Glossary of terms.
Definitions for the concepts and terminology used across the Capital Sourcing Partners practice.
A
Accountability
Accountability is the assignment and evidence-based evaluation of responsibility for performing an expected function, maintaining an applicable standard, responding to an identified condition, or producing an agreed operating outcome. Accountability establishes visibility into responsibility; it is not blame.
Accredited Investor Acquisition System (AIAS)
The Accredited Investor Acquisition System (AIAS) is Capital Sourcing Partners' proprietary business process management framework for creating, operating, measuring, governing, auditing, and improving the organizational capability used to develop qualified accredited investor relationships and support current and future capital formation. AIAS is not merely advertising, lead generation, a CRM, a funnel, software, or a marketing campaign.
ACI Evidence-to-Synthesis
ACI Evidence-to-Synthesis is the governed methodology through which qualified evidence, canonical measurements, KPIs and diagnostics, contextual factors, assessment dimensions, and validated scores where available are integrated to establish the condition, direction, evidence confidence, materiality, risk, drivers, exceptions, and decision-useful interpretation of an Acquisition Capital Indicator.
Acquisition Capital
Acquisition Capital is the accumulated organizational value, capability, and strategic advantage developed, preserved, or strengthened through disciplined investor acquisition and capable of contributing to current or future relationship development and capital formation. Its 14 elemental forms are Attention, Authority, Brand, Communication, Content, Data, Educational, Intellectual, Intelligence, Knowledge, Network, Relationship, Reputation, and Trust Capital.
Acquisition Capital Indicator (ACI)
An Acquisition Capital Indicator (ACI) is a governed executive management construct used to assess a defined condition within the AIAS architecture by integrating qualified evidence, measurements, KPIs and diagnostics, contextual factors, assessment dimensions, and validated scores where available. An ACI is not automatically a mathematical composite score. The six ACIs are IAV Health, Investor Relationships, Capital Formation, Capital Efficiency, Acquisition Capital, and Marketing Equity.
Adaptive Investor Journey
The Adaptive Investor Journey is the governed AIAS approach to guiding qualified investor relationships according to their current trust, knowledge, interest, readiness, timing, behavior, and relationship context rather than forcing every investor through an identical predetermined path.
Advertising Spend
Advertising Spend is direct expenditure associated with paid advertising, media placement, sponsorship, paid distribution, or other governed paid acquisition channels.
AIAS Practitioner
An AIAS Practitioner is a trained or appropriately authorized person applying AIAS standards, methodologies, instruments, audits, assessments, measurement practices, or implementation disciplines within the scope of authorization.
Assessment
Assessment is the governed process through which qualified evidence, measurements, KPIs and diagnostics, and applicable contextual evidence are interpreted to establish the condition of a defined management object. An assessment is not automatically a score.
Attention Capital
Attention Capital is accumulated organizational capability and market position that enables the firm, fund, or relevant offering to earn, retain, and appropriately regain the attention of prospective investors and other relevant audiences.
Attribution
Attribution is an evidence-bounded analytical determination concerning the governed contribution, origin, influence, sequence, or other defined relationship between an attribution object and an observed outcome or condition. Relationship origin, subsequent influence, attribution, accountability, and performance are separate concepts. When evidence is insufficient, undetermined attribution is a valid conclusion.
Authority Capital
Authority Capital is accumulated organizational value associated with demonstrated expertise, competence, insight, experience, and recognized credibility within relevant areas of knowledge.
C
Capital Efficiency
Capital Efficiency is the assessed ability of the Investor Acquisition Vehicle to use deployed organizational resources, Marketing Investment, investor relationships, and accumulated organizational capabilities to produce capital-formation outcomes while preserving or strengthening the organization's future Capital-Formation Capability. It is not reducible to spending less, ROAS, ROI, Cost of Acquiring Capital, or dollars raised.
Capital State
Capital State is the condition of capital associated with an investor relationship and an applicable opportunity, including the governed progression toward Recognized Capital Acquired.
Capital-Formation Capability
Capital-Formation Capability is the demonstrated organizational ability to develop, manage, and convert qualified investor relationships and supporting resources into investment capital while preserving and strengthening the capabilities and Acquisition Capital necessary for future capital formation. Capital raised is an outcome; Capital-Formation Capability is the underlying organizational ability.
