Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM


Top Flashcards (Certified)
All Flashcards

UX Glossary > Silicon Valley Glossary > Flashcards

Silicon Valley Glossary Flashcards

(130 cards)

Start Studying
1
Q

A/B Test

A

A strategy startups use to compare two versions of a product to see which one performs better.

eg.) “Let’s do an A/B test to see if changing the coffee to dark roast has an effect on productivity.”

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Aqcuihire

A

Buying out a company for its talented workers as opposed to its products or services.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Angel

A

An allfuent individual that provides seed-stage funding.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

API

A

Application Program Interface, Specifies a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications that interconnect with each other. The use of APIs allows you to order a Lyft for yourself or your colleagues through Slack.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

AR/VR

A

Stands for “Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality”. In AR, digital elements supplement a user’s normal perception. In VR, users are fully immersed in a digital world. In other words, Pokemon Go is augmented reality because players run through real cities, whereas with virtual reality, you are just looking like an alien wearing goggles.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

AU

A

Active Users.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

MAU

A

Monthly Active Users or Minute Active Users

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

HAU

A

Hourly Active User

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

SAU

A

Second Active User

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

AUM

A

Assets Under Management. The total market value of the financial assets a firm manages on behalf on their clients.
AUM is an investment firm’s equivalent of comparing hand sizes, but the real players measure the return on the pile, not how big the pile is.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Bandwidth

A

Time and availability to do a project

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

BDR- Business Development Representative

A

New, more glamorous term for an old entry-level shit job: telesales

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Telesales

A

The selling of goods or services over the telephone.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Benchmark

A

Performance goals against which a company’s success metrics are measured.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Big Data

A

A broad term for data analytics that by putting “big” in front implies massive insights.

To date, Big Data has been closer to Big Foot, rumored to be a force but rarely seen.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Bleeding Edge

A

More advanced than “cutting edge”

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Blockchain

A

On the surface, it is two bad words that together create a positive and highly disruptive idea. In actuality, it is a technology that allows for the transfer of information through shared record or ledger of events, and removes the need for a third party to intermedaite and validate the transfer.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Bookings

A

The value that a consumer intends to pay the company for a service. This is usually done in contract.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

Bootstrap

A

Self-financing your startup with savings and credit cards as opposed to receiving investor funding.

“I’m bootstrapping right now, but I should get some seed capital sooner or later.”

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

Bozo Explosion

A

Steve Jobs’ lament that when early employees at startups get promoted over time to jobs they arent qualified for an additionally, hire peopl enot as talented as themselves. You wake up one day and realize the company is run by a bunch of idiots. Bozo Explosion often leads bozo implosion

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Brain Rape

A

When an investor or another company tries to mine your company secrets under the pretense of a pitch or other official meetup

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

Bridge

A

Raising captial typically between two formal funding rounds. Investors are cautioned to avoid a “bridge to nowhere,” where the prospects of bringing in the next funding are dubious.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Brogrammer

A

Portmanteau of bro and programmer, a category of employees in the tech world who are typically young, male graduates with a “bro-y” culture.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

