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> Grammarly's acquisition of Superhuman follows its recent $1 billion funding from General Catalyst, which gives it dry powder to create a collection of AI-powe

> Grammarly's acquisition of Superhuman follows its recent $1 billion funding from General Catalyst, which gives it