Startup & Finance Glossary
Your guide to the language of Indian startups. Organized by topic to help you build your financial literacy.
Startup Finance Fundamentals
- A/B Testing
- Accelerated Vesting
- Accounts Payable Turnover Ratio
- Accredited Investor
- Activation Rate
- Annual Contract Value (ACV)
- Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)
- Annuity
- API (Application Programming Interface)
- Appreciation
- Arbitrage
- ARR vs MRR
- Asset Allocation
- Asset-Light Business Model
- B2B (Business-to-Business)
- B2C (Business-to-Consumer)
- Back Office
- Balanced Fund
- Bank Guarantee
- Basis Point (BPS)
- Bear Market
- Beneficiary
- Beta
- Blended CAC
- Blockchain
- Blue Chip Stock
- Board of Directors Composition
- Bottom of Funnel (BOFU)
- Brand Equity
- Breakeven Analysis
- Bull Market
- Burn Rate
- Business Model Canvas
- Business Plan
- CAC Payback Period
- Capital
- Capital Efficiency
- Capital Intensity
- Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC)
- Cash Cow
- Cash Flow from Financing (CFF)
- Cash Flow from Investing (CFI)
- Cash Flow from Operations (CFO)
- Challan
- Churn Rate
- Cloud Computing
- Cohort Analysis
- Committed MRR (CMRR)
- Compliance
- Compound Interest
- Contribution Margin
- Cost of Capital
- Cost of Revenue
- Credit Bureau
- Credit Score
- Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
- Customer Concentration
- Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- D-U-N-S Number
- D2C (Direct-to-Consumer)
- DAU/MAU Ratio
- Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR)
- Defensibility (or Moat)
- Deflation
- Derivative
- Disclaimer
- Discount Rate in DCF
- Disruptive Innovation
- Diversification
- DPO
- Drag-Along Rights
- Dropshipping
- DSO
- E-commerce
- Early-Stage Startup
- Economic Moat
- Economies of Scale
- Efficiency Ratios
- Emerging Market
- Employee Stock Option Pool (ESOP)
- Entrepreneur
- Evergreen Content
- Exercise of Stock Options
- Fiduciary
- Financial Due Diligence
- Financial Instrument
- Financial Intermediary
- Financial Leverage
- FinTech
- Firmware
- Fiscal Deficit
- Fiscal Policy
- Fixed Costs
- Flat Rate
- Floating Interest Rate
- Foreign Exchange (Forex)
- Forward Contract
- Founder Vesting Schedule
- Franchise
- Free Cash Flow (FCF)
- Freemium
- Full-Stack Developer
- Futures Contract
- Gig Economy
- Gilt Funds
- Gini Coefficient
- Glass Cliff
- Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy
- Government Securities (G-Sec)
- Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
- Gross Margin
- Gross Merchandise Value (GMV)
- Growth Hacking
- Growth Stage
- Health Savings Account (HSA)
- HealthTech
- Hedge
- Human Capital
- Index Fund
- Inflation
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
- Initial Coin Offering (ICO)
- InsurTech
- Joint Venture
- Kaizen
- Laissez-faire
- Lead-to-Customer Conversion Rate
- Lean Startup
- Legal Due Diligence
- Leverage Ratios
- Libor (London Interbank Offered Rate)
- Liquidity Ratios
- Logo Retention vs Net Dollar Retention
- Loss Leader
- LTV:CAC Ratio
- Machine Learning (ML)
- Macroeconomics
- Manufacturing
- Margin Call
- Market Leader
- Market Opportunity
- Market Segmentation
- Market Validation
- Marketing Originated Customer %
- Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)
- Microeconomics
- Middle of Funnel (MOFU)
- Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
- Monetary Policy
- Money Market
- Monopoly
- Monthly Active Users (MAU)
- Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)
- Mortgage
- Mutual Fund
- Naked Option
- Natural Language Processing (NLP)
- Net Asset Value (NAV)
- Net Burn vs Gross Burn
- Net Dollar Retention (NDR)
- Network Effect
- Network Effects
- Nifty 50
