- Growth rate
- The percentage your revenue grows month over month — PG's first number, and the one he asks every founder about.
- Duration
- How long that growth is sustained — the second number. A high rate for a short time, or a moderate rate for years, can reach the same place.
- Compounding
- Growth applied on top of prior growth: final = start × (1+r)months. The engine behind every curve here.
- MRR
- Monthly Recurring Revenue — the starting point the curve compounds from.
- Revenue multiple
- A rough company valuation = multiple × annual revenue. This tool uses 10×.
- Founder equity
- The share of the company the founder still owns at exit; it scales the personal stake (and dilutes across funding rounds).
- Log scale
- A chart axis where equal distances mean equal multiplication. It straightens exponential curves so the growth rate is legible as a slope.
- Word-of-mouth
- Users recommending the product to friends — in PG's account, the natural engine of exponential, "non-cheating" growth.
- Founder-market fit
- The founder has personally lived the problem, so their instincts predict real demand.
- ARPU
- Average Revenue Per User/customer. A low cap on ARPU is why some good businesses can't reach a billion-dollar shape.
- Empathy vs. exploitation
- Growth because users love the product vs. growth by extracting value. PG's test for whether the billion is earned honestly.