Startup
Pitch your idea, talk funding rounds and KPIs — in confident business Spanish, out loud.
In the Latin American startup world you pitch in a blend: el pitch stays in English (el discurso de ascensor sounds academic), but the substance is Spanish — el modelo de negocio, la propuesta de valor, la ventaja competitiva. When founders raise money they say levantar plata, not the textbook cerrar una ronda de financiación, and in Mexico your slides are simply el deck. In the &Be lessons none of this comes from flashcards — you learn each term by saying it in a live exchange, the way you'd use it in an investor meeting.
Below: the funding, growth and metrics vocabulary lesson by lesson, what founders actually say from Mexico City to Buenos Aires, and a way to rehearse your pitch out loud before you give it for real.
The warm-up pack
The lines said in an investor meeting, a founder group chat, and a board update — not the ones printed on a slide.
01 · How you introduce what you do
Estoy emprendiendo.
I'm building something. — the fashionable way founders describe their own startup.
Emprender is the verb every founder reaches for — say estoy emprendiendo and you sound like you're already in it.
02 · Landing your first believer
Conseguí un ángel.
I landed an angel investor. (Argentina)
Ángel on its own is what founders actually say — el inversor ángel is the full term, but nobody uses it once the room knows what you mean.
03 · The metric that unlocks the next conversation
Ya agarramos tracción.
We've already got traction. (Mexico)
Agarrar tracción is the phrase founders use when things finally start moving — not just 'la tracción' sitting flat on a slide.
04 · The question every investor actually asks
¿Esto es escalable?
Is this scalable? — the question that decides whether you get a second meeting.
Escalable is the single word that decides whether an investor keeps listening — you'll hear this in almost every pitch meeting.
05 · Getting your slides in front of someone
Mándame el deck.
Send me the deck. (Mexico)
El deck, not the formal presentación ante inversores — in Mexico your slides are just 'the deck', full stop.
06 · Admitting the bad number
Tenemos mucho churn este mes.
We've got a lot of churn this month.
Churn stays in English even in a Spanish sentence — you don't need a translation, just the confidence to say the number out loud.
07 · Cutting straight to profitability
¿Cuál es tu margen?
What's your margin? — the casual, direct version of 'profit margin'.
Margen on its own — adding beneficio at the end is what makes a sentence sound like it came from a finance textbook.
08 · Graduating the program
Salimos de la acelera.
We graduated from the accelerator. (Mexico/Chile)
La acelera is the affectionate short form founders use for the accelerator — the full word marks you as new to the scene.
09 · The number that scares a board
Tenemos un burn altísimo.
Our burn rate is really high.
Burn stays in English too — Argentine founders say it exactly like this, no translation needed.
10 · Naming the priority out loud
Levantar plata es la prioridad ahora.
Raising money is the priority right now.
Levantar plata beats the formal cerrar una ronda de financiación every time it's actually said out loud.
11 · The pitch line every founder reaches for
Queremos crecer como la espuma este año.
We want to grow like foam this year. — the colloquial way to say 'exponential growth'.
Crecer como la espuma — literally 'grow like foam' — is the vivid, informal version of crecimiento exponencial founders actually use.
FLUENT
Finally, someone to talk to in Spanish.
Ten-minute spoken lessons. A teacher who answers back — and gently fixes what you got wrong.
First 10 lessons freeandbefluent.com/spanish/startupRegional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
Watch out
The part no drill site can do
Olivia
Your vocabulary teacher for this pack
No flashcards, no fill-in-the-blanks. In the Startup lessons, Olivia puts you in the rooms where this vocabulary lives: an investor meeting where you walk through el modelo de negocio and your propuesta de valor, a session with fellow founders on la escalabilidad, a board update where they ask about los KPIs and la tasa de consumo — and you answer. Out loud, in the moment, until levantar plata comes out as naturally as it does for the founders who say it every day.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 6 lessons and Startup is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
El emprendimiento is entrepreneurship across Latin America, and emprender is the fashionable verb — estoy emprendiendo (I'm building something). In Mexico you'll also hear el changarro, an affectionate word for your own early-stage business.
La ronda de financiación is the formal term, but founders across Latin America say levantar plata. An angel investor is el inversor ángel — in Argentina just el ángel: conseguí un ángel.
They keep it in English: el pitch. The dictionary version, el discurso de ascensor, sounds academic, and in Mexico your slide deck is just el deck — mándame el deck. The skill is knowing when the anglicism is normal and when a Spanish term like la presentación ante inversores fits the room better.
La tracción is traction — Mexican founders say ya agarramos tracción (we've got traction). For explosive growth the colloquial pitch line is crecer como la espuma, literally to grow like foam, alongside the formal el crecimiento exponencial.
Mostly what they're called in English: los KPIs is standard in team meetings, and Argentine founders say el ROI and el burn. The Spanish terms — los indicadores clave, el retorno de inversión, la tasa de consumo — are what you reach for in formal reports and presentations.
