup employees

• How to find startup customers

• How to find startup consultants

• How to find startup recruiters

• How to find startup loans

Pitching

• Value proposition

• Elevator pitch

• Pitch deck

• Pitch competition

• Business Model Canvas (BMC)

• Business plan

• Business plan competition

• Demo day

Startup discovery

• Market discovery

• Market discovery questions

• Customer discovery

• Customer discovery questions

• Product discovery

• Product discovery questions

Startup life cycle

• Product-market fit (PMF)

• Continuous learning

• Validated learning

• Build-Measure-Learn

• Minimum viable product (MVP)

• Minimum lovable product (MLP)

• Minimum learnable product (MLnP)

• Investment Readiness Level (IRL)

Startup entrances

• Incubator

• Accelerator

• Skunkworks

• Spinoff

• Spinout

• Technology transfer

Startup step-ups

• Solopreneur

• Cottage business

• Lifestyle business

Startup exits

• Initial Public Offering (IPO)

• Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)

• Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC)

• Acquihire

• Unicorn

• Zombie

How to find startup help

• How to find startup ideas

• How to find startup mentors

• How to find startup investors

• How to find startup employees

• How to find startup consultants

• How to find startup recruiters

• How to find startup loans

Strategy

Vision, Mission, Values

• Vision statement

• Mission statement

• Values statement

Business model

• Direct sales business model

• Direct sales business model - pros/cons

• Subscription business model

• Subscription business model - pros/cons

• Advertising business model

• Advertising business model - pros/cons

• Marketplace business model

• Marketplace business model - pros/cons

• Franchise business model

• Franchise business model - pros/cons

Strategic effects

• Network effects

• Platform effects

• Flywheel effects

• Viral effects

• Moat effects

• Threshold effects

• Scale effects

• Leverage effects

• Monopoly effects

Business analysis

• Five Forces analysis

• PESTLE analysis

• SWOT analysis

• Feasibility analysis

• Stakeholder analysis

• Use case analysis

• Process mapping

• Value stream mapping (VSM)

• Maturity models

• Demand forecasting

• Predictive analytics

Time-to-market (TTM)

• First-mover advantage

• Crossing the chasm

• Early adopters

• Early evangelists

• Cold start problem

• Cold start strategy

Industry introductions

Technology sectors

• Adtech (Advertising technology)

• Agtech (Agricultural technology)

• Biotech (Biological technology)

• Cleantech (Clean technology)

• Edtech (Educational technology)

• Fintech (Financial technology)

• Govtech (Governmental technology)

• Legtech (Legal technology)

• Martech (Marketing technology)

• Medtech (Medical technology)

• Regtech (Regulatory technology)

• Realtech (Real estate technology)

Company touchpoints

Company leadership roles

• Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

• Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

• Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

• Chief Operating Officer (COO)

• Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO)

• Chief Information Officer (CIO)

• Chief Legal Officer (CLO)

• Chief Product Officer (CPO)

• Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

• Chief Security Officer (CSO)

• Chief Risk Officer (CSO)

• Executive Director (ED)

• Chairperson of the Board (COB)

• Board of Directors (BOD)

• Board of Advisors (BOA)

Company departments

• Sales department

• Marketing department

• Engineering department

• Operations department

• Customer service department

• Finance department

• Legal department

• Human resources (HR) department

• Risk Management (RM) department

• General and Administrative (G&A) department

• Research and Development (R&D) department

• Investor Relations (IR)

• Government Relations (GR)

• Developer Relations (DR)

Company management roles

• Chief of Staff (CoS)

• Account Executive (AE)

• Account Manager (AM)

• Sales Engineer (SE)

• Product Manager

• Project Manager (PM)

• Partnership Manager

• General Manager (GM)

• Grants Manager

• Community Manager

• Compliance Manager

• Customer Service Representative (CSR)

• Subject Matter Expert (SME)

Organizational values frameworks

• Code of conduct

• Code of ethics

• Membership values

• Leadership values

• Cultural values

• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging (DEIB)

• Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)

• Human Development Index (HDI)

• Seventh Generation Principle

• Social value orientation (SVO)

• Triple bottom line (TBL)

• Inclusive language

• Culture fit and values alignment

Cultural dimensions

• Power distance

• Individualism versus collectivism

• Long-term orientation versus short-term orientation

• Uncertainty avoidance

• Indulgence versus restraint

• Masculinity versus femininity

Sales

Sales introduction

• Business-to-Business (B2B)

• Business-to-Consumer (B2C)

• Business-to-Business-to-Consumer (B2B2C)

• Peer-to-Peer (P2P)

• Sales funnel

• Winner-take-all

• Vendor lock-in

• Sales-led growth (SLG)

• Product-led growth (PLG)

• Growth hacking

• Hockey-stick growth

Pricing models

• Cost-plus pricing

• Value-based pricing

• Bundled pricing

• Subscription pricing

• Tiered pricing

• Dynamic pricing

• Pay-what-you-want (PWYW)

• Freemium

• Free trial

Marketing

Marketing introduction

• Marketing channels

• Affiliate marketing

• Attribute-based marketing

• Content marketing

• Guerilla marketing

• Word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM)

• Customer relationship management (CRM)

• Stealth mode

• Thought leadership

• Social proof

Market estimation

• Total Addressable Market (TAM)

• Service Addressable Market (SAM)

• Service Obtainable Market (SOM)

Brand management

• Brand value

• Brand equity

• Brand visibility

• Brand association

• Brand loyalty

• Brand marketing

• Brand recognition

• Brand positioning

• Brand ambassador

Planning

North Star

• Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG)

• Strategic balanced scorecard (SBS)

• Ideation

• Shoshin

• Creative thinking techniques

• Brainstorming

• Thinking hats

• SCAMPER

• Oblique strategies

• Futurespective

• Storyboard

• Storyboard steps

• Gantt chart

• Quad chart

Intent plan

• Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Key Risk Indicators (KRIs)

• Critical Success Factors (CSFs)

• Critical To Quality (CTQ)

• Goals, Ideas, Steps, Tasks (GIST)

• Risks, Actions, Issues, Decisions (RAID)

• SPADE decision framework

• SMART criteria

• Cynefin framework

• Issue tracker

• Mind map

• Decision tree

• Decision record

• Business continuity

• Operational resilience

• Crowdsourcing

• Planning poker estimation

Change management

• Six Sigma methodology

• DMAIC methodology

• Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA)

• OODA loop

• OODA loop v DMAIC cycle v PDCA spiral

• Kaizen

• ADKAR change management model

Miscellaneous

• Creative Enterprise Zone (CEZ)

• Economic moat

• Economies of scale

• Aggregation theory

• Commoditization of trust

• Go-to-market strategy

• Strategy map

• EBFAS organizational climate

• Project management

• UI/UX

Design Development

• Big design up front (BDUF)

• Domain-Driven Design (DDD)

• Behavior-Driven Development (BDD)

• Test-Driven Development (TDD)

• Voice of the Customer (VoC)

Business metrics

• Earnings before interest, taxes, amortization (EBITA)

• Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)

• Burn rate

• Traction

• Lifetime Value (LTV)

• Churn rate

• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

• Net Promoter Score (NPS)

• Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)

Teamwork

• Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing (FSNP)

• Icebreaker questions

Composition

• Organizational chart

• Chain of command

• Stakeholders

• Roles and responsibilities

• Responsibility assignment matrix (RAM)

• RACI matrix

• PARIS matrix

Team shapes

• Pizza team

• Squad team

• Community of Practice (CoP)

• The Spotify Model

Team locations

• Outsourcing

• Offshoring

• Nearshoring

• Coworking

Ways Of Working (WOW)

• TEAM FOCUS

• Blameless retrospective

• Pair programming

Digital transformation

• Business information systems

• Change management

• Line-of-business (LOB) application

• Front-office applications

• Back-office applications

• Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)

• Playbook

• Runbook

Meetings

• Meeting types

• All-hands meeting

• Standup meeting

• One-on-one meeting

• Skip-level meeting

Quality analysis

• After-Action Report (AAR)

• Cause-and-effect diagram

• Fishbone diagram: see cause-and-effect diagram

• Five Whys analysis

• Ishikawa diagram: see cause-and-effect diagram

• Non-functional requirements: see system quality attributes

• Root cause analysis (RCA)

• System Quality Attributes (SQAs)

• Quality of Service (QoS) for networks

• Good Enough For Now (GEFN)

• Technical debt

• Refactoring

Statistical analysis

• Descriptive statistics

• Inferential statistics

• Correlation

• Causation

• Probability

• Variance

• Trend analysis

• Anomaly detection

• Quantitative fallacy

• Regression to the mean

• Bayes' theorem

• Chi-square analysis

• Monte Carlo methods

• Statistical analysis techniques

Artificial intelligence (AI)

• AI for business strategy

• AI for product development

• AI for project management

• AI for partner management

• AI customer service

• AI content generator

• AI image generation

• AI resource leveling

• AI UI/UX

• AI ethics

• AI plagiarism checker

• AI internationalization/localization

AI for company departments

• AI sales

• AI marketing

• AI accounting

• AI human resources

AI + business sectors

• AI + adtech (advertising technology)

• AI + agtech (agricultural technology)

• AI + biotech (biological technology)

• AI + cleantech (clean technology)

• AI + edtech (educational technology)

• AI + fintech (financial technology)

• AI + govtech (governmental technology)

• AI + legtech (legal technology)

• AI + martech (marketing technology)

• AI + medtech (medical technology)

• AI + regtech (regulatory technology)

• AI + realtech (real estate technology)

Accounting

• Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)

• Profit and loss (P&L)

