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Entrepreneurship & Startups vocabulary · Pivots, Failure & Exits

Exit

Meaning in entrepreneurship & startups, with examples

/ˈeksɪt/nounCore term

In entrepreneurship & startups, exit means: The way founders and investors turn their shares into cash, usually when the company is sold to another company or lists its shares on a stock exchange.

In Turkish: çıkış, exit, ortaklıktan çıkış

How it is used

Venture capital funds need exits to return money to their own investors. People talk about an exit strategy, a successful exit and exit value. The two main routes are an acquisition and an IPO; selling shares to another investor in a secondary sale is another option.

Example sentences

  1. Investors asked about our exit strategy: who might buy a company like ours?

  2. After the exit, both founders started new companies.

Common collocations

  • exit strategy
  • successful exit
  • exit value
  • have an exit
  • exit opportunity
  • acquisitionThe purchase of one company by another, through buying most or all of its shares or its business. It is the most common exit for startups.
  • IPOInitial public offering: the first time a private company sells its shares to the public and lists them on a stock exchange.
  • venture capitalMoney that professional funds invest in young, fast-growing companies in exchange for equity, accepting high risk in the hope that a few big winners pay for the losses.
  • liquidation preferenceA term that gives investors the right to get their money back, or a multiple of it, before other shareholders when the company is sold or closed.

More terms: Pivots, Failure & Exits

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