- No-Shop Clause
- Non-Cash Expense
- Notional Value
- Omnichannel
- Open-Ended Fund
- Operating Leverage
- Opportunity Cost
- Option Pool Shuffle
- Outsourcing
- Over-the-Counter (OTC)
- Parity
- Pay-to-Play Provision
- Payment Gateway (PG)
- Perpetuity
- Pipeline Coverage
- Pivot
- Platform as a Service (PaaS)
- Portfolio
- Premium
- Price-to-Sales (P/S) Ratio
- Principal
- Pro Rata Rights
- Product-Led Growth (PLG)
- Product-Market Fit
- Profitability Ratios
- Proof of Concept (PoC)
- Protective Provisions
- Quantitative Easing (QE)
- Quota Attainment
- R&D (Research and Development)
- Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT)
- Recession
- Return on Equity (ROE)
- Right of First Refusal (ROFR)
- Robo-advisor
- Rule of 40
- Runway
- Runway Calculation
- S&M (Sales & Marketing)
- SaaS Magic Number
- SaaS Quick Ratio
- Sales Cycle Length
- Sales Funnel
- Sales Funnel Stages
- Sales Pipeline
- Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)
- Sales Velocity
- Sales-Led Growth (SLG)
- Scalability
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Secondary Sale
- Seed Funding
- Sensex
- Short Selling
- Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME)
- Smart Contract
- SMB (Small and Medium-sized Business)
- Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)
- Spread
- Startup
- Startup India
- Stock Exchange
- Sunk Cost
- Supply Chain Management (SCM)
- Switching Costs
- SWOT Analysis
- Systematic Investment Plan (SIP)
- Tag-Along Rights
- Take Rate
- Target Market
- Tax Haven
- Terminal Value in DCF
- Three Financial Statements
- Top of Funnel (TOFU)
- Top-Down vs Bottom-Up Forecasting
- Treasury Bill (T-Bill)
- Turnkey Solution
- Unicorn
- Unit Economics
- User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
- User Experience (UX)
- User Interface (UI)
- Utility Token
- Value Investing
- Value Proposition
- Variable Costs vs Fixed Costs
- Vertical Integration
- Vesting Cliff
- Viral Coefficient (K-factor)
- Volatility
- Waterfall Model
- White Paper
- Whitelist
- Wholesale Banking
- Wireframe
- Working Capital
- Working Capital Cycle
- Yield
- Yield Curve
- Yield to Maturity (YTM)
Accounting & Bookkeeping
- Accelerated Depreciation
- Accountant
- Accounting
- Accounting Cycle
- Accounting Equation
- Accounting Period
- Accounting Standard (AS)
- Accounts Payable (AP)
- Accounts Receivable (AR)
- Accrual Basis Accounting
- Accrued Expense
- Accrued Interest
- Accrued Revenue
- Accumulated Depreciation
- Amortization
- Assets
- Audit
- Auditor's Report
- Bad Debt
- Balance Sheet
- Bank Reconciliation
- Bill of Lading
- Bill of Materials (BOM)
- Book Profit vs. Taxable Profit
- Book Value
- Bookkeeping
- Capital Expenditure (CapEx)
- Capital Lease
- Cash Basis Accounting
- Cash Flow Statement
- Chart of Accounts (COA)
- Closing Balance
- Commission
- Contingent Liability
- Contra Account
- Cost Accounting
- Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)
- Credit Note
- Current Assets
- Current Liabilities
- Debit Note
- Deferred Revenue
- Depletion
- Disbursement
- Double-Entry Bookkeeping
- Earmarking
- EdTech Content Amortization
- Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
- Expense
- FIFO (First-In, First-Out)
- Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)
- Financial Statement
- Financial Year (FY)
- FinTech Nodal Account Reconciliation
- Fixed Asset
- Forensic Accounting
- GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles)
- General Ledger (GL)
- Going Concern
- Goodwill
- Grace Period
- Gross Profit
- Gross Revenue
- Impairment
- Income Statement
- Ind AS (Indian Accounting Standards)
- Intangible Asset
- Internal Controls
- Inventory
- Invoice
- Job Costing
- Journal Entry
- Landed Cost
