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Glossary

Short for Private Equity.

A persona is a fictional character created to represent a user type that might use a site, brand, or product in a similar way.

A Proof of Concept is a realization of a certain method or idea in order to demonstrate its feasibility, or a demonstration in principle with the aim of verifying that some concept or theory has practical potential. A proof of concept is usually small and may or may not be complete.

The valuation of a company including the most recent round of financing raised. If a company raised £500,000 at a pre-money valuation of £4.5m, the post-money valuation includes the funds raised, which would make it £5m. Post-money valuation is used to determine equity ownership %.

The valuation that a company raises funds at, excluding the value of the funds they are seeking in their current round. This is the valuation founders will tell investors, i.e. "We are raising £500,000 at a pre-money valuation of £4.5m". Pre-money valuation is often shortened to just "pre", i.e. "We are raising £500,000 at a £4.5m pre". When the £500k is raised, it is added to the pre-money valuation of £4.5m to create the post-money valuation.

Where a start-up is not generating any revenue. They may have no customers and still be developing their MVP, or they could have a launched product but are more interested in onboarding customers using it to learn from their feedback, as opposed to charging for it.

Follows the Friends & Family round, this round is the first time external investors are brought in. Some form of prototype or MVP is expected (but this can vary by sector). Typically angel investors make up most of this round, but SEIS/EIS funds and some very early-stage VC funds. Round sizes can vary, but generally this round seeks to raise £150-500k.

Private Equity (PE) as a general term refers to shares that aren't listed on a public exchange. PE funds are institutions that specialise in making large investments in late-stage companies.

A Product Manager is a professional responsible for the development of products for an organisation. Product Managers own the business strategy behind a product, specify its functional requirements, and generally manage the launch of features.

Find out more about Product Managers here.

Production environment is a term used mostly by Developers to describe the setting where software and other products are actually put into operation for their intended uses by end users. In short, any updates to the software are made available to the end user. See "staging environment" for the step before production.

A prototype is an early sample, model or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and software programming. A prototype is generally used to evaluate a new product or feature with an end user to gather feedback and insight to inform your next move.

Read more about prototypes here.