Enterprise

Definition

Large corporations that businesses try to sell to—known for 9-month sales cycles, multiple stakeholder sign-offs, and IT departments that say 'we'll think about it' for years.

Example Usage

We pivoted to enterprise sales because our SMB customers were price-sensitive, but now we're in 6-month negotiations with a Fortune 500 company about their 'security requirements.'

Origin

General business terminology; segment became common in SaaS

Fun Fact

Enterprise SaaS has higher churn than SMB but much better retention rates once customers stick around.

Source: Sales segment terminology

Related Terms

Beginner

Incubator

A program that nurtures early-stage startups by providing office space, mentorship, and a false sense of security. It's called an incubator because, much like the medical device, it keeps fragile things alive that probably wouldn't survive in the real world.

🚀 Startup / VC

Intermediate

dilution

The soul-crushing moment when a startup issues new shares, and existing shareholders watch their ownership percentage shrink faster than a wool sweater in a hot dryer. While you still own the same number of shares, you now own a smaller slice of the pie—assuming the company actually grows enough to justify the dilution. It's the price founders pay for other people's money, and the reason early employees cry into their vested options.

🚀 Startup / VC

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

minimum viable product

The most stripped-down version of your product that customers will actually use without demanding a refund—or at least that's the theory. In practice, it's whatever you can ship before running out of money.

🚀 Startup / VC

Beginner

Accelerator

A fixed-term program that accelerates startup growth through mentorship, resources, and the crushing pressure of a demo day deadline. It's like a pressure cooker for companies -- some come out perfectly cooked, and some just explode.

🚀 Startup / VC

Intermediate

Acqui-Hire

When a company buys another company not for its product but for its employees, which is the corporate equivalent of buying a house just for the kitchen. The product gets quietly killed while the team gets quietly absorbed and quietly regrets everything.

🚀 Startup / VC

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