Startup Lexicon Made Easy

India has had two successful seasons of Shark Tank India and this brought to fore many business ideas. But for many some terms used so often were intriguing. These included angel investors, valuation, venture capital, pre-money, post money, boot strap, unicorn, and many more.

India has gained popularity as a start-up hub of the world. Youngsters just out of college no longer wish to have a 9 to 5 job. They want to venture into exciting spaces, finding lacuna or market in unserviced sector. Boosted by rapid progress in technology we have seen many new age companies prosper - Zomato, Bill Desk, Paytm, Nykaa, Shaadi.com and many more.

Here we explain some terms widely used in the industry.
VALUATION : In simple terms it is the worth of a company determined by many factors and methods
UNICORN : A privately held start-up company valued at a Billion US dollars is called a Unicorn
BOOTSTRAP : When a startup owner or entrepreneur uses his finance a company is said to be bootstrapped. There is very little or no outside finance and therefore no dilution of equity.
Pre-Money : Pre-money valuation is what a startup is worth without external funding or prior to any round of funding from outside.
Post-Money : It is the valuation of a company after a round of funding.
Venture Capital : When a company or an investor believes in the business model or long term growth potential of a new or small company and provides investment, that is known as venture capital.
Angel Investor : The Shark Tank judges are example of angel investors. It relates to those individuals who provide capital or funding to a new business in exchange for equity or convertible debt are known as angel investors.
For all wannabe businessmen and women who aspire to grow understanding of all of the above and most importantly - how and when to carry out valuation becomes very crucial. In our series of blogs we shall endeavor to help you in understanding them.