Glossary
A plain-language reference for the terms you’ll see across idea_builder. Definitions are written for founders, not finance or legal professionals — where a term has legal weight (like the Canadian compliance terms at the end), the definition points you to the relevant policy.
The seven research phases
Trend Discovery & Market Sizing
Section titled “Trend Discovery & Market Sizing”The first research phase. It looks for rising trends across sources like Google Trends, Hacker News, Product Hunt, and SEO signals, then estimates how big the opportunity is using TAM/SAM/SOM.
Audience & Community Research
Section titled “Audience & Community Research”The second research phase. It maps who your customers are — what communities they live in, what they complain about, and what they say about existing solutions — using audience panels, surveys, and customer-discovery interviews.
Customer Interviews & Validation
Section titled “Customer Interviews & Validation”The third research phase. It tests real demand using surveys, fake-door tests, and landing pages, so you learn whether people would actually buy before you build.
Competitor Analysis
Section titled “Competitor Analysis”The fourth research phase. It maps the competitive landscape: who the players are, what they charge, where they’re weak, what keywords they target, and where the white space is for positioning.
MVP Testing & Planning
Section titled “MVP Testing & Planning”The fifth research phase. It turns research into a plan: business model canvases, a minimum viable product scope, and a pitch deck you can iterate on.
IP & Brand
Section titled “IP & Brand”The sixth research phase. It checks your idea against existing patents and trademarks (including freedom to operate) and builds your brand identity — name, logo, colors, and typography.
Founder’s Operating System
Section titled “Founder’s Operating System”The seventh research phase. The financial and equity toolkit: unit economics, runway, valuation, cap tables, equity splits, and exit scenarios.
Product-market fit
PMF (Product-Market Fit)
Section titled “PMF (Product-Market Fit)”The degree to which a product satisfies strong market demand. idea_builder computes a PMF score from six weighted dimensions and categorizes it (no, weak, moderate, or strong fit) so you can see at a glance where your idea stands.
Must-Have
Section titled “Must-Have”A PMF dimension measuring how many survey respondents say your product is a “must-have” — how essential it is to their life or work. It carries the largest weight in the score.
Disappointment if Removed
Section titled “Disappointment if Removed”A PMF dimension measuring how disappointed customers would be if the product disappeared. High disappointment means the product has become part of their routine.
Willingness to Pay
Section titled “Willingness to Pay”A PMF dimension measuring whether people would actually pay for the product — and roughly how much. It separates “nice to have” from “worth paying for.”
Referral Likelihood
Section titled “Referral Likelihood”A PMF dimension measuring how likely customers are to recommend the product to others. Word of mouth is the cheapest growth channel a founder has.
Market Size
Section titled “Market Size”A PMF dimension scoring the size of the addressable opportunity. A great product in a tiny market still has a ceiling.
Competitive Moat
Section titled “Competitive Moat”A PMF dimension scoring how defensible the idea is against competitors — how hard it would be for someone else to copy what you’re building.
Market sizing
TAM (Total Addressable Market)
Section titled “TAM (Total Addressable Market)”The total revenue opportunity if every possible customer in the entire market bought your product. It’s the theoretical ceiling.
SAM (Serviceable Addressable Market)
Section titled “SAM (Serviceable Addressable Market)”The slice of the TAM your product can realistically serve, given its geography, business model, and target segment.
SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market)
Section titled “SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market)”The share of the SAM you can actually capture in the near term — the realistic number your revenue plan should be built on.
Prioritization scoring
A prioritization score: Impact × Confidence × Ease. Rate each factor out of 10 and multiply to rank which ideas or features to work on first. Popularized by Sean Ellis / GrowthHackers.
A prioritization score: Reach × Impact × Confidence ÷ Effort. Unlike ICE, it accounts for how many people each initiative reaches and how much effort it takes. Popularized by Intercom.
A prioritization score: Potential × Importance × Ease. Used to rank opportunities by their upside, how important they are to the audience, and how easy they are to pursue. Popularized by Moz.
IP & legal checks
FTO (Freedom to Operate)
Section titled “FTO (Freedom to Operate)”Whether you can commercialize your idea without infringing someone else’s patents. idea_builder’s FTO screening flags relevant patents and gives an AI assessment — informational, not legal advice.