Communication Capital
Communication Capital is accumulated organizational capability, infrastructure, discipline, and reusable communication value that enables clear, consistent, appropriate, and effective communication with prospective and existing investors.
Content Capital
Content Capital is accumulated reusable organizational value represented by content assets that are created, maintained, governed, and capable of supporting investor acquisition, education, relationship development, market presence, authority, communication, and future capital formation.
Cost of Acquiring Capital
Cost of Acquiring Capital is the governed attributable cost required to acquire Recognized Capital Acquired within a defined economic boundary. Conceptually: Applicable Governed Acquisition Cost divided by Recognized Capital Acquired. The applicable cost boundary must accompany the result. Cost of Acquiring Capital is not the conventional finance concept of Cost of Capital.
D
Data Capital
Data Capital is accumulated organizational value and capability represented by investor-acquisition and capital-formation data that has been appropriately captured, preserved, structured, governed, made accessible, and made sufficiently usable.
Direct Investor Lifetime Capital
Direct Investor Lifetime Capital is cumulative Recognized Capital Acquired directly from an investor relationship across qualifying investments. Referral capital generated by referred investors is excluded to prevent double counting.
E
Educational Capital
Educational Capital is accumulated organizational value and capability represented by educational resources, processes, experiences, and knowledge-transfer assets that improve investor understanding and support more informed investor relationships.
Evidence Class
Evidence Class identifies the governed class of evidence supporting an AIAS measurement, assessment, attribution, or management conclusion. The canonical classes are E1 Direct System Evidence, E2 Documentary Evidence, E3 Tested or Observed Evidence, and E4 Representational Evidence. Evidence Class is not Evidence Authority.
Evidence Confidence
Evidence Confidence expresses the governed level of confidence supportable from the available evidence for a measurement, assessment, attribution, or management conclusion. The controlled values are High, Moderate, Low, and Insufficient.
Existing Investor Capital Development Cost
Existing Investor Capital Development Cost measures governed attributable cost associated with developing additional qualifying capital participation from existing investor relationships.
I
IAV Health
IAV Health is the assessed condition, maturity, integration, readiness, and operating effectiveness of an Investor Acquisition Vehicle across the capabilities, governance, evidence, accountability, relationships, technology, data, measurement, and disciplines required to support sustainable capital formation. A successful capital raise does not, by itself, prove that the IAV is healthy.
Intellectual Capital
Intellectual Capital is accumulated organizational value represented by proprietary knowledge, expertise, methodologies, frameworks, systems, research, processes, documented know-how, specialized experience, and other intellectual assets.
Intelligence Capital
Intelligence Capital is accumulated organizational value created when relevant Data Capital and other evidence are interpreted, combined, contextualized, and converted into actionable insight.
Intelligent Investor Qualification
Intelligent Investor Qualification is the governed AIAS approach to understanding the relevance, characteristics, circumstances, interests, readiness, and relationship potential of prospective investors while preserving appropriate current and future relationship opportunities.
Investor Acquisition
Investor Acquisition is the disciplined organizational process of attracting, qualifying, educating, developing, converting, preserving, retaining, and expanding qualified investor relationships for current and future capital formation.
Investor Acquisition Vehicle (IAV)
The Investor Acquisition Vehicle (IAV) is the practical operating expression of AIAS through which an organization coordinates leadership, Marketing, Sales, Investor Relations, operations, content, technology, data, governance, and related capabilities required to develop and manage qualified investor relationships and support capital formation. Every organization actively engaged in capital raising functionally possesses an IAV, whether deliberately designed or not.
Investor Lifetime Value (ILV)
Investor Lifetime Value (ILV) is a multidimensional governed assessment of the direct economic contribution and broader relationship value associated with an investor relationship across its applicable lifecycle. AIAS does not reduce ILV to one universal dollar formula.
IPK Interpretation Doctrine
The IPK Interpretation Doctrine reads a KPI backward, treating the observed indicator as an Indication of Performance that helps identify the key underlying condition, process, constraint, capability, behavior, relationship factor, or other governed object requiring understanding. No unsupported formal long-form expansion of IPK is authorized.
K
Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a governed measurement or diagnostic designated as materially useful to a responsible function for monitoring, diagnosing, or operating a defined process, condition, activity, output, or management-supporting object. A KPI is not an ACI, target, threshold, benchmark, or actual result.
