Case interview glossary.

Product, Price, Place, Promotion — the marketing mix framework.

Portfolio tool: Stars (high share, high growth), Cash Cows, Question Marks, Dogs.

Breakeven Units = Fixed Costs ÷ (Price − Variable Cost per Unit).

Compound Annual Growth Rate — the steady annual rate needed to go from start to end value.

The percentage of customers lost in a period — the inverse of retention.

Targeted questions asked before structuring to ensure you understand the problem correctly.

A durable ability to outperform competitors due to unique capabilities, assets, or position.

Revenue minus variable costs — what each unit 'contributes' toward covering fixed costs.

Pre-acquisition investigation of a company's financials, operations, legal, and risks.

Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization — a proxy for operating cash flow.

Cost advantages gained as production volume increases — fixed costs spread over more units.

Reasoning from foundational truths rather than analogy or convention.

Fixed costs don't change with output; variable costs scale with production.

Forming and testing a specific answer early, then using data to confirm or disprove it.

A hierarchical diagram that breaks a complex problem into smaller, answerable questions.

Customer Lifetime Value vs. Customer Acquisition Cost — the SaaS unit economics ratio.

Evaluate a merger or acquisition: strategic fit, standalone value, synergies, price.

Should we enter this market? Covers attractiveness, ability to win, and economics.

Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive — the gold standard for issue trees.

Customer loyalty metric: % Promoters − % Detractors from a 0-10 recommendation survey.

The degree to which profits amplify as revenue grows due to high fixed costs.

A model for analyzing competitive intensity in an industry.

How much quantity demanded changes when price changes. Elastic = big reaction; Inelastic = small reaction.

Profit = Revenue − Cost, decomposed into Price × Volume and Fixed + Variable Cost.

A clear, actionable conclusion that directly answers the client's question.

Revenue = Price × Volume (the two levers every revenue analysis starts with).

Return on Invested Capital = NOPAT ÷ Invested Capital. Measures capital efficiency.

Doubling time ≈ 72 ÷ annual growth rate (%).

The discipline of converting data observations into business insights.

Approaching problems with an organized framework before diving into details.

Value created when two combined businesses produce more than the sum of their parts.

Drawing a clear conclusion from multiple pieces of analysis.

Total Addressable Market / Serviceable → Total market size hierarchy.

Leading with the conclusion, then supporting it with evidence — the Pyramid Principle.

The sequence of activities that create value for the end customer, from raw materials to sale.

Weighted Average Cost of Capital — the minimum return required to satisfy investors.