B2C (Business to Consumer)

Beginner 🚀 Startup / VC

Definition

Selling directly to individual consumers, requiring massive scale and viral growth to be venture-viable.

Example Usage

Our B2C mobile app reached 1M downloads in the first month thanks to influencer partnerships.

Origin

General business terminology

Fun Fact

B2C startups require 5-10x larger scale than B2B to achieve the same venture returns

Source: Standard business terminology

Related Terms

Intermediate

Product-Market Fit

The mythical moment when your product perfectly matches what customers want, described by VCs as essential but defined by no one in any useful way. It's like obscenity -- you know it when you see it, and most startups never see it.

🚀 Startup / VC
Beginner

vulture capitalist

A pejorative term for investors who swoop in during distressed situations to extract maximum value at founders' expense. The same people who call themselves 'value investors' on their websites.

🚀 Startup / VC
Intermediate

founder's dilemma

The impossible choice between maintaining control of your company and maximizing its financial value, first articulated by Harvard's Noam Wasserman. You can be rich or you can be king, but probably not both.

🚀 Startup / VC
Beginner

founder dilution

The reduction in founders' ownership percentage that occurs each time the company raises money or issues new equity. It's the slow, inevitable erosion of ownership that founders signed up for when they took outside capital.

🚀 Startup / VC
Beginner

fundraising

The noble art of convincing individuals, corporations, and foundations to part with their money for your cause, institution, or startup dream. In education, it's what keeps universities building new buildings with donors' names on them. In nonprofits and startups, it's a full-time job disguised as networking events and carefully crafted pitch decks.

🚀 Startup / VC
Advanced

shadow equity

Informal promises of future equity that aren't documented in legal agreements, often made to early advisors or contributors. A lawsuit waiting to happen, wrapped in a handshake.

🚀 Startup / VC

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