Knowledge Capital
Knowledge Capital is accumulated organizational understanding retained through experience, evidence, intelligence, documented learning, and validated practice that can improve judgment, execution, governance, and future capital-formation decisions.
M
Marketing Capital
Marketing Capital is the accumulated portfolio of reusable marketing-related assets, capabilities, market position, information, relationships, communication resources, knowledge, and other organizational capacity that can support current or future investor acquisition and capital formation. Marketing Capital is not money deployed, Advertising Spend, Marketing Spend, Marketing Expense, Marketing Investment, or a fifteenth elemental form of Acquisition Capital.
Marketing Equity
Marketing Equity is the durable reusable organizational value retained from prior Marketing and investor-acquisition activity to the extent that resulting assets, capabilities, relationships, knowledge, data, market position, infrastructure, or other resources remain usable and capable of contributing beyond the activity or expenditure that helped create them. Expenditure alone does not establish that Marketing Equity was created.
Marketing Expense
Marketing Expense is the applicable accounting expense classification associated with Marketing activity. AIAS does not redefine accounting treatment.
Marketing Investment
Marketing Investment is the intentional allocation and deployment of organizational financial and other resources into Marketing activities, capabilities, assets, infrastructure, audiences, education, communication, data, market development, and related investor-acquisition purposes with the expectation of contributing to current or future organizational outcomes.
Marketing Spend
Marketing Spend is total governed monetary expenditure associated with Marketing activities within a defined measurement boundary.
Master Relationship State
Master Relationship State is the organization-level condition of an investor relationship independent of any single offering or capital event. AIAS rejects a one-state-per-investor architecture.
Measurement Handoff
Measurement Handoff is the governed transfer of a measurement or assessment result, with sufficient context and responsibility, from its producer or steward to the person or function responsible for interpretation, decision, action, or reassessment.
Measurement Instrument
A Measurement Instrument is a governed mechanism or product that operationalizes an applicable measurement or assessment methodology. It is not a universal stage through which every AIAS measurement must pass.
O
Opportunity State
Opportunity State is the condition of an investor relationship relative to a specific offering or investment opportunity.
Outcome
An Outcome is an observable result produced by, associated with, or following investor-acquisition activity or organizational behavior. Activity, operational output, outcome, and performance are separate concepts.
R
Recognized Capital Acquired
Recognized Capital Acquired is the controlling realized-capital amount used for applicable AIAS economic measurements after the approved Recognition Event has occurred. Interest, conversations, and verbal intentions are not capital, and a commitment is not automatically Recognized Capital Acquired.
Referral-Sourced Capital
Referral-Sourced Capital is Recognized Capital Acquired from investor relationships whose governed origin is attributable to a qualifying referral. It is an attribute of recognized capital, not additional capital.
Relationship Capital
Relationship Capital is accumulated organizational value and future potential represented by qualified prospective and existing investor relationships developed, preserved, and appropriately managed through the Investor Acquisition Vehicle over time.
Relationship Depth
Relationship Depth is a governed assessment of the breadth, continuity, engagement, participation, trust evidence, communication history, and economic interaction developed within a Qualified Investor Relationship over time.
Relationship Development Cost
Relationship Development Cost measures governed attributable organizational cost associated with developing Qualified Investor Relationships within the applicable measurement boundary, whether or not those relationships have yet produced funded capital.
Relationship Preservation Rate
Relationship Preservation Rate is the proportion of applicable Qualified Investor Relationships that remain organizationally intact, accessible, appropriately classified, and capable of continued relationship management across a defined period.
Relationship Reactivation
Relationship Reactivation is a governed transition or event in which an existing relationship moves from a dormant or inactive condition into renewed qualifying engagement or management activity. It is not a replacement Master Relationship State.
Relationship Replacement Dependency
Relationship Replacement Dependency is a diagnostic condition assessing the degree to which current capital formation depends on continuously creating replacement Qualified Investor Relationships because prior relationships are not being sufficiently preserved, developed, reactivated, retained, or compounded.
Repeat Investor
Repeat Investor is a relationship and investment-history attribute identifying an investor relationship that completed at least one qualifying funded investment before a subsequent qualifying investment opportunity or investment.
Reputation Capital
Reputation Capital is accumulated organizational value associated with how the firm, fund, leadership, or relevant offering is regarded based on observed conduct, credibility, transparency, consistency, performance history, professional standing, market recognition, and other relevant evidence over time.