BUSINESS & LEGAL DEFINITIONS & PHRASES

Action Plan: Steps to take along the yellow brick road
Adoption Rate: Length of time required for a business idea to catch on in major markets
Angel Investor: Usually a generous kind friend or family member who gives you lots of money with few strings attached so you can pursue your dreams
B2B: Business to Business paradigm
B2C: Business to Consumer paradigm
Barrier to Entry: Obstacles that keep you from establishing your goals
Basic Rights: The right to life, shelter, food, health-care, water, and freedom from torture
Bloggerpreneurs: entrepreneurs who have figured out how to turn blogs into profitable ventures
Blogs: web diary-journals where anyone can log on and express themselves.
Bottom Line: (1) The lowest one can go on a financial scale, also cutting to the chase and/or getting to the quick of it in terms of conversation (2) Interested in one thing only – the profit
Business Plan: A blueprint for a new business venture
Categorized Imperative Theory: Designed by the philosopher Emanuel Kant which states that any rule made is only legitimate if it has universal application. In effect, the Golden Rule whereby every person is entitled to Basic Dignity.
CI: competitive intelligence, or rather a euphemism for industrial espionage
Competitive Analysis: defines your position in the marketplace, to vilify competitor
Contact Log: a list of people to contact with relevance to your business
Corporate Justice: When corporate action treats stakeholders equally
Cost-Benefit Analysis: determining the desirability and expected benefit against the relative cost of the product, service or experience
DBA: Doing Business As: (1) busy paperwork for city officials to announce that you are “doing business as” whatever name you pick. (2) Getting first dibs on a company name because you proclaimed it to the public first via obscure newspapers
DRM: Digital Rights Management – a digital watermarking process that protects intellectual property on the internet
Due Diligence: Doing your homework to determine whether or not an intended action is a smart business move
Embezzlement: The lowly act of swindling money through various insidious accounting practices
Energy Management: balancing and conserving one’s energy
Entrepreneur: Lifestyle for someone who identifies opportunities and takes risks to capitalize on it… and just doesn’t know any better
Essential Barrier to Entry: This means there’s a problem from the get-go
Ethical Business Behavior: EBB=(f) (Rk + J + U) (I) (function + Rights per Kant + Justice + Utilitarianism + Inspiration). Barometer question = Does the Corporate Action promote the greatest good?
Ethics: Doing the right thing even when it’s not convenient
Exit Strategy: What you intend to do with the company in the long run, i.e., go public, sell it, merge it, transform it, dissolve it, etc…
Feasibility Analysis: determines whether a project will work or not
Federal Compliance Programs: government induced programs to deputize corporate America to solve their own problems and catch trouble early. See: Sarbanes-Oxley Act
FTC: Federal Trade Commission
Front Bowling Pin Customer: Initial clients with clout who beget other clients with clout
GPS: Global Positioning Satellite
Hypernorm: cross cultural norms for all societies
Industry Map: a list of all the companies that have relevance to yours, grouped by a category
Inspiration: Determining the reason for an action which in turn justifies application of theories
IP: Intellectual property
IPO: Initial Public Offering--when a company offers its shares to the public
“Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them”: A great book and CD on the bias of media by political humorist Al Franken. (Just wanted to say, “Hi, Al, And thanks for making my Los Angeles driving time a happy educational experience!”)
M&A: Mergers & Acquisitions
Market Research: data collected via phone calls, interviews polls, focus groups, publications, etc.
Market: That which there exists a demand for
Mission Statement: The main idea behind the goal of a business plan.
NDA: Non-Disclosure Agreement. Often used in business to give yourself the illusion that you have protected your idea
Needs–Solution Chart: Self-explanatory chart… or someone’s got a hangover
Nimble: fighting corporate culture and reacting quickly
P & L: Profit and Loss Statement, crucial to stay on top of to insure chances for success
PPV: Pay-per-view
Path to Profitability: The yellow brick road that leads to major cash flow
Protection Strategy: a plan for how best to protect your intellectual property including domestic and international patents, copyrights...
Proof of Concept: Prototype of product in tangible form that proves its functionality
Risk Management: Euphemism for how to avoid failure and then how to cope with it when the risk management fails.
ROI: Return on Investment
Secondary Rights: The right to own private property.
Shareholder: Investors affected by the actions of a business
Stakeholder: Anyone affected by the actions of a business
Sticky: A concept that will stick, this is a good thing
Strategic Alliance: A relationship with another business, person or entity that enhances your business
Triple Bottom Line: Interested in 3 things – green as in profit, green as in environment, and green as in social empowerment.
Utilitarianism: when the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few
Value Proposition: Referring to the value of a proposal, intended for business use
Veil of Ignorance: Pretending not to know what you know; hiding behind corporate protection to avoid accountability
Venture Capitalist: (a.k.a. “vc”): A person who gives you even more money than your family member did but with ownership rights attached so they can get rich off of your idea and execution. Good VC’s help guide the process.
Webinars: corporate seminars held over the web at a designated time and date to inform corporate investors and stock analysts on the company’s current performance and overall plans for the growth of the company
Whistle Blowers: Highly courageous individuals with consciousness and guts to do the morally right thing in the face of personal and professional hardship. Modern day heroes.