Entrepreneurship Cheat Sheet

The core ideas of Entrepreneurship distilled into a single, scannable reference — perfect for review or quick lookup.

PiqCue — piqcue.com/entrepreneurship/cheatsheet

Quick Reference

Lean Startup

A methodology for developing businesses and products that emphasizes rapid experimentation, validated learning, and iterative product releases. It aims to shorten product development cycles by adopting a combination of business-hypothesis-driven experimentation and iterative design.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

The simplest version of a product that can be released to test a key business hypothesis with real customers. An MVP contains just enough features to attract early adopters and validate the core value proposition, allowing founders to learn maximum information with minimum effort.

Product-Market Fit

The degree to which a product satisfies a strong market demand. It occurs when a startup finds a good market with a product that can satisfy that market, often evidenced by organic growth, high retention rates, and customers actively recommending the product to others.

Business Model Canvas

A strategic management tool developed by Alexander Osterwalder that provides a visual framework for developing, describing, and analyzing a business model. It consists of nine building blocks covering customers, value proposition, infrastructure, and financial viability on a single page.

Venture Capital

A form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to startups and early-stage companies that show high growth potential. Venture capitalists invest money in exchange for equity and typically expect returns of 10x or more, often within a 7-10 year time horizon.

Bootstrapping

Building and growing a company using only personal finances or operating revenue, without external investment. Bootstrapped founders retain full ownership and control but typically grow more slowly and must be extremely disciplined about spending and prioritization.

Pivot

A structured course correction designed to test a new fundamental hypothesis about the product, strategy, or engine of growth. A pivot preserves the learning and insights gained so far while making a significant change in direction based on validated evidence that the current approach is not working.

Customer Discovery

The first phase of Steve Blank's customer development process, where founders leave the building to test whether their hypothesized customer segment actually has the problem the startup aims to solve. It involves conducting structured interviews and observations to validate or invalidate assumptions.

Unit Economics

The direct revenues and costs associated with a particular business model expressed on a per-unit basis, typically per customer or per transaction. The two fundamental metrics are Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), and a healthy business requires LTV to significantly exceed CAC.

Scaling

The process of growing a business efficiently after achieving product-market fit, involving expanding the customer base, team, operations, and infrastructure while maintaining or improving margins. Successful scaling requires repeatable processes, strong unit economics, and the ability to handle increased demand without proportional increases in cost.

Key Terms at a Glance

Accelerator:A fixed-term, cohort-based program that provides startups with mentorship, education, and often seed funding in exchange for equity (e.g., Y Combinator, Techstars).

Angel Investor:A high-net-worth individual who provides early-stage capital to startups, often in exchange for convertible debt or equity.

Bootstrapping:Building and growing a company using only personal savings or operating revenue, without taking external investment.

Burn Rate:The rate at which a startup spends its available cash reserves before generating positive cash flow from operations.

Business Model Canvas:A strategic tool with nine building blocks for designing, describing, and analyzing a business model on a single page.

Churn Rate:The percentage of customers who discontinue using a product or service within a given time period.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC):The total cost of acquiring a new customer, including all marketing and sales expenses divided by the number of new customers gained.

Customer Discovery:The process of testing business hypotheses about customer problems and needs through direct interviews and observation.

Customer Lifetime Value (LTV):The total revenue a business expects to earn from a single customer account over the duration of the relationship.

Disruptive Innovation:A process by which a smaller company with fewer resources challenges established incumbents by targeting overlooked market segments.

Equity Dilution:The decrease in existing shareholders' ownership percentage that occurs when a company issues new shares during fundraising.

Lean Startup:A methodology for building startups through rapid experimentation, validated learning, and iterative product development.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP):The simplest version of a product that allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning with the least effort.

Pivot:A structured course correction in a startup's strategy based on validated learning, while preserving accumulated knowledge and progress.

Product-Market Fit:The state in which a product satisfies a strong, demonstrated market demand, often considered the most critical startup milestone.

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