Decacorn

Intermediate 🚀 Startup / VC

Definition

A startup valued at over ten billion dollars, because apparently unicorn wasn't exclusive enough and Silicon Valley needed a word that makes mythological creatures sound like a tiered loyalty program. Next up: hectocorn, at which point we're just making up zoo animals.

Example Usage

"Our company is a decacorn now, which means we're ten times more imaginary than a regular unicorn, and our employees still can't afford to live in the city where we're headquartered."

Related Terms

Intermediate

conversion rights

The privilege granted to preferred shareholders to convert their fancy preferred stock into common stock, typically exercised when they want to sell or when common stock becomes more valuable (rare but delightful). It's a one-way ticket that investors usually only take when they're confident they're not leaving money on the table.

🚀 Startup / VC
Advanced

non-participating preferred

Preferred stock that must choose between taking its liquidation preference OR converting to common and sharing the remaining proceeds—can't do both. The slightly-less-greedy version of investor terms.

🚀 Startup / VC
Intermediate

SAFE

Simple Agreement for Future Equity—a Y Combinator innovation that lets startups take money now and figure out the valuation later. 'Simple' is debatable; some lawyers call them 'complex convertible debt without the debt.'

🚀 Startup / VC
Beginner

zombie startup

A company that's neither thriving nor dying—generating just enough revenue to shuffle forward indefinitely but lacking the growth to succeed or the decency to fail completely. The undead of the startup ecosystem.

🚀 Startup / VC
Beginner

SaaS

Software as a Service -- a business model where customers pay monthly to rent software they'll never own, like a never-ending apartment lease for your data. It's the tech industry's greatest invention: turning a one-time purchase into a lifetime of recurring payments.

🚀 Startup / VC
Advanced

zombie VC

A venture capital firm that's functionally dead but still managing old funds, unable to raise new capital but too undead to fully shut down. They're not investing in new companies but still collecting management fees from their limited partners.

🚀 Startup / VC

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