BHAG is a term introduced into management practice by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras; it defines pursuing a long-term challenge for 10 to 25 years, while being guided by the core values and purpose of your company.

Break-even point – the volume of production (the size of activity) at which the company makes no profit or loss; its financial result is zero.

Business Angel is a private entrepreneur and/or investor who operates on similar principles as VC funds, but not in an institutionalised form.

Business Model Canvas – a model for creating a new business from scratch. The BMC consists of 9 basic building blocks that fit squarely within the process of creating a company and its subsequent operation.

CEIDG – Central Register and Information on Economic Activity.

The company’s mission/vision is a formalised declaration expressing the management’s ambitions regarding the company future and directions of its development. At the same time, these messages constitute some sort of a promise and describe the norms and values that the company adheres to.

Competitive profile method is a simple illustrative technique that involves qualitative evaluation of the main attributes of a competitor.

Corporate bonds are a type of debt security, i.e. an official document stating the real debt of the issuer.

Cost leadership strategy consists in achieving a privileged cost position in relation to competitors and attracting customers with a lower product price.

Crowdfunding is an external form of financing, which consists in collecting money through an Internet portal where the creators can apply for support from the community.

Debt/borrowed capital is the capital that remains at the enterprise’s disposal for a pre-defined period, after which it must be repaid.

Differentiation strategy, also known as the diversification strategy or quality leadership strategy, consists in equipping products with some unique features that the customers perceive as exceptional and original.

Entrepreneurship is a human activity consisting in systemic work on the development, establishment and maintenance of one’s own enterprise.

Equity consists of funds contributed by the entrepreneur/investor.

Fixed costs include those items of expenditure that are not correlated with the current level of production – they remain unchanged and independent of the size of your activity.

Focus strategy assumes conscious and deliberate narrowing the size of activity to a specific market segment and thus avoiding confrontation with strong competitors from the entire sector.

Hybrid (integrated) strategy – a strategy that combines the features of the cost leadership, differentiation and focus strategy.

KRS – National Court Register.

Perceptual map is a market analysis technique that allows you to illustrate the balance of forces in a specific market. This relatively simple analytical tool consists in positioning (specifying the location) of the companies in question on a given market in relation to selected criteria. The positioning is to identify those market areas/segments that are already occupied and those that may still be exploited, thus being the basis for a competitive strategy.

Porter’s model, also known as the model of 5 competitive forces, is a competitor analysis technique based on the assumption that in the business practice we deal with three dimensions of competition and two dimensions of bargaining power.

Shares are the most common instrument for external financing of equity, which contributes to an increase in the value of equity.

Start-up is a temporary organisation, at the early stage of its life cycle, created to seek a repeatable and scalable business model. Scalability means a relatively proportional increase in market share, and thus a multiplication of the invested capital.

SWOT analysis is an element of strategic analysis that allows you to identify strengths and weaknesses, as well as opportunities and threats for your planned undertaking.

Variable costs include those items of expenditure which are directly related to the production volume – they are mainly the costs of raw and other materials, as well as personnel costs (labour costs).

Venture Capital (VC) is a form of equity financing involving the acquisition of an external investor who/which takes hold of part of the entity’s shares.