Our spirit guide is here to explain all the keywords useful for anyone who wants to start their own startup!

B.

Business Angel

Informal investor who invests directly in a startup that has great growth prospects by providing capital, knowledge and time to help it concretely in the realization of the business idea. Usually it is a professional figure expert in the sector in which it intends to invest, willing to take high risks to achieve high returns.

D.

Deeptech

Startups whose idea is based on scientific discoveries or engineering innovations and whose underlying business idea is aimed at solving macro-problems of collective interest at a global level.

F.

Fintech

Technological branch of the startup world whose name comes from the union of the words "finance" and "tech": it deals with the digitalization of the banking and financial system through technological solutions applied to private and commercial finance. It includes services such as crowfunding, peer-to-peer lending, asset management, smart payment, cryptocurrency.

G.

Grant

Sum of money paid by public bodies or private institutions to a person or organization for a specific purpose: research grants, grants, non-refundable grants.

M.

MVP

Acronym of Minimum Viable Product, it is the version of a new product characterized only by its minimum features that allows the team to test its basic functions, with a reduced effort and in order to collect useful feedback from potential customers for future developments.

P.

Pre-seed

Investments that usually take place in the very early stages of a business idea's life. They are small sums (< 200.000 €) coming from FFF, that is family, friends and fools, or from non-repayable funding through competitions and calls. These first investments should make it possible to set up the startup and validate the market, in order to move on to the next phase and collect seed funding.

Pitch Deck

The pitch deck is a presentation consisting of slides, whose purpose is to present the startup, for example the product or service offered, the business model and the team. It can be used in front of an audience of investors, customers, suppliers, partners, stakeholders or on public occasions and it is important to always adapt it to your interlocutor.

Pivot

Term that indicates a change of direction in progress in a startup compared to the original project, to change its market fit in order to increase the interest from potential customers. Usually it is a strategic choice that is made after the tests and validation of the initial product have shown that it is possible to obtain significantly better results by radically changing it.

Proptech

Technological branch of the startup world whose name comes from the union of the words "property" and "tech": it deals with the digitization of the real estate market. Includes services such as online leases and sales, big data analysis, support software for real estate management, use of virtual reality for remote visits, use of drones for inspections.

R.

Regtech

Technological branch of the startup world whose name comes from the union of the words "regulation" and "tech": it deals with the implementation of technological tools within business processes such as adaptation and compliance procedures, compliance with standards/regulations and drafting of internal reports.

S

Scaleup

Life cycle phase of a startup in which, thanks to a scalable business model that is widely validated and a product successfully positioned on the market, it is possible to aspire to growth processes in terms of turnover, size and geographical markets (e.g. internationalization). Usually this is the phase during which investor remuneration begins through exit processes.

Seed

Types of investment that are obtained in the early stages of the development of a startup. They involve an investment in exchange for equity, usually between €200,000 and €500,000, by business angels or institutional investors.

U

Unicorn

Business world term used to indicate a private startup that has succeeded in achieving a valuation higher than $1 billion without going through a stock exchange listing. Famous examples are startups such as Uber, Airbnb, Spotify that have managed to radically change the sector in which they operate.