Reference
Startup ecosystem glossary
Plain-English definitions of the terms founders meet across accelerators, funding and the Florida ecosystem.
- Accelerator
- A fixed-term, cohort-based program that helps startups grow quickly through mentorship, resources and often a small investment in exchange for equity.
- Angel investor
- An individual who invests their own money into early-stage startups, usually at the pre-seed or seed stage.
- Cap table
- The capitalization table — a record of who owns what in a company, including founders, investors and option holders.
- Dilution
- The reduction in existing owners' percentage stake when a company issues new shares, typically when raising capital.
- Dual-use
- Technology that serves both commercial and defense or national-security markets — one of the four Ambition Accelerated sectors.
- Incubator
- An organization that supports very early founders over a longer horizon with workspace, coaching and community, usually without a fixed cohort schedule.
- Non-dilutive funding
- Capital that does not require giving up equity, such as grants (e.g. SBIR/STTR) or certain awards.
- Pre-seed
- The earliest institutional funding stage, typically used to build a product and find initial traction before a seed round.
- Runway
- How long a startup can operate before it runs out of cash, given its current spending rate.
- SAFE
- A Simple Agreement for Future Equity — a common instrument for raising early money that converts to equity in a later priced round.
- Seed
- An early funding round to prove a product in market and build a team, usually after pre-seed and before Series A.
- Series A
- A company's first significant priced venture round, typically to scale a validated product and go-to-market motion.
- Tech transfer
- The process by which a university licenses or spins out research into commercial companies, run by a technology-transfer or commercialization office.
- Venture capital
- Institutional funds that invest equity into high-growth startups in exchange for ownership, expecting large returns from a portfolio.