Pitch Dictionary by pitch.dog
Financing sources & instruments · Working

Hard money

ELI5

Finance requiring repayment or commercial return, often private equity or debt.

Used in conversation

“The budget needs to show hard money clearly before approval.”

Definition

Finance requiring repayment or commercial return, commonly private equity or debt.

Here “Hard money” means: Finance requiring repayment or commercial return, commonly private equity or debt.

Pitch context

You may encounter “Hard money” in rights, contracts, finance, distribution & labour conversations or materials.

Why it matters: Explains who controls, pays for, approves, exploits or bears risk around a project.

Caution

This usage is established in practice but is not fully standardised. A domain specialist should review it before release as canon.

Connected terms

  • Soft moneySoft money usually means grants, incentives or non-recoupable support; hard money is committed recoupable capital. Usage varies.
Sources & evidence · 8

Supporting source families. This entry is an editorial synthesis rather than a quotation from one canonical glossary.