Startup glossary

Also called deal attribution

Attribution answers "who gets recognized for this deal, based on what contribution and evidence?"

Also called bridge financing

A bridge round is temporary financing that extends runway until a specific next event.

Also called investor conviction

In startup investing, conviction means an investor has enough justified belief in a company, founder, market, or thesis to commit capital, reputation, time, and follow-on support despite uncertainty.

Deal flow is the rate, quality, and pipeline movement of potential deals available for evaluation.

Also called startup referral

A deal referral is a startup investment opportunity passed from one person or organization to an investor, venture firm, angel, scout program, accelerator, or corporate development team.

Also called round extension

An extension round is interim financing that extends the life or scope of a previous round before the next major financing.

Also called oversubscribed

A round is oversubscribed when investors want to commit more capital than the company is willing or able to accept.

Also called qualified intro

A qualified introduction is a warm introduction between a founder and an investor, scout, customer, advisor, or partner where the introducer has done enough filtering to know the connection is relevant, timely, and credible.

A rolling close is a financing structure where a startup completes a round through more than one closing date, accepting investment from investors as each investor is ready to sign documents and fund, while keeping the same round open for additional investors for a defined period.

Also called referral note

A scout note is the scout's concise investment-context note for a referred startup.

Also called deal signal

A signal is a piece of evidence that changes how someone estimates a startup's quality, risk, momentum, or fit.

Stealth mode is a startup operating strategy in which the company deliberately limits public visibility while it builds a product, secures intellectual property, tests privately, raises from trusted investors, or prepares a controlled launch.

Technical diligence is the structured review of a company's technology, engineering practices, architecture, codebase, infrastructure, security, data, technical team, IP, and product-delivery capability before an investment, acquisition, partnership, or major enterprise purchase.

Also called warm introduction

A warm intro is a relationship-based introduction where the intermediary's trust and context make the recipient more likely to pay attention.