Definition

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.

Example Usage

"Our SaaS platform charges $99 per month for features you used to get for free, but now it's in the cloud, which is just someone else's computer with better marketing."

Related Terms

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catalytic capital

Patient, flexible funding that accepts below-market returns to achieve social impact alongside financial returns, pioneered by organizations like Omidyar Network. Capitalism with a conscience, or venture capital with lowered expectations, depending on your perspective.

🚀 Startup / VC
Advanced

breaking the syndicate

When a startup seeks a lead investor for their next round who isn't part of their existing investor group, potentially signaling problems or a desire for fresh perspectives. It's the venture capital equivalent of changing friend groups.

🚀 Startup / VC
Intermediate

exit

In startup land, the glorious moment when founders and investors finally cash out, either through acquisition or IPO, turning years of ramen dinners and sleepless nights into actual money. It's the entrepreneurial equivalent of winning the lottery, except you had to build the lottery first. Every VC's favorite word and every founder's obsession after their Series A.

🚀 Startup / VC
Intermediate

revenue multiple

A valuation metric calculated by dividing company valuation by annual revenue, popular in tech because it works even when profits are mythical. Allows investors to justify astronomical valuations by citing "industry standards."

🚀 Startup / VC
Advanced

protective provisions

Veto rights that let preferred shareholders block certain major decisions like selling the company or raising more money. Democracy in theory, oligarchy in practice.

🚀 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

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