Raise Millions by Hustle Fund VC Page 147 SAFEs: SAFE stands for “simple agreement for future equity.” A SAFE isn’t equity you sell to your investors, rather it’s the promise of equity in the future. Think of SAFEs almost like an IOU – you’re not issuing any equity yet… but once you have an equity financing round, an acquisition, or an IPO, that SAFE will get converted into equity. Seed: The seed stage is where you're validating the market demand for your product and making solid traction. Series A: The Series A stage is when you’ve found product-market fit and can scale your business. You have strong evidence that you can capture a decent share of the huge market. You’ve shown that you can recruit A-players and have a solid team that can execute your vision. Side letter: A side letter is a document outside of the SAFE / convertible note that outlines additional rights. Startup valuation: A startup valuation is the financial value of a startup’s equity at a given point in time. Unit economics: the cost of acquiring and onboarding a customer compared to how much money you make from that customer. Vesting: Founders and employees earn shares by working for the startup, but their shares vest across 4 years. This means they don’t get all the shares upfront when they start/join the company. They have to work at the company for 4 years to get all of them. Vesting hustlefund.vc / @hustlefundvc