Bubble

A

A state of booming economic activity (as in stock market) not sustainable by underlying values that often ends in a sudden collapse.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Burn Rate
The amount of money a startup loses per month, which is typically compared to the amount of cash in the bank.
26
BYOD
Bring your own device
27
CAC
Customer Acquisition Cost A metric used to determine the economic efficiency of bringing in a customer versus the cost of marketing and sales to attract the customers.
28
Churn Rate
Percentage of subscribers discounting a subscription service. Rule of Thumb, if the churn rate is above 30% per year, your business model is challenged. If your customers drop your servicee like a bad habit and don't renew, trouble like ahead."
29
Close
Signing all the legal papers and documents to finalize an investment.
30
Cloud
A network of remote servers hosted on the internet and used to store, manage, and process data in place of local servers. "If an investor asks you why it works, just say it's in the cloud."
31
Critical Mass
The point at which a startup scaled to be adequate in size and became viewed as esatblish and now has to worry about being disrupted by another startup; "Once snapchat reached critical mass, there was a boom in various forms of disappearing communication apps."
32
Crowdfunding
Financing an endeavor with funding from many indivical donors and investors through the internet. eg.) Kickstarter and Angelist
33
Crowdsourcing
Utilizing the small contributions of many people for some end; " I wouldn't be a programmer I am today without the crowdsourcing available in websites like Stack Overflow."
34
Deliverable
Something tangible you owe for work: "What deliverables are you working on after this meeting? Let me add another"
35
Dilution
Percentage of ownership that is decreased when new investors come in: "Dilution should not be confused with delusional, although many founders have delusions about their dilution."
36
Disrupt
To address a new market or offer significant advantages to the current status quo of your class of products or services, leaving everyone in the existing market struggling to catch up. "This product is completely disrupting a trillion-dollar market with a billion users with early adopters like nothing that has ever come here before... ever."
37
Disruptive Technology
New technology that changes an industry's dynamic. A classic definition of a disruptive technology is if it provides 80% of the value of 20% the cost: "I miss the chauffer James, but Uber is fraction of the cost and doesn't have to go home and see the fam."
38
Distorted Reality Field
A typical symptom of an entrpreneur who see the world as what i can become, not what it is, but believes it already is that way. "The shirnk says Suzee is crazy, but shes just operating with a distorted reality field."
39
Dogfooding
Using and relying on your own product, usually in beta version, to fix the kinks:
40
Down Round
Raising money at a lower valuation than a previous round, also thought to be worse than a terminal discease.
41
DRI
Directly Responsible Individual. The process of sucking ordinary people into believing their company is truly extraordinary.
42
Due Diligence
Research and investigation into a company's figures, the period when an investor actually wants to see if the product or people exist.
43
EBITDA
Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, and Amortixation, used as a general proxy to measure how much cash a company truly generates. ee-bit-da
44
Elevator Pitch
A short summary used to quickly and simply define the value proposition of a startup.
45
Entrepreneur
A person who identifies a need and helps solve it by starting a business.
46
Escape Velocity
The point at which a startup is on the path for exponential growth.
47
Evangelist
A person at a company who builds support for a product through fanatical and passionate belief. The job is not to do real work, but to wear a cool t-shirt and have a smile on their face.
48
Exit
When a startup is acquired or goes public. All exits aren't created equal.
49
Feng Shui
The chinese philosophical system of harmonzing everyone with their surrounding environment.
50
Follow On
A subsequent investment made by an investor who had funded previous rounds. Founders note it's often a bad sign if your investors don't want to participate in a follow on financing.
51
Founder Hounder
A person who pursures hookups with founders of start-ups.
52
Freemium
A product or service that is free for most consumers to use, but charges a fee for premium features.
53
Gig Economy
the emerging business environment in which temp and freelance positions are common and organizations contract workers for short-term.
54
Glassholes
Orginally a term to describe the dorky-looking nerds wearing the ill-fated Google glass. Now used to describe any nerdy prick that thinks displaying any hipster-type technology is cool.
55
Growth Hackers
Marketers, Engineers, and product managers that specifically focus on building and engaging the customers of the business to make it to the promised land.
56
Growth Metrics
Measurement and calculation that evaluate a startup's growth potential like MAU or MoM.
57
GSD
Get Shit Done
58
H-1B Visas
A non-immigrant visa, which allows U.S companies to temporarily employ workers in technical occupations.
59
Hacker
A person with an intellectual curiousity to build better things.
60
Hockey Stick Growth
Weekly or monthly sales results that are vertical.
61
Ideate
Portmanteau of idea and create, means to brainstorm and think.
62
Incubator/Accelerator
A physical space or program that helps startups grow, usually providing them with mentorship, networking opportunities, and sometimes capitcal.
63
Infobesity
So much information that it impedes progress.
64
IOT
Internet of Things: A phenomenon where all devices are connected and communicate with each other, knowing what you want almost before you do.
65
IPO
Initial Public Offering: The first sale of stock by a private company to the public.
66
J Curve
Common Shape that materializes when plotting the value of a venture capital fund over time, dipping at first because of the failures of bad companies before turning upward when the good companies that off.
67
JOBS Act
Stand for Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, a law enacted to make it easier for emerging companies to get funding and go public.
68
KPI
Key Performance Indicators | What company needs to focus on to be successful or be toast.
69
Lead Investers
Person or firm that prices a deal and sets the terms.
70
Lean Startup