• Gross profit and net profit

• Assets and liabilities

• Balance sheet

Accounting metrics

• Financial ratios

• Internal Rate of Return (IRR)

• Return On Investment (ROI)

• Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

• Discounted Cash Flow (DCF)

• Net Present Value (NPV)

• Fixed costs

• Cost of goods sold (COGS)

• Unit cost

• Inventory turnover

• Carrying costs

Financing

• Bootstrapping

• Crowdfunding

• Debt financing

• Small business loan

• Bridge loan

• Convertible note

• Equity financing

• Simple Agreement For Future Equity (SAFE)

• Private equity

• Priced round

• Drag-along rights

• Carried interest

• Due diligence

Fundraising

Investors

• Friends and family investor

• Accredited investor

• Venture capital investor

• Angel investor

• Seed investor

• Series A investor

• Series B investor

Equity

• Capitalization table

• Term sheet

• Startup equity division

• Vesting schedule

• Vesting cliff

• Sweat equity

• Profit sharing

• Full Ratchet

• Pay-to-play

Valuation

• Valuation approaches

• Valuation approaches for startups

• Pre-money valuation and post-money valuation

• 409A valuation

• 83(b) election

Stock options

• Employee stock option pool

• Employee stock purchase plan (ESPP)

• Restricted stock units (RSUs)

• Stock buyback

• Liquidity event

• Liquidation preference

• Lock-up

Startup venture capital companies

• 500 Startups

• Accel

• Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)

• Antler

• Bethnal Green Ventures

• Greylock Partners

• Index Ventures

• Kleiner Perkins

• New Enterprise Associates (NEA)

• Sequoia Capital

• Y Combinator (YC)

Law

Intellectual Property (IP)

• Patent

• Copyright

• Trademark

• Trade secret

• Industrial design rights

Company legal entities

• Sole proprietorship

• Partnership company

• Limited Liability Company (LLC)

• C Corporation

• S Corporation

• B Corporation

Legal agreements

• Employee agreement

• Service agreement

• Consulting agreement

• Subcontracting agreement

• Framework agreement

• Partnership agreement

• Joint Venture agreement (JVA)

• Confidentiality agreement

• Non-disclosure agreement (NDA)

• Non-compete agreement

• Non-solicitation agreement

• Work-for-hire agreement

• Arbitration agreement

• Letter Of Intent (LOI)

• Power Of Attorney (POA)

• Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU): see Letter Of Intent (LOI)

• Master Services Agreement (MSA): see Framework agreement

Technology transfer agreements

• Licensing agreement (LA)

• Joint development agreement (JDA)

• Assignment agreement (AA)

• Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA)

• Facility Use/Service Agreement (FUSA)

• Material Transfer Agreement (MTA)

• Technical Assistance Agreement (TAA)

• Technology Transfer Office (TTO)

Work contracts

• Fixed-price contract

• Cost-plus contract

• Time and materials contract

Compliance

• International Standard on Assurance Engagements 3000 (ISAE 3000)

• Service Organization Control 2 (SOC 2)

• Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)

• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

• Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

• Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)

Major league

Globalization

• Global business

• Global business modes

• Cross-border controls

• Internationalization and localization

Global business regions

• The Americas (AMERS) region

• Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA) region

• Asia-Pacific (APAC) region

• Latin America (LATAM) region

• Oceania region

Visa sponsorship

• US H-1B Visa

• UK Global Talent Visa

• EU Blue Card

Enterprise companies

• Enterprise sales cycles

• Enterprise account management

• Enterprise Portfolio Project Management (EPPM)

• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

• Enterprise Change Management (ECM)

• Enterprise Architecture (EA)

• Enterprise software

Lore

Aphorisms

• Brooks' Law

• Conway's Law

• Gresham’s Law

• Hyrum’s Law

• Metcalfe's Law

• Moore's Law

• The Law of Demos (Kapor's Law)

• The Law of Supply and Demand

• The Law of Conservation of Complexity (Tesler's Law)

• The Law of Large Numbers

• The Pareto Principle (The 80/20 Rule)

• The Principle of Least Knowledge (The Law of Demeter)

• Chesterton's fence

• The Tragedy of the Commons

Idioms

• Quick wins

• Think outside of the box

• Unknown unknowns

• Stretch goal

• Firefighting mode

• For more see our Business Lingo Primer

Entrepreneur quotations

• A rising tide lifts all boats

• Culture eats strategy for breakfast

• Execution eats strategy for lunch

• A startup is a company that is confused

• Move fast and break things

• Ideas are easy, implementation is hard

• Learn early, learn often

• Make mistakes faster

• Perfect is the enemy of good

• Data beats emotions

• Look for the people who want to change the world

• See things in the present, even if they are in the future

Soft skills

• How to give a demo

• How to collaborate

• How to lead a meeting

• How to work with stakeholders

• How to get feedback

• How to give feedback

About this project

• About the author

• About the AI

• About the ebook PDF

• About related projects