Bridge Financing

Definition

Short-term money to keep you alive until someone actually funds you properly. Usually at slightly worse terms than you'd normally accept.

Example Usage

We closed a $2M bridge financing at 15% interest while Series B negotiation dragged on.

Origin

Finance term; bridge loans date to 1970s; venture context emerged in 1990s.

Fun Fact

Bridge rounds can carry punitive terms (high interest, valuation caps, or warrant coverage); they're a sign of desperation.

Source: Startup / Venture Capital vernacular

Related Terms

Beginner

innovate

The corporate buzzword for 'doing something new' that appears in every mission statement and keynote presentation. To innovate is to revolutionize or introduce novelty, though in practice it often means adding an app to something that worked fine without one. Companies that claim to innovate daily are usually just iterating on someone else's idea with a slightly different shade of blue.

🚀 Startup / VC

Beginner

proactive investor

A VC who claims they'll actively help your company through connections, advice, and support, as opposed to just wiring money. Reality: they'll make three intros, attend two board meetings, then ghost you unless you're a unicorn.

🚀 Startup / VC

Intermediate

Go-to-Market

The strategy for launching a product to customers, which in startup land typically involves a 90-slide deck, a Slack channel called launch-war-room, and a blog post nobody reads. It's called go-to-market because go-to-three-customers-who-are-your-friends doesn't sound as impressive.

🚀 Startup / VC

Advanced

greenshoe option

A provision in IPO underwriting allowing underwriters to sell additional shares if demand exceeds expectations, typically up to 15% more. Named after the first company to use it, because finance people hate straightforward names.

🚀 Startup / VC

Intermediate

priced equity round

A funding round where the company valuation is explicitly set and shares are sold at a specific price per share, unlike convertible instruments that defer pricing. It's the grown-up version of fundraising, with actual valuations and everything.

🚀 Startup / VC

Intermediate

exiting

The startup world's polite euphemism for cashing out and abandoning ship, ideally with a massive payday that makes all those 80-hour weeks seem worthwhile. Can range from a glorious IPO or acquisition to quietly shutting down operations while pretending you 'pivoted to consulting.' It's the entrepreneurial equivalent of checking out of a hotel, except you're either leaving with millions or owing money to everyone you know.

🚀 Startup / VC

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