This guide will give you a better context to understand the language of startups, venture capitalists, angel investors, and incubators.

Business and technology jargon has been flying thick and fast for the past several years—and the barrage of terminology, acronyms, abbreviations, and specialized terms can be overwhelming. TechRepublic Premium’s Quick Glossaries will help you keep up with the language of trending innovations and emerging technologies.

From this glossary:

Acquisition
When one company buys controlling stake in another company. Can be friendly (agreed upon) or hostile (no agreement).

Agile
A philosophy of software development that promotes incremental development and emphasizes adaptability and collaboration.

Angel investor
An individual who provides a small amount of capital to a startup for a stake in the company. This typically precedes a seed round and usually happens when the startup is in its infancy.

B2B
Business to business. This describes a business that is targeting another business with its product or services. B2B technology is also sometimes referred to as enterprise technology. This is different from B2C, which stands for business to consumer and involves selling products or services directly to individual customers.

Benchmark
The process by which a startup company measures its current success. An investor measures a company’s growth by determining whether it has met certain benchmarks. For example, company A has met the benchmark of having X amount of recurring revenue after two years in the market.

Board of directors
A group of influential individuals, elected by stockholders, chosen to oversee the affairs of a company. A board typically includes investors and mentors. Not all startups have a board, but investors typically require a board seat in exchange for an investment in a company.  

Bootstrapped
A company is bootstrapped when it is funded by an entrepreneur’s personal resources or the company’s own revenue. Evolved from the phrase “pulling oneself up by one’s bootstraps.”

Bridge loan
Also known as a swing loan. A short-term loan to bridge the gap between major financing.