Wantrapreneur — a portmanteau of “wants to be” and “entrepreneur” — is a slightly pejorative term for someone who talks about starting a company without actually building one.

Yak shaving describes the long recursive chain of tasks that must be completed before the actual task can be done — each prerequisite spawning its own prerequisite.

Boiling the ocean describes a strategy or project so ambitious in scope that it is impossible to complete with available resources — the equivalent of trying to heat the entire ocean instead of a kettle.

A big beast is startup slang for an established, dominant company in a category — large in revenue, market share and brand recognition. Big beasts are the canonical incumbents that startups either disrupt or compete around.

Hockey stick growth is the chart shape — flat or shallow for an extended period, then sharply curving upward — that startups aspire to and pitch decks routinely promise. The metaphor compares the trajectory to a hockey stick lying on its side.

A venture, in the startup and investment context, is a new business undertaking that combines uncertainty, ambition for non-linear growth and (typically) external capital. The word is etymologically tied to “adventure” — a willingness to bear risk for a disproportionate potential return.

A vendor is a company or individual that supplies goods or services to another business — distinct from “customer” (which receives) and “partner” (which collaborates on shared outcomes).

Vanity metrics are numbers that look impressive in a pitch deck or report but do not directly inform decisions or predict business outcomes — downloads, page views, registered users, social-media followers.

A value proposition is the explicit promise of measurable benefit a product or service delivers to a specific customer segment in exchange for the customer’s money and attention.

A Unique Value Proposition (UVP) is the single, clear statement of what makes a product distinct and valuable to a specific customer relative to alternatives. UVP narrows value proposition to its competitive edge — the one reason this product wins for this customer versus the next-best option.