- Last-In, First-Out (LIFO)
- Leasehold
- Ledger
- Liabilities
- Lien
- Liquid Assets
- Manufacturing COGS Calculation
- Marketplace Reconciliation
- Markup
- Negotiable Instrument
- Net Income
- Net Profit
- Net Worth
- Non-Performing Asset (NPA)
- Off-Balance-Sheet (OBS) Financing
- Operating Expense (OpEx)
- Operating Income
- Operating Lease
- Overhead
- P&L Statement
- Petty Cash
- Prepaid Expense
- Provision
- Quotation
- Reconciliation
- Retained Earnings
- Revenue
- Revenue from Operations
- Revenue Recognition
- Royalty
- Sale and Leaseback
- Salvage Value
- Sinking Fund
- SKU (Stock Keeping Unit)
- Standard Costing
- Statutory Audit
- Straight-Line Depreciation
- Tangible Asset
- Top Line
- Trade Credit
- Trial Balance
- Turnover
- Unrealized Gain/Loss
- Variable Cost
- Write-down
- Write-off
Virtual CFO & Financial Management
- Accounts Receivable Turnover Ratio
- Acid-Test Ratio (Quick Ratio)
- Asset Management
- Asset Turnover Ratio
- Average Order Value (AOV)
- Benchmarking
- Breakeven Point
- Budgeting
- Burn Rate for Seed Startups
- Capital Budgeting
- Cash Flow
- Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)
- Conversion Rate
- Cost-Plus Pricing
- Current Ratio
- D2C Contribution Margin Analysis
- Debt-to-Equity Ratio
- Dividend Yield
- DuPont Analysis
- Earnings Per Share (EPS)
- EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes)
- EBITDA
- Expansion Revenue
- Financial Planner
- Fixed Asset Turnover Ratio
- Forecasting
- HealthTech Regulatory Costs
- Hockey Stick Growth
- Importance of clean MIS for Series B
- Interest Coverage Ratio
- Inventory Turnover
- Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
- Key-Person Insurance
- Leverage
- Liquidity
- Management Information System (MIS)
- MIS Report
- Net Promoter Score (NPS)
- Net Working Capital
- Operating Cash Flow (OCF)
- Operating Cycle
- Operating Margin
- Price Elasticity of Demand
- Profit Margin
- RACI Matrix
- Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
- Return on Assets (ROA)
- Return on Capital Employed (ROCE)
- Return on Investment (ROI)
- Risk Management
- Rolling Forecast
- Run Rate
- Solvency
- Total Addressable Market (TAM)
- Traction
- Unit Economics for Seed Startups
- Vanity Metric
- Virtual CFO (vCFO)
- Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC)
- Zero-Based Budgeting
Fundraising & Valuation
- Acquisition
- Angel Investor
- Anti-Dilution Provision
- Bond
- Bootstrapping
- Bridge Loan
- Buyback
- Call Option
- Cap Table Complexity for Series A
- Capitalization Table (Cap Table)
- Carried Interest for VC funds
- Collateral
- Commercial Paper (CP)
- Common Stock
- Convertible Bond
- Convertible Note
- Covenant
- Credit Rating
- Crowdfunding
- Data Room
- Debenture
- Debt Financing
- Dematerialization (Demat)
- Dilution
- Discount Rate
- Discounted Cash Flow (DCF)
- Divestment
- Dividend
- Down Round
- Due Diligence
- Due Diligence Readiness for Seed Stage
- Elevator Pitch
- Enterprise Value (EV)
- Equity
- Equity Carve-out
- Equity Financing
- Escrow
- Exit Strategy
- Face Value (Par Value)
- Factoring
- Fair Market Value (FMV)
- Financial Model
- Financial Modeling for Pre-Seed Startups
- Fund of Funds
- Fundraising
- General Partner (GP)
- Greenshoe Option
- Guarantor
- Hedge Fund
- High-Yield Bond (Junk Bond)
- Hurdle Rate
- Hurdle Rate in VC funds
- In-the-Money (ITM)
- Incubator
- Indemnification clause in SHA
- Initial Public Offering (IPO)
- Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
- Invoice Discounting
- Junk Bond
- Lead Investor
- Letter of Credit (LC)
- Letter of Intent (LOI)
- Limited Partner (LP)
- Line of Credit (LOC)
- Liquidation Preference
- Listing
- Loan-to-Value (LTV) Ratio
- Lock-in Period
