Although I have more than 25 years of experience working with business, entrepreneurial and technical personnel, I continue to experience unfamiliar acronyms. As a result, I decided to create a quick reference list summarizing acronyms utilized in the startup and entrepreneurial community.
Merriam Webster defines an acronym as “a word (such as NATO, radar or laser) formed from the initial letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term.”
The following list is in alphabetical order by acronym. I hope it will be of value to you in your business and entrepreneurial endeavors.
Entrepreneur Acronyms
- ACA – Angel Capital Association
- ACCT – Account
- ACRS – Accelerated Cost Recovery System
- ADR – American Depositary Receipt
- AMT – Alternative Minimum Tax
- AP – Accounts Payable
- API – Application Programming Interface
- AR – Accounts Receivable
- ARC – African Regional Conference
- ARC – Appalachian Regional Council
- ARR – Annual Recurring Revenue
- ARR – Annual Run Rate
- ASP – Application Service Provider
- ATDC – Advanced Technology Development Center
- AUM – Assets Under Management
- B2B – Business to Business
- B2C – Business to Consumer
- BDC – Business Development Company
- BHAG – Big Hairy Audacious Goal
- BOD – Board of Directors
- BR – Bounce Rate
- BS – Balance Sheet
- CAC – Customer Acquisition Cost
- CAGR – Compound Annual Growth Rate
- CAPEX – Capital Expenditures
- CAO – Chief Analytics Officer
- CEO – Chief Executive Officer
- CfIRA – Crowdfunding Intermediary Regulatory Advocates
- CFO – Chief Financial Officer
- CFP – Certified Financial Planner
- CfPA – Crowdfunding Professional Association
- CIO – Chief Information Officer
- CLTV – Customer Lifetime Value
- CMO – Chief Marketing Officer
- CMS – Content Management System
- COB – Close of Business
- COGS – Cost of Goods Sold
- COO – Chief Operating Officer
- CPA – Cost per Acquisition
- CPA – Certified Public Accountant
- CPC – Cost per Click
- CPC – Cost per Conversion
- CPL – Cost per Lead
- CPU – Central Processing Unit
- CPU – Cost per Unit
- CR – Conversion Rate
- CR – Credit
- CRM – Customer Relationship Management
- CSO – Chief Security Officer
- CT – Cap Table
- CTA – Call to Action
- CTO – Chief technology Officer
- CTR – Click-through Rate
- D&O Insurance – Directors and Officers Insurance
- DD – Due Diligence
- DNS – Domain Name Server
- DR – Debit
- EBAN – European Business Angels Network
- EBITDA – Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization
- EIN – Employer Identification Number
- EOD – End of Day
- EPS – Earnings per Share
- ERISA – Employee Retirement Income Security Act
- ESOP – Employee Stock Option Plan
- EV – Enterprise Value
- FEIN – Federal Employer Identification Number
- FIFO – First In First Out
- FFF – Friends & Family Round
- FMA – First Mover Advantage
- FTE – Full Time Employee
- FY – Fiscal Year
- GA – Google Analytics
- GAAP – Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
- GEW – Global Entrepreneurship Week
- GMV – Gross Merchandise Value
- GP – General Partner
- HR – Human Relations
- HTML – Hyper-text Markup Language
- IM – Instant Messaging
- IPO – Initial Public Offering
- IRA – Individual Retirement Account
- IRR – Internal Rate of Return
- IP Address – Internet Protocol Address
- ISP – Internet Service Provider
- JOBS – Jumpstart our Business Startups Act
- KISS – Keep it Simple Stupid
- KPI – Key Performance Indicator
- LBO – Leveraged Buyout
- LIFI – Last In First Out
- LLC – Limited Liability Company
- LP – Limited Partner
- LTM – Last Twelve Months
- LTV – Lifetime Value
- MBI – Management Buy-in
- MBO – Management Buyout
- MESBIC – Minority Enterprise Small Business Investment Companies
- MF – Management Fee
- MoM – Month over Month
- MRR – Monthly Recurring Revenue
- MSP – Multi-sided Platform
- MVP – Minimal Viable Product
- NASD – National Association of Securities Dealers
- NACO – National Angel Capital Association
- NAV – Net Asset Value
- NDA – Non Disclosure Agreement
- NPV – Net Present Value
- NYSE – New York Stock Exchange
- OOO – Out of Office
- OS – Operating System
- OTC – Over the Counter
- PaaS – Platform as a Service
- P&L – Profit and Loss Statement
- PIK – Payments in Kind
- PIPE – Private Investment for Public Equity
- PIV – Pooled Investment Vehicle
- PM – Project Manager
- PMF – Product Market Fit
- POC – Proof of Concept
- PPC – Pay per Click
- PR – Public Relations
- PTE – Part-time Employee
- PTO – Paid Time Off
- PV – Page View
- QA – Quality Assurance
- QPAM – Qualified Professional Asset Manager
- QoQ – Quarter over Quarter
- R&D – Research and Development
- RAM – Random Access Memory
- ROA – Return on Assets
- ROE – Return on Equity
- ROFR – Right of First Refusal
- ROI – Return on Investment
- ROR – Ruby on Rails
- SaaS – Software as a Service
- SAFE – Simple Agreement for Future Equity
- SBA – Small Business Administration
- SBIC – Small Business Investment Company
- SBIR – Small Business Innovation Research Program
- SCCE – Society for Corporate Compliance and Ethics
- SEC – Securities and Exchange Commission
- SEO – Search Engine Optimization
- SEM – Search Engine Marketing
- SHA – Shareholders Agreement
- SM – Servicemark
- SM – Social Media
- SMB – Small to Medium Business
- SMM – Social Media Marketing
- SPAC – Specified Purpose Acquisition Company
- STTR – Small Business Technology Transfer Program
- SWOT – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats Analysis
- TM – Trademark
- TS – Term Sheet
- UI – User Interface
- ULPA – Uniform Limited Partnership Act
- URL – Universal Resource Manager
- USPTO – United States Patent & Trademark office
- UV – Unique Visitor
- UX – User Experience
- VC – Venture Capital / Venture Capitalist
- VPN – Virtual Private Network
- WOM – Word of Mouth
- WoW – Week over Week
- YoY – Year over Year
- YTD – Year to date
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Tony Lettich
Tony Lettich has previous Business Analysis, Business Valuation, M&A, and Venture Capital experience and currently serves as the Managing Director of The Angel Roundtable and a Partner in Sheehan, Lettich M&A Advisory. He is also a co-founder of FundingSage, which provides valuable information, tools and resources to entrepreneurs seeking to launch and build startups.
