Glosarium
Contents

Startups & Business

Founder Basics

What a startup is, whether it fits you, and who you start it with.

Tech Entrepreneur

Idea

Find a problem worth solving and prove people have it. Where every first-time founder starts.

Core: start here

  • StartupA company built to find a repeatable, scalable business model fast, not just a small business.
  • Founder-Market FitWhy you, specifically, are the right person to build this.
  • Co-founderChoosing who you start with, the earliest and hardest-to-undo decision.
  • Why Startups FailThe common causes of failure, most of which have nothing to do with the code.
  • Technical FounderWhat changes when an engineer's job stops being only the code.
9 more idea concepts
  • Idea MazeMapping the paths, dead ends and earlier attempts around an idea before you commit.
  • Opportunity Cost of FoundingThe salary, time and career options you give up, counted honestly.
  • Tarpit IdeasIdeas that look easy and obvious, attract many founders, and rarely work.
  • Lifestyle BusinessA profitable company that stays small on purpose, and why that's a valid choice.
  • Venture-Scale BusinessWhether your idea can grow big enough for venture capital to make sense.
  • Indie HackingBuilding small, profitable software products alone or in a tiny team, usually bootstrapped.
  • Side Project to StartupWhen a side project deserves to become a company, and when it should stay a side project.
  • Solo FounderStarting alone: what's harder, what's simpler, and what investors think.
  • Why NowWhat changed recently that makes this idea possible or newly needed.

MVP

Ship the smallest thing someone will use or pay for, and set up the company properly.

  • Founder BurnoutExhaustion from the pressure of running a startup, and how founders keep going.

Growth

Make acquisition and revenue repeatable; hire, raise and build a board.