- Management Buyout (MBO)
- Market Capitalization (Market Cap)
- Maturity Date
- Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
- Mezzanine Financing
- Net Present Value (NPV)
- Nominee Director
- Out-of-the-Money (OTM)
- Paid-in Capital
- Participating Preferred Stock
- PE Ratio (Price-to-Earnings Ratio)
- Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Lending
- Personal Guarantee
- Pitch Deck
- Post-money Valuation
- Pre-money Valuation
- Preferred Stock
- Present Value (PV)
- Private Equity (PE)
- Pro-forma
- Promissory Note
- Prospectus
- Put Option
- Qualified Institutional Buyer (QIB)
- Recapitalization
- Representations and Warranties
- Reverse Merger
- Revolving Line of Credit
- Roadshow
- SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity)
- Secured Loan
- Securities
- Securitization
- Seed Round
- Spin-off
- Stock Split
- Subscription Agreement
- Syndicate
- Term Loan
- Term Sheet
- Underwriter
- Unsecured Loan
- Up Round
- Valuation
- Valuation Cap
- Venture Capital (VC)
- Venture Capitalist
- Venture Debt
- Warrants
- Workout
- Zero-Coupon Bond
Income Tax & Direct Tax
- Active Income
- Advance Pricing Agreement (APA)
- Advance Tax
- Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)
- Angel Tax
- Assessee
- Assessment Year (AY)
- Capital Asset
- Capital Gains Tax
- Cess
- Clubbing of Income
- Deduction (Income Tax)
- Deferred Tax
- Direct Tax
- Direct Tax Code (DTC)
- DTAA with Singapore
- DTAA with USA
- Due date for payment of Advance Tax
- Effective Tax Rate
- Equalisation Levy
- Equalisation Levy on Digital Advertising
- Form 26AS
- Form 3CEB
- Holding Period
- Income Tax
- Income Tax Return (ITR)
- Long-Term Capital Gains (LTCG)
- MAT Credit
- Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT)
- Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) for Startups
- New Market Tax Credit (NMTC)
- PAN (Permanent Account Number)
- Passive Income
- Section 115BAA
- Section 44ADA of Income Tax Act
- Section 80-IAC Tax Holiday for Startups
- Section 80C
- Short-Term Capital Gains (STCG)
- Slab Rate
- Tax Audit
- Tax Audit Applicability for Series A Startups
- Tax Audit under Section 44AB
- Tax Avoidance
- Tax Brackets
- Tax Exemption
- Tax Rebate
- Tax Shelter
- Taxation of Dividends in hands of Shareholders
- Transfer Pricing for Startups
- W-8 BEN Form
GST & Indirect Tax
- Ad Valorem Tax
- CGST (Central Goods and Services Tax)
- Composition Scheme
- Customs Duty
- Due date for filing GSTR-8 by e-commerce operators
- Due date for filing GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C
- Due date for payment of GST under Reverse Charge Mechanism
- E-invoicing
- E-way Bill
- Export
- Filing Letter of Undertaking (LUT) for Exports
- Goods and Services Tax (GST)
- GST for Multi-State Operations
- GST on E-commerce Operator services
- GST on game development services
- GST on services provided to foreign clients
- GST on Subscription Model
- GST Threshold for Early-Stage Startups
- GST treatment of Bad Debts
- GST treatment of free samples and gifts
- GSTIN (Goods and Services Tax Identification Number)
- GSTR-1
- GSTR-2A/2B
- GSTR-3B
- GSTR-9
- GSTR-9C
- HSN Code (Harmonized System of Nomenclature)
- IGST (Integrated Goods and Services Tax)
- Import
- Indirect Tax
- Input Service Distributor (ISD)
- Input Tax Credit (ITC)
- Job Work
- Outward Supply
- Place of Supply
- Quarterly Return Monthly Payment (QRMP) Scheme
- Reverse Charge Mechanism (RCM)
- Reverse Charge on Import of Services
- SAC Code (Services Accounting Code)
- SGST (State Goods and Services Tax)
- Tariff
- Taxability of Drop-shipping transactions
- UTGST (Union Territory Goods and Services Tax)
- Value Added Tax (VAT)
ESOP & Employee Structuring
- Advisor Shares
