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Entrepreneurship & Startups vocabulary · Startup Ecosystem

Early-stage

Meaning in entrepreneurship & startups, with examples

/ˈɜːrli steɪdʒ/adjectiveCore term

In entrepreneurship & startups, early-stage means: Describes a startup in its first phase, before strong revenue or product-market fit, or an investor who puts money into companies at this phase.

In Turkish: erken aşama, erken evre

How it is used

Used before a noun with a hyphen: early-stage startup, early-stage investor, early-stage funding. Without a following noun it is two words: the company is at an early stage. The opposite is late-stage or growth-stage. Pre-seed and seed rounds are usually considered early-stage.

Example sentences

  1. The fund only invests in early-stage startups in health and education.

  2. Early-stage investors bet mostly on the team, because there is little data yet.

Common collocations

  • early-stage startup
  • early-stage investor
  • early-stage funding
  • late-stage
  • growth-stage
  • seed roundOne of the first official funding rounds of a startup, used to build the product, hire the first team and look for product-market fit.
  • angel investorA wealthy individual who invests their own money in very young startups, usually in exchange for equity, and often gives advice and contacts as well.
  • startupA young company that aims to grow very fast by solving a problem with a new product or business model, often before it has found a way to make a profit.
  • Series AThe first major venture capital round after seed funding, raised when a startup has real traction and needs money to grow a model that already works.

More terms: Startup Ecosystem

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