- burn rate
- rate at which cash outflow exceeds cash inflow
- buyback clause
- legal agreement regarding an exit by a founding team member prior to the harvesting of the venture
- code of conduct
- formal statement that provides guidance on how ethical conduct is demonstrated
- company culture
- shared beliefs, values and assumptions held by people regarding how to behave or conduct themselves within the context of fitting into an organization
- Delphi method
- group decision-making process that includes a diverse group of people who are located at different locations and willing to respond to a series of questionnaires to assist in providing ideas, information or solutions to a defined question or problem
- escalation of commitment
- tendency to continue with a predetermined action based on the past efforts and contributions to the project rather than an analysis of the current realities that disclose a new solution or approach is necessary
- fail-safe point
- identified point that triggers the entrepreneur to consider what actions are needed to bring the venture back to a healthy position and whether this action is reasonable and feasible
- founders’ agreement
- written document that addresses contractual topics such as division of equity, compensation, contributions to the venture, and commitments to the venture with timelines included
- Gannt chart
- bar chart used to organize and plan sequential steps in a process
- hindsight bias
- belief that, in retrospect, the outcome was predictable when the outcome wasn’t predictable due to various uncontrollable factors
- hubris
- overinflated belief in oneself
- lifestyle business
- business that provides incomes similar to other forms of employment
- Nominal Group technique
- group decision-making process that requests multiple rounds of responses and discussions of response
- noncompete agreement
- formal agreement that the person signing the document will not work for another organization that is a direct competitor of their current employer during employment and usually for a specified length of time after employment ends
- nondisclosure agreement
- formal agreement that the person signing the document will not sharing proprietary information with outside sources
- planning fallacy
- creation of a plan that is too optimistic and not aligned with conservative assumptions
- serial entrepreneur
- entrepreneur who becomes involved in starting multiple entrepreneurial ventures
- social capital
- goodwill that is created through helping someone else
- status quo bias
- pattern of relying on previous actions and results as the accepted pattern and outcome with a bias against change or new information or new results