Agenda — A list of items to be discussed at a meeting, in order. "Please review the agenda before Thursday's meeting." Also used figuratively: "What's your hidden agenda?" (unstated motive).

Stakeholder — Any person or group with an interest in an organization's decisions or activities — employees, shareholders, customers, suppliers, community. "We need to consider all stakeholders before launching."

KPI (Key Performance Indicator) — A measurable value used to evaluate how effectively an individual or organization achieves key objectives. "Our main KPI is monthly recurring revenue (MRR)."

ROI (Return on Investment) — A measure of the profit gained relative to the cost of an investment. ROI = (Net Profit / Cost of Investment) × 100%. "This campaign delivered an ROI of 300%."

Deliverable — A specific, tangible output or result that must be produced as part of a project. "The key deliverables for this project are a report, a prototype, and a final presentation."

Synergy — The combined effect of two or more things working together that is greater than the sum of their individual effects. Often used in mergers. "The merger created significant synergy between the two sales teams."

Bottom line — (1) The final line of a financial statement showing net profit or loss. (2) Figuratively: the most important point. "The bottom line is that we need to cut costs by 15%."

Benchmark — A standard point of reference used for comparison and evaluation. "We use our competitor's prices as a benchmark for our own pricing strategy."

Due diligence — The process of thoroughly investigating a company, investment, or deal before signing an agreement. "Before the acquisition, we conducted extensive due diligence on the target company."

Leverage — (1) Using borrowed capital to increase potential return. (2) Using an advantage to influence a situation. "We can leverage our existing customer base to promote the new product."

Scalable — Capable of growing or expanding efficiently without requiring proportional increases in cost or resources. "The platform is fully scalable — it can handle 10 users or 10 million."

Pivot — A significant change in business strategy, often in response to market feedback. "After seeing low sales, the startup pivoted from B2C to a B2B model."

Turnaround — A significant improvement in performance after a period of difficulty. "The new CEO led an impressive company turnaround within two years."

Accounts receivable — Money owed to a company by its customers for goods/services already delivered. "We have $200,000 in accounts receivable outstanding this quarter."

Accounts payable — Money a company owes to its suppliers or creditors. "Accounts payable must be settled within 30 days."

Cash flow — The net movement of money in and out of a business. Positive cash flow = more coming in than going out. "Even a profitable business can fail if it has poor cash flow."

Gross profit vs Net profit — Gross profit = Revenue − Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). Net profit = Revenue − ALL costs (COGS + operating expenses + taxes + interest). Net profit is the true "bottom line."

Market share — A company's portion of total sales in its industry or market. "After the launch, we captured a 12% market share within six months."

USP (Unique Selling Proposition) — The feature or benefit that makes your product or service different from and better than the competition. "Our USP is 24-hour customer service — no competitor offers this."

B2B vs B2C — B2B (Business-to-Business): Selling products/services to other businesses. B2C (Business-to-Consumer): Selling directly to individual consumers. "We are a B2B SaaS company targeting enterprise clients."

Procurement — The process of acquiring goods, services, or works from an external source. Involves purchasing, supplier evaluation, and contract management. "Our procurement team negotiated a 20% discount with the supplier."

Overhead — The ongoing fixed costs of running a business not directly tied to producing a product — rent, utilities, salaries, insurance. "We need to reduce our overheads to improve profitability."

Outsource — To contract work or services to an external company or individual instead of doing it in-house. "We outsource our IT support to a specialist company in order to reduce costs."

Onboarding — The process of integrating a new employee into an organization, or a new customer into a product/service. "Our onboarding process includes three days of training and a buddy system."

Bandwidth — (1) Technical: data transmission capacity. (2) Business jargon: a person's available time or capacity to take on work. "I don't have the bandwidth to take on another project this month."

Action items — Specific tasks or steps agreed upon in a meeting, with assigned owners and deadlines. "Let's wrap up — what are the action items from today's meeting?"

Proactive — Taking initiative to act before problems arise, rather than reacting after the fact. "We need a proactive approach to customer complaints, not a reactive one."

Value proposition — A clear statement explaining how a product/service solves a problem, delivers benefits, and why customers should choose it. "Our value proposition is simple: fastest delivery at the lowest price."

Churn rate — The percentage of customers who stop using a product or service within a given period. "Our monthly churn rate is 3% — we need to improve customer retention."

Equity — (1) The value of ownership interest in a company (shares). (2) Fairness. "She owns 30% equity in the startup."

Liquidate — To close a business and convert its assets into cash to pay off debts. "When the company failed, it was forced to liquidate all its assets."

Embargo — An official ban on trade or economic activity with a particular country. "The government placed a trade embargo on the country following the sanctions."

Arbitration — A method of resolving disputes outside of court, using a neutral third party (arbitrator) to make a binding decision. "The contract includes an arbitration clause to resolve disputes."

Redline — To review and mark up a legal document with proposed changes, typically shown in red. "The legal team redlined the contract and sent it back for review."

Circle back — Business jargon for returning to a topic or conversation at a later time. "Let's circle back on the budget discussion after we get the Q3 figures."