A minority-shareholder protection affording the right to include their shares in any sale of control and at the offered price.³

Underwriters or broker/dealers who sell a security as a group.³

A note or loan which can only be paid after other, more senior or higher ranking obligations can be paid, in the event of a liquidation. This type of obligation, also known as “junior debt” is riskier than unsubordinated, debt which has preferential claims on company assets.⁶

• The application submitted by an investor wishing to join a limited partnership. All prospective investors must be approved by the General Partner prior to admission as a partner.³
• An application under which an investor applies to acquire a specific number of shares or units of a company at a specific price, at a later date, assuming the investor can be determined to be qualified under SEC guidelines and the company’s meeting certain conditions. The agreement establishes the terms and conditions under which the investor will be bound if accepted.⁶

Corporate or individual investors that add value to investments they make through industry and personal ties that can assist companies in raising additional capital as well as provide assistance in the marketing and sales process.³

1) The right to purchase or sell a stock at a specified price within a stated period. Options are a popular investment medium, offering an opportunity to hedge positions in other securities, to speculate on stocks with relatively little investment, and to capitalize on changes in the market value of options contracts themselves through a variety of options strategies. 2) A widely used form of employee incentive and compensation. The employee is given an option to purchase its shares at a certain price (at or below the market price at the time the option is granted) for a specified period of years.³

Shares of stock reserved for employees of a company. The option pool is a way of attracting talented employees to a startup company – if the employees help the company do well enough to go public, they will be compensated with stock. Employees who get into the startup early will usually receive a greater percentage of the option pool than employees who arrive later.²

A method of voting for members of the Board of Directors of a corporation. Under this method, a shareholder receives one vote for each share and may cast those votes for each of the directorships. For example: An individual owning 100 shares of stock of a corporation that is electing six directors could cast 100 votes for each of the six candidates. This method tends to favor the larger shareholders.³

A startup is a new business venture / enterprise in its initial or early stages of development. These stages include the concept, seed, early, growth and mezzanine stages.⁶

This is an anti-takeover measure in which the election of the directors is split in separate periods so that only a percentage (e.g., one-third) of the total number of directors come up for election in a given year. It is designed to make taking control of the board of directors more difficult.³