Financial terms
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)
Section titled “CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)”The total cost of acquiring one new customer — marketing, sales, and related expenses divided by new customers gained.
LTV (Lifetime Value)
Section titled “LTV (Lifetime Value)”The total revenue a customer generates over their entire relationship with your product. Healthy businesses aim for LTV comfortably above CAC.
Payback Period
Section titled “Payback Period”How long it takes for the profit from a customer to repay what you spent acquiring them. Shorter payback means your cash comes back faster.
Burn Rate
Section titled “Burn Rate”How much money your startup spends per month beyond what it earns. It tells you how fast you’re consuming your cash.
Runway
Section titled “Runway”How many months your startup can keep operating at the current burn rate before the money runs out — cash on hand divided by monthly burn.
Cap Table
Section titled “Cap Table”The list of who owns what in a company: every shareholder, their ownership percentage, and their share class. It’s the source of truth for equity.
Equity
Section titled “Equity”Ownership in a company. Founders, employees, and investors hold equity in exchange for their contributions and capital.
Vesting
Section titled “Vesting”The schedule over which equity is earned. Shares typically vest gradually over time (commonly four years with a one-year cliff), so someone who leaves early keeps only what they’ve earned.
Dilution
Section titled “Dilution”The reduction in an existing shareholder’s ownership percentage when new shares are issued (for example, in a funding round). Everyone’s slice gets smaller relative to the pie.
Valuation
Section titled “Valuation”What a company is worth — set by negotiation with investors in a funding round (or by financial models pre-revenue). It determines what a given percentage of equity is worth.
IRR (Internal Rate of Return)
Section titled “IRR (Internal Rate of Return)”The annualized return an investment is projected to earn, accounting for the timing of cash flows. Investors use it to judge whether a startup is worth backing.
MOIC (Multiple on Invested Capital)
Section titled “MOIC (Multiple on Invested Capital)”How many times an investor’s money came back: total returns divided by what they put in. 2x means they doubled their money.
Validation terms
NPS (Net Promoter Score)
Section titled “NPS (Net Promoter Score)”A customer-loyalty metric from one question: “How likely are you to recommend us?” (0–10). Promoters minus detractors gives a score from −100 to +100.
JTBD (Jobs-to-be-Done)
Section titled “JTBD (Jobs-to-be-Done)”The lens that treats customers as “hiring” a product to get a job done. Understanding the job — not the demographic — drives better positioning and messaging.
Fake-Door Test
Section titled “Fake-Door Test”A test that puts a “door” (a landing page or ad with a buy/signup button) in front of people for a product that doesn’t exist yet. If they click, you have demand evidence without building anything.
A/B Landing Page
Section titled “A/B Landing Page”Two (or more) versions of a landing page shown to different visitors to see which converts better. It’s how you test messaging and positioning with real data.
Waitlist
Section titled “Waitlist”A list of people who want access before it’s available. When signup is closed, joining the waitlist holds your place and you’re invited by email when there’s room.
Security & privacy
MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication)
Section titled “MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication)”Requiring two or more proofs of identity to sign in — typically your password plus a code from an authenticator app, email, or SMS. Back up your backup codes.
Biometric Voice Login
Section titled “Biometric Voice Login”Signing in with your voice. idea_builder creates a voiceprint from a short enrollment phrase and matches it at login. You can enroll or revoke at any time.
Usage Ledger
Section titled “Usage Ledger”idea_builder’s internal record of how much AI processing your account consumes (tokens, voice minutes, and similar) so plans can meter usage against their allowances.
Canadian compliance terms
CASL (Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation)
Section titled “CASL (Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation)”Canada’s law regulating commercial electronic messages (like marketing emails). It requires consent and a working unsubscribe mechanism. idea_builder captures consent and honors unsubscribes — see the Privacy Policy for details.
PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act)
Section titled “PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act)”Canada’s federal privacy law governing how personal information is collected, used, and disclosed. It includes obligations like meaningful consent and breach reporting.
Notice-and-Notice
Section titled “Notice-and-Notice”Canada’s copyright regime where a rights holder who finds infringing content sends a notice, which is forwarded to the alleged uploader, who is notified before any takedown action. See the Terms of Service for idea_builder’s process.