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According to an economic survey in 2016, there are about 19,000 start ups in India alone! So let us gear up to familiarize ourselves with some specific jargons that are floating around our turf. This article is just about that.
Business Incubator A company that helps new and startup companies to develop by providing services such as management training, office space or even funding. A predominant number of incubators are provided by prominent universities Ex: Amity Innovation Incubator – by Amity University CIIE – by IIM Ahmedbad
SaaS – Software as a Service It is a software that is licensed by a company to its clients on a subscription basis. Eventually, the client centrally hosts that software for the entire organization to access it. Ex: Dropbox. Unnati has procured a subscription from Dropbox to centrally save all the documents and resources, to be accessed throughout the organization.
Cloud Computing & Cloud Service Cloud Computing is the technology in which all the SaaS applications run. Ideally when a software is available in the Cloud, the user or the client can choose to avail or shut down the software anytime they want. In other words, it provides on demand software, without having to go through the hassle of configuration, installation and uninstallation of heavy software packages. Ex. MS Office is regular service that you download and install in your PC, and literally forget about it! MS Office 365 is a cloud service (also SaaS) that is available on demand on the Internet – meaning to access 365, one should regularly go online to maintain subscription.
Ship The process of rolling out a software or an application to be available for the client.
Forward Integration Business Strategy in which a company expands its control over the distribution over its products Ex: A farmer decides to sell his produce directly to the locals in a farmers’ market, rather than in a grocery store. Basically cut the middle man!
Backward Integration Process where the company expands its control over its suppliers. Ex: Amazon becoming a publisher. Earlier, Amazon was just selling the books from various publishing companies. By becoming a publisher itself, it has integrated into its business the role of supplier and can sell books that its own publishing company publishes.
Growth Hacking Set of conventional and unconventional marketing experiments, that lead to the growth of business. Growth Hackers are focused on building and engaging a user base with low cost alternatives. Ex. Use of social media, viral marketing or targeted advertising, instead of traditional media such as radio, newspaper and tv.
Mobile First Design An approach to design an application (or a user experience) initially for smaller screens like mobile phones and tablets, and working the way up to bigger screens like laptops and desktops. Ex: Many mobile apps like Whatsapp, started as a mobile first app
Fulfillment Service A third-party warehouse that takes care of the product shipping needs of a company. Ex. FedEx offers shipping services to many enterprises.
Angel Investor An investor who invests in start ups or entrepreneurs. Often, angel investors are among an entrepreneur’s family and friends.
Venture Capitalist An investor who either provides capital to startup ventures or supports small companies that wish to expand but do not have access to equities markets. Venture capitalists are willing to invest in such companies because they can earn a massive return on their investments if these companies are a success.
Minimum Viable Product (MVP) A product with just enough features to satisfy early customers, and to provide feedback for future development. It is further developed with additional features depending on the initial feedback, before rolling it out to the general public.
Pre-Seed Funding Early stage funding for the Minimum Viable Product. It is basically raised for a start up, from friends and family for further fundraising and product development opportunities.
Seed Funding Let’s assume the start up is relatively established and has a steady monthly income and is growing month on month. Funding at this stage helps the startup to scale their product and become a competitor in the current market place.
Series A Funding Now our start up is producing strong revenue from the existing business model, but the net profit is just marginal. At this point, venture capital funds and angel investors would pitch in to accept a high level of risk in this early stage investments.
Series B Funding This funding occurs when a company has established a substantial milestone in the growth chart. For example, it could be measured by the net profit the company has achieved over the financial year. This round would include any type of investors like private equity investors, venture capitalists etc.
Keep watching this space for more!