- Cliff Vesting
- ESOP (Employee Stock Option Plan)
- ESOP buyback taxation
- ESOP pool replenishment
- ESOP Pool Sizing for Seed Round
- ESOP Taxation in India
- Founder Vesting
- Golden Handshake
- Key Employee
- Non-Compete Clause
- Option Pool
- Phantom Stocks vs. ESOPs
- Stock Appreciation Rights (SARs)
- Stock Option
- Strike Price
- Vesting
- Vesting Schedule
Founder Problems & Penalties
- Angel Tax Notice Handling
- Consequences of a Strike-Off notice from ROC
- Consequences of accepting cash loans above ₹20,000
- Consequences of business closure without surrendering GST registration
- Consequences of incorrect e-invoicing
- Consequences of incorrect Place of Supply in GST
- Consequences of making cash transactions above the prescribed limit
- Consequences of misclassifying employees as independent contractors
- Consequences of mismatch in E-way bill and actual goods transported
- Consequences of not attaching board report to financial statements
- Consequences of not complying with CSR provisions
- Consequences of not complying with Equalisation Levy provisions
- Consequences of not complying with Section 194R (TDS on benefits)
- Consequences of not complying with significant beneficial owner (SBO) rules
- Consequences of not deducting TDS on commission (Section 194H)
- Consequences of not deducting TDS on rent (Section 194-I)
- Consequences of not filing AOC-4 and MGT-7
- Consequences of not filing GSTR-1
- Consequences of not filing Income Tax Return
- Consequences of not having a privacy policy
- Consequences of not having a Shareholders Agreement
- Consequences of not having D&O insurance
- Consequences of not having proper employment contracts
- Consequences of not holding an AGM
- Consequences of not maintaining statutory registers
- Consequences of not maintaining the Minutes Book
- Consequences of not obtaining a No-Objection Certificate for registered office
- Consequences of not passing a Special Resolution for certain actions
- Consequences of not registering under Shops and Establishment Act
- Consequences of not reversing ITC for non-payment to suppliers within 180 days
- Consequences of tax evasion vs. tax avoidance
- Consequences of violating FEMA regulations for FDI
- Consequences of violating Legal Metrology Act for e-commerce packaging
- Consequences of violating lock-in periods for shares
- Consequences of violating payment aggregator/gateway guidelines
- Consequences of violating related party transaction rules
- Consequences of what to do when a co-founder leaves
- Consequences of wrongful claim of Input Tax Credit (ITC)
- Dealing with high customer churn
- Default
- Dispute with a co-founder over equity
- Handling statutory audit qualifications
- How to handle a tax notice for the first time
- Insider Trading
- Interest on late payment of TDS
- Late TDS filing consequences
- Missing GST filing penalty
- Penalty for data breaches under DPDP Act
- Penalty for delayed reporting of foreign investment (FC-GPR)
- Penalty for director disqualification
- Penalty for expiry of E-way bill during transit
- Penalty for failure to spend CSR amount
- Penalty for fraudulent claim of ITC
- Penalty for incorrect details in TDS returns
- Penalty for incorrect valuation for rights issue
- Penalty for infringing on a trademark
- Penalty for late filing of Form PAS-3
- Penalty for late filing of MSME Form 1
- Penalty for late payment of PF/ESI contributions
- Penalty for mismatch in GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B
- Penalty for non-compliance with Factory Act
- Penalty for non-compliance with Form MGT-14
- Penalty for non-compliance with Labour Laws
- Penalty for non-compliance with medical device rules
