Product-Market Fit
You built something a real group of people genuinely needs and keeps using.
Community translation: Community-validated solution.
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AI & Tech Language Guide
Before you pay anybody to build something with AI, you should understand the words being used. This guide translates technology and entrepreneurship language into plain English.
Stop guessing. Learn the language. Then move.
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Plain English First
You do not need to sound like a technologist to use technology well.
These are words you are likely to hear from entrepreneurs, consultants and AI builders. Learn the language so you can ask better questions, make better decisions and know when somebody is selling you more than you need.
Community origin: This guide is adapted and expanded from a “Tech to Community Glossary” shared in the Kingmakers of Oakland network. AI Boss Mobility adds AI-specific terms and plain-language explanations for leaders entering this new generation of technology.
Venture Studio
A team or organization that repeatedly helps turn ideas into new companies by providing people, strategy and resources.
Community translation: Innovation lab or community incubator.
Accelerator
A time-limited program that helps an early venture grow through coaching, connections, curriculum and sometimes funding.
Community translation: Leadership-development or capacity-building cohort.
Customer Discovery
Talking with the people you hope to serve before deciding what to build.
Community translation: Community listening or needs discovery.
User Research
Studying how people experience a problem or use a product so you can design something better.
Community translation: Community feedback and participatory research.
Prototype
A simple early version of an idea used to learn before spending heavily.
Community translation: Pilot or demonstration project.
MVP — Minimum Viable Product
The smallest useful version that lets you test whether the idea actually works.
Community translation: Minimum viable program or pilot.
Iteration
Improving something again and again based on what you learn.
Community translation: Continuous improvement.
Pivot
Changing an important part of the idea because the evidence says another direction makes more sense.
Community translation: Program adaptation or responsive redesign.
Go-to-Market Strategy
Your plan for how the right people will discover, adopt and pay for what you offer.
Community translation: Outreach and engagement strategy.
Value Proposition
A clear explanation of the problem you solve and why someone should choose your solution.
Community translation: Community value statement or impact proposition.
Traction
Evidence that people actually want what you built—usage, revenue, repeat participation, partnerships or growth.
Community translation: Demonstrated demand or community uptake.
Business Model
How your work creates value, who pays, and how the work supports itself financially.
Community translation: Sustainability or funding model.
Runway
How long your organization can keep operating with the money it currently has.
Community translation: Financial sustainability horizon.
Equity
Ownership in a company.
Community translation: Ownership stake.
Pitch
A short explanation of the problem, your solution, the opportunity and why someone should support it.
Community translation: Case for support.
Founder-Market Fit
How well a founder’s experience, relationships and credibility match the problem they are trying to solve.
Community translation: Lived-experience alignment.
Ecosystem
The network of people and organizations that help an idea succeed.
Community translation: Support network or opportunity ecosystem.
Scale
Growing reach or impact without your cost and complexity increasing at the same rate.
Community translation: Expand impact.
LLM — Large Language Model
The type of AI behind tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude that works with language, instructions and information.
Ask: What information is this model allowed to use?
Prompt
The instruction or question you give an AI system.
Think of it as: the assignment you give the AI.
AI Agent
An AI system designed to carry out a goal through one or more steps, sometimes using tools or other systems.
Ask: What can it do without asking me first?
Digital Twin
An AI-based representative built around a person or organization’s approved knowledge, voice, offers and boundaries.
Ask: What is the authoritative source behind the Twin?
RAG — Retrieval-Augmented Generation
A way for AI to retrieve information from approved sources before answering instead of relying only on what the model learned during training.
Think: Look it up first, then answer.
Hallucination
When AI produces information that sounds confident but is inaccurate or invented.
Ask: How is this answer being verified?
Human in the Loop
A person reviews, approves or handles decisions that should not be left entirely to automation.
Think: AI assists; a person remains accountable.
Automation
A rule or system that performs repeatable work automatically.
Ask: What repetitive task are we removing?
Workflow
The sequence of steps people and systems follow to get work done.
Before automating it, make sure the workflow itself makes sense.
API
A structured way for one software system to communicate with another.
Think: a controlled doorway between systems.
Single Source of Truth
The one authoritative place your AI and team consult when different versions of information exist.
AI Boss Mobility rule: Retrieve → Verify → Use → Report.
Now you can ask better questions.
If you want help deciding what any of this means for your organization, your idea or your work, the next step is not another software purchase. Start with the problem.
Talk With Brian's Digital Twin