Glossary

Venture diagnostics. An independent review of a business before it raises, run the way an investor would run it. We rebuild the numbers from raw data, score against a written rubric, name the reasons a fund could say no, and rank the fixes. A term Avan Partners coined in 2026.

Investability. Whether a business can survive an investor's review, not whether it is a good business. Plenty of good businesses aren't investable yet.

Avan Readiness Rubric. The written standard we score every business against, across seven areas investors probe. The scoring method is private.

Capital threshold. The bar a company must clear in our review before we introduce it to any fund. We don't publish where it sits, and when a company falls short we tell the fund that too.

First call. Our first call with a founder, after the Let's chat form. We tell you what we need to see, and send the list in writing. It is free, like everything before the scope call.

Diagnostic note. The written result of our review, naming what an investor would find, ranked by what would cost you the round. It is free, and yours whether or not you work with us.

Paid client disclosure. Our rule that every investor is told in the first message whether a company paid us. It is why funds read what we send.

RTO (return to origin). An order that ships and comes back undelivered, usually a refused COD parcel. You pay shipping both ways and earn nothing.

COD (cash on delivery). Payment collected at the door. It widens reach in India and is the main driver of RTO.

Net revenue. Sales after cancellations, returns and RTO. The figure a fund will rebuild, whatever your dashboard shows.

Gross margin. Revenue minus the cost of the product itself. Often quoted as if it were contribution margin, which is why it flatters D2C brands.

Contribution margin. What an order earns after every cost that scales with it, including platform fees, shipping, payment, COD charges and returns. The margin a fund rebuilds first.

CAC (customer acquisition cost). What it costs to win one new paying customer. Blended CAC that counts repeat buyers as new is the most common way it gets understated.

CAC payback. How long a new customer takes to earn back what was spent acquiring them. Long payback means growth eats cash.

Repeat rate. The share of customers who buy again within a stated window. Without the window and the cohort, the number means little.

Cohort. A group of customers who first bought in the same period, tracked over time. Cohorts show whether repeat buying is real.

Cash conversion cycle. Days from paying a supplier to collecting from the customer, through inventory, marketplace settlements and courier remittances. Seed rounds often go into this gap.

Channel concentration. How much revenue depends on one marketplace or ad platform. High concentration means someone else sets your price, visibility and customer data.

Findings before fees. Our rule that a founder sees what the review found before we discuss scope or price. The written findings are theirs either way.

Avan Venture Mail. A printed monthly letter from Avan Partners, signed by both partners, posted to one named partner at each of twenty funds and written around that fund's mandate.