Do you speak startup? An easy-going glossary to manage the business world

A brief glossary of the essential jargon and acronyms that you need to understand to navigate and converse within the Dutch startup environment.

Are you a young Dutchy who is taking the first steps into the world of business? Or are you a foreign startupper who just found out about the insane passion of Dutch people for acronyms? Do not panic, we’re here to help you out! Here is a brief glossary of the essential jargon and acronyms that you need to understand to navigate and converse within the Dutch startup environment.

Angel

In the world of startups, an Angel is not a holy person in the religious sense, but a private investor who provides funding to emerging businesses in exchange for a stake in the company. Also known as a “seed investor,” an Angel plays a key role during the early stages of a startup when the risks of failure are particularly high.

Accelerator

A startup accelerator is a program that includes a cohort of investors and mentors who aim to help small businesses grow, usually in exchange for business equity.

Bootstrap

This term indicates a company created with little or no external investment. This means that during the initial stages, the startup mainly relies on the savings of the founder entrepreneur(s) and that the startup expands through the revenue accumulated by its business operations.

Incubator

Incubators are very similar to accelerators, but they are specifically focused on startups in their early development stages.

B2B and B2C

These abbreviations are used to classify the types of services that a company offers. B2B stands for “business to business,” which means that the business offers services and/or products to other companies. B2C, instead, stands for “business to consumers,” which means that the company is selling products and/or services directly to the consumers.

Facilitator

The facilitator functions as a business mentor that helps foreign entrepreneurs in settling their business in the Netherlands. In this, he/she is a key figure for getting your Dutch Startup Visa. You can find more information about the role of the facilitator by following this link.