Dilution — typically refers to a shrinking portion of equity. Company founders will usually start off by splitting all the equity among them (example: 2 founders each get 50% of the company). When they get outside capital and sell stock in their company, the get diluted – their portion of the company is less (example: Each founder now has 30% and the outside investor has 40%)
DLA — DLA Piper is a global law firm that recently setup an Atlanta office. They have a technology practice that specializes in venture financing and technology transfer and they are very active in the Atlanta technology community.
"Drinkin’ the kool-aid" — Term used to describe someone that really believes in your business, sometimes blindly. If you do a really good sales job and convince people that you have a definite winning business, you have them "drinkin’ the Kool-Aid". The term comes from a cult mass-suicide in 1978 when a group of people believed their charismatic leader and drank poisoned Kool-aid and died. Read more here. Similar terminology to "Choking on your own exhaust."
Due diligence — Fancy name for research. An investor will perform due diligence before making an investment in your company. This means they will look at your financials, do background checks on your management team, validate your large market numbers, review your legal contracts, and talk to some of your customers. By the way, we recommend that the entrepreneur do some due diligence on their investor too.