GLOSSARY
The vocabulary of the operation.
Plain definitions of the technical, financial, and operational terms we use throughout the site.
A
ACH (Automated Clearing House)
The U.S. interbank network used to move money electronically between bank accounts. Lower-cost than wires, slower than card payments. Most retainer invoices clear via ACH.
AI Agent
A software process that uses an LLM to read context, make decisions, and take actions on a defined surface. Inside Valtryn, agents handle bounded operational work — invoice reminders, model spend monitoring, client health scoring — with human approval on anything irreversible.
API (Application Programming Interface)
A defined contract by which two systems exchange data. Every integration in Valtryn — Stripe, Anthropic, Linear — is an API connection.
Anthropic
AI research company; maker of the Claude family of models. One of two foundation model providers Valtryn deployments connect to by default.
ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue)
MRR × 12. The standard headline metric for subscription and retainer businesses.
B
Beachhead
The narrow, well-defined market segment a company starts in. Valtryn's beachhead is solo AI implementation consultants and small AI agencies.
Brain (Valtryn OS)
The conversational reasoning layer that sits over the integrated data model and answers operator questions in natural language.
C
Cap Table
A record of who owns what equity in a company. Discipline around the cap table is one of the cheapest forms of fundraising preparation.
Claude
Anthropic's family of large language models. The default model behind the Brain in Valtryn deployments.
Cockpit (Valtryn OS)
The visual dashboard surface — the six rooms — that complements the Brain. Humans navigate the Cockpit; the Brain navigates everything.
Commingling
Mixing personal and business funds in a single account. Pierces the corporate veil and undermines limited liability. The single most common rookie mistake in early-stage entities.
D
Dogfooding
Using your own product internally before selling it externally. Valtryn runs on Valtryn.
E
EIN (Employer Identification Number)
Federal tax ID for a business entity. Required to open business banking and run payroll.
Errors & Omissions Insurance
Professional liability coverage for service businesses, indemnifying against claims arising from advice or work product.
F
Fixed-Fee Engagement
Project work priced as a single deliverable rather than billed hourly. Margin discipline depends on accurate scope and disciplined model spend governance.
I
Integration Mesh
The collection of API connections, webhooks, and event streams that feed a Valtryn deployment its real-time view of the business.
IP Assignment
A clause in employment and contractor agreements assigning intellectual property created in scope to the company. Non-negotiable for any company that intends to be acquirable.
L
LLC (Limited Liability Company)
A pass-through entity providing limited liability without corporate-level taxation. Common for service businesses; not the right structure for venture-backed companies.
LCV (Lifetime Customer Value)
Total revenue expected from a customer relationship over its lifespan. Drives the math of acquisition and retention.
M
MSA (Master Services Agreement)
An umbrella contract governing the commercial relationship between two parties. Specific work is then ordered under SOWs that reference the MSA.
MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue)
The predictable, contractually recurring revenue billed in a given month. The headline health metric of any retainer business.
Multi-Tenant Architecture
A software architecture in which a single deployment serves multiple isolated customers. Cheaper to operate than per-tenant deployments; harder to customize per customer.
N
NRR (Net Revenue Retention)
Revenue from existing customers this period divided by revenue from those same customers last period. Above 100% means expansion outpaces churn.
O
Operating Agreement
The internal governance document of an LLC. Defines ownership, decision rights, distributions, and dissolution.
P
Pass-Through Entity
A business entity that does not pay tax at the entity level. Income passes through to owners' personal returns. LLCs, S-Corps, and partnerships are pass-through.
PMF (Product-Market Fit)
The state in which a product is being pulled by its market faster than it is being pushed. Hard to fake, easy to recognize once present.
Productized Service
Custom services packaged with the discipline of a product — defined scope, defined timeline, defined price. Valtryn is delivered as a productized service.
Prompt Library
The versioned, indexed, ownership-tagged collection of an AI team's reusable prompts and architectural patterns. The institutional memory of an AI practice.
Q
QSBS (Qualified Small Business Stock)
U.S. tax provision allowing exclusion of capital gains on qualifying C-Corp stock held five+ years. Material at exit; worth structuring for from day one.
R
Retainer
A recurring monthly fee for ongoing services. The compounding revenue base of a healthy services business.
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
Revenue generated per dollar of advertising spend. The headline efficiency metric for paid acquisition.
S
SOC 2 Type II
An audited report on the operating effectiveness of a service organization's security controls over a defined period. Procurement table-stakes for selling into mid-market and enterprise.
SOP (Standard Operating Procedure)
A documented, repeatable process for a recurring operational task. The atomic unit of institutional knowledge.
SOW (Statement of Work)
A document specifying scope, deliverables, timeline, and price for a specific engagement. Issued under a parent MSA.
T
Tool Use (in AI agents)
An LLM's ability to call external functions or APIs as part of its reasoning loop. The capability that makes agentic workflows possible.
V
Vertical SaaS
Software built for a single industry's specific operations rather than for horizontal use across industries. ServiceTitan, Toast, Procore, Veeva — and the next decade of AI-native equivalents.