- Penalty for non-compliance with Secretarial Standards
- Penalty for non-issuance of Form 16/16A
- Penalty for non-payment of Advance Tax
- Penalty for non-payment of Professional Tax
- Penalty for not displaying GSTIN on signboards and invoices
- Penalty for not filing DIR-3 KYC
- Penalty for not filing Form 3CEB
- Penalty for not having a proper refund policy for D2C brands
- Penalty for not having a registered office
- Penalty for not obtaining a DIN
- ROC non-compliance penalties
- Tax Evasion
- What to do when runway is short
ROC, Company Law & FEMA
- Annual General Meeting (AGM)
- Appointment of First Auditor
- Articles of Association (AoA)
- Authorized Share Capital
- Bankruptcy
- Board of Directors
- Companies (Share Capital and Debentures) Rules
- Companies Act, 2013
- Copyright
- Corporate Governance
- Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
- Data Localization for Payment Aggregators
- Digital Signature Certificate (DSC)
- Director Identification Number (DIN)
- Director's KYC (DIR-3 KYC)
- DPIIT Startup Recognition
- Due date for filing DIR-3 KYC
- Due date for filing Form AOC-4 and MGT-7
- Due date for filing Form CSR-2
- Due date for filing Form PAS-3 (Return of Allotment)
- Due date for filing patent/trademark renewals
- Encumbrance
- FDI (Foreign Direct Investment)
- FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act)
- FEMA compliance for Foreign Investment
- FEMA Reporting for FDI
- Greenfield Investment
- Holding Company
- Incorporation
- Insolvency
- Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC)
- Intellectual Property (IP)
- Intellectual Property Assignment
- Issued Share Capital
- KYC (Know Your Customer)
- Labor Law
- Limited Liability
- Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)
- Liquidation
- Memorandum of Association (MOA)
- MSME Form 1 Compliance
- Nodal Account
- Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
- One Person Company (OPC)
- Operating Agreement
- Paid-up Capital
- Partnership Deed
- Patent
- Payment Aggregator (PA)
- POSH Act Compliance for Startups
- Power of Attorney (PoA)
- Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI)
- Private Limited Company
- Proxy Voting
- Public Limited Company
- Quorum
- Registrar and Transfer Agent (RTA)
- Registrar of Companies (ROC)
- Regulation D
- Related Party Transaction Compliance
- Right of First Offer (ROFO) vs ROFR
- ROC Compliance for Board Meetings
- SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India)
- Section 8 Company
- Share Certificate
- Shareholders Agreement
- Shell Company
- Sole Proprietorship
- Stamp Duty
- Subsidiary
- Trademark
TDS & Payroll
- Due date for filing quarterly TDS returns
- Due date for payment of Professional Tax
- Due date for PF and ESI payments
- Due date for TDS payment
- Employee Provident Fund (EPF)
- Employees' State Insurance (ESI)
- Ex-gratia Payment
- Form 15G/15H
- Form 16
- Fringe Benefits
- Grossing up of TDS
- House Rent Allowance (HRA)
- How to revise a TDS return
- Lower Deduction Certificate (Form 13)
- Payroll
- Perquisite
- Provident Fund (PF)
- Section 194C - TDS on Contracts
- Section 194J - TDS on Professional Fees
- Section 206AB
- TAN (Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number)
- Tax Deducted at Source (TDS)
- Taxation of SARs
- TDS on Cryptocurrency transactions (VDA)
- TDS on Insurance Commission (Section 194D)
- TDS on online gaming (Section 194BA)
- TDS on Payments to Influencers
- TDS on payments to non-residents (Section 195) deep dive
- TDS on Rent of Plant & Machinery vs Building
- TDS on SaaS Payments
- TDS on Salary vs. TDS on Professional Fees
- TDS on Sale of Immovable Property (Section 194-IA)
- TDS on Work under Section 194C
- Withholding Tax