Y-Combinator (YC) is a California based startup accelerator launched in March 2005 by Paul Graham, Jessica Livingston, Trevor Blackwell, Robert Tappan Morris.

YC runs two accelerator programmes a year and invests $125K into startups. Past startups included Stripe, Airbnb and Dropbox.

Super Angels are individuals that invest large amounts of money £150K+ into a single startup.

Chris Sacca is a GP at Lowercase Capital and super angel investor in companies such as Uber and Twitter.

YC developed a convertible note called a SAFE (simple agreement for future equity) that provides rights to the investor for future equity in the company.

SAFE notes in the US are similar to ASA’s (Advanced Subscription Agreements) in the UK.

A qualified investor, also referred to as an accredited investor, is an individual or entity that can purchase stock/ shares.

In the US qualified investors must have an annual income of $200,000 or must be verified by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to take on risks associated with investing in startups.

A share or group of shares in a company that gives the owner the right to receive a dividend before dividends are paid to owners of ordinary shares.

When startups receive a round of VC investment, they receive preferred stock which means in the event of a liquidation event, they get paid before angel investors.

A pre-emption right provides existing shareholders (investors) with a contractual right to acquire new shares issued in a funding round and maintain their ownership stake.

Andy Ayim waived his pre-emption rights to invest in future rounds of Stashbee, the Airbnb for storage.

The value of a company after receiving external funding or the latest round of funding.

If I invest £200K into a startup at a pre-money valuation of £800K then post-money valuation would be £1M.

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) is a performance metric for tracking the predictAble amount of revenue a company received each month.

In 2019, Teachable the online course platform made over $1M in MRR.

The amount of money that is available to pay expenses and debts as they become due.

Startups that are growing fast, sometimes face a liquidity crises and raise money from VC’s to deliver on their growth plans from hiring through to digital marketing.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) refer to a set of quantifiable measurements used to gauge a company’s performance.

Instagram’s KPIs would include DAUs (Daily active users), which looks at how often people come back to use the app.