crowdfunding

Definition

The modern equivalent of passing the hat, except the hat is a slick website and you're asking thousands of strangers on the internet to fund your dream project, questionable invention, or potato salad. It's democratized investing meets collective optimism meets occasional fraud.

Example Usage

Their crowdfunding campaign for a smart water bottle raised $2 million, proving that people will throw money at anything that promises to sync with their iPhone.

Source: Startup and finance terminology

Related Terms

Beginner

graybeard

An experienced entrepreneur or advisor, typically older, who's seen multiple technology cycles and startup failures. They provide wisdom, pattern recognition, and constant reminders that everything has been tried before.

🚀 Startup / VC

Beginner

LTV

Lifetime Value—the total revenue a customer generates before churning, which you compare against acquisition cost to pretend your business makes sense. Usually wildly optimistic because it assumes customers stick around forever.

🚀 Startup / VC

Intermediate

Venture Capital

Money given to startups by firms who expect most of their investments to fail spectacularly, banking on one unicorn to pay for all the donkeys. VCs will fund almost anything if you put AI in the pitch deck and promise to disrupt something.

💰 Finance / Accounting🚀 Startup / VC

Intermediate

conviction

A VC's strong belief in an investment thesis despite contrary evidence or market skepticism. The confidence to write a check when everyone else thinks you're insane—sometimes brilliance, often delusion.

🚀 Startup / VC

Advanced

graduated rights

Term sheet provisions where investor rights decrease as the company hits performance milestones. A way to say 'we trust you more as you prove you're not incompetent.'

🚀 Startup / VC

Advanced

j-curve

The pattern where a venture fund initially shows negative returns as it deploys capital and pays fees, before (hopefully) shooting upward when investments exit. A graph that looks like the letter J, assuming your fund doesn't remain in the vertical downstroke forever.

🚀 Startup / VC

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