Method for developing businesses focused on iterations of the product.
71
M&A
Merger and Acquisition. Describes the process through which one company takes over or combines with another.
72
MOFU
Middle of Funnel. Marketing term to determine leads that are prospects to be customers.
73
MoM
Month over month growth; could be revenues, could be users, could be over if it's not growing fast enough
74
MVP
Minimumly Viable Product. A product with just enough features to show early adopters its potentail, providing a feedbackloop to guide future improvements.
75
NDA
Nondisclosure Agreement; legal contract that details condifential material not to be shared.
76
Negging
Treating a possible investor or employee badly to make you and your company seem wanted, confident, and lucrative.
77
Network Effects
Where adding a new member to a network add exponential value.
78
Networking
The act of meeting others and pretending to be interested in what they do in hope that they'll help you in the future.
79
Nootropics
"Smart Drugs" that improve cognitive function, memory, creativity or motication, in healthy individuals.
80
Onboard
The process by which a new employee is introduced to and gets situated into a new company.
81
Peer-to-Peer
A computer network in which each device can act as a server for others, allowing shared access to files.
82
Phantom Testin
Often done when the company doesn't have a real product to test but wants to get customer leads and market information.
83
Pivot
When a startup changes direction but retains its team.
84
Platform
A business that creates value by facilitating connections between two or more interdependent groups
85
Post-money
The value of a company after it receives its financing.
86
Pre-IPO
Round of financing done right before a company goes public.
87
Pre-money
The value of the business before funding comes in.
88
Pre-revenue
The state of a company before it generates any revenue.
89
Preferences
Giving investors a priority on the return of invested capital, giving some guarantee of money back.
90
Prices to Sales Ratio
Dividing a company's market cap or valuation by its revenue.
91
Profit Margins
Net income divided by net revenue, looking at how much the company has profited in relation to costs.
92
Rachet
Anti-dilution provision for investors typically in the later rounds to protect them from future financing.
93
Recurring Revenue
The measure of sales that in ongoing in nature. This excludes the one-time fees associated with a producut.
94
SaaS
Softawre-as-a-Service company. Gets paid monthly for each user, so their revenue is recurring until its customer stops using it.
95
Retention
Keeping people associated with a company, whether in terms of users or employees.
96
ROI
Return on Investment is the profit or loss percentage on the amount of capital invested.
97
Runaway Valuation
A phenomenon that happens when multiple VSc need to be in the deal where the valuation can't be justified by the math.
98
Scale
The ability to expand to a meaningful size quickly.
99
Seed Round
The early capital used to help start a company; comes with a huge risk of company failure but also a huge reward if the company is successful.
100
Series A/B/C/D/E and later
Post-seed stage funding rounds that occur after companies develop their business past certain milestones. Companies are usually at a higher valuation each round, prompting investors to pay higher prices for later investment opportunites.
101
Sharing Economy
Hybrid market model which refers to the peer-to-peer sharing of access to goods and services.
102
SMB
Small Medium Business. A company that has fewer than 100 employees.
103
Stealth Mode
The state a startup is in when it is working secretly behind the scenes without drawing attention, usually to avoid competitors.
104
SLA
Service Level Agreement; An agreement where a service is formally defined between the provider and the user, including aspects of scope, quality and responsibilities.
105
Sticky
Used to describe products that retain users.
106
Stock Options
Benefits for employees in the form of options that can be exercised at a certain price; used to keep employess around longer.
107
Strategic
A company who is the same industry as the startup they invested.
108
Sunsetting
The extermination of a product or service.
109
Syndicate
A loose coalition of investors working together to handle some large deal or transaction
110
Takeunder
An offer to purchase a company for less than its market price.
111
TAM
Total Addressable Market; Refers to the amount of revenue that could be available for the product based on the markets it could impact.
112
TED Talks
The cult millennial conference where the themes of Technology, Entertainment, and Design converge in the form of short, powerful talks.
113
TOFU
Top of Funnel; Marketing term to indentify all the potential leads for a product or service.
114
Tourist
Mutual funds, hedge funds, or corporations that do not specialize in venture capital but occasionally make a private market investment.
115
Tweetstorm
A series of posts on Twitter that are rapidly posted back to back for at least 10 posts.
116
Ubercorn
A private company worth over $10 billion, with the name inspired by Uber's huge valuation.
117
UI
User Interface or the design of a product's consumer facing platform.
118
UX
User Experience, or the design of the experience consumers have while on a product's platform.
119
Unicorn
A private company worth over $1 billion
120
Unicorpse
A unicorn that goes out of business.
121
Uniscorn
A unicorn that was once dubbed the "next hottest thing" that blows up in a way that makes its investors embarrassed to think about it.
122
Unit Cost
Cost incurred by a company for one unit of its product.
123
Value Add
Describes additonal benefits the company gives to increase the product's price or value.
124
Venture Capitalist
An investor that takes higher risk to fund startups.
125
Venture Debt
An oxymoron or potentially smart way to get less dilutive captial before hitting milstones.
126
Viral
Growth spreading exponentially and often globally powerful characteristic of netword effects.
127
Wantrapreneur
A person who talks a big game about being the nest Mark Zuckerberg and building the next Facebook but spends all of his time reading techCrunch and watching Shark Tank.
128
Warrants
The right to purchase securities at a specific price within a certain timeframe.
129
Waterfall
A sequential flow of money.
130
Work-life Balance
Idea of work and life being separate entities, with some time devoted to each.

UX Glossary (3 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions