Founder Vocabulary
The phrasing that signals you built it — without lapsing into investor-deck cliché.
When to use this bank
Use these when writing a founder bio for any audience — investors, customers, candidates, or press. The principle is verb-led specificity: 'left to start' is sharper than 'embarked on the entrepreneurial journey of'.
When not to use it
Avoid this register if you are not actually the founder of the company in question. Avoid the most common deck-speak phrases.
The vocabulary
Organized into 5 groups. Each group has its own guidance.
Origin verbs
12 wordsVerbs that name the founding decision specifically.
Operating verbs
18 wordsVerbs for the work after founding.
Capital-and-stage phrases
10 wordsStandard ways to describe capital and stage.
Insight-and-edge phrases
9 wordsHow to describe why the founder is the right person to build the thing.
Avoid these
12 wordsInvestor-deck phrases that have become cliché.
Where these words pair well
Use one 'Origin verb' + one 'Insight-and-edge phrase' + one 'Capital-and-stage phrase'. That combination conveys why-this-person, why-now, and where-the-company-is.
Use 'Origin verb' + 'Insight-and-edge phrase' + 'Operating verb'. Drop the capital language.
Before and after
What this bank looks like applied to a single sentence.
A serial entrepreneur, visionary, and thought leader who has embarked on an exciting journey of building a category-defining company in the rapidly-evolving B2B SaaS landscape.
Naomi spent six years as the first customer-success hire at three different B2B SaaS companies — the vantage that exposed the thirty-day retention gap her current company, Levee, now closes. She left in 2021 to start Levee, raised a $9M Series A from First Round in late 2024, and ships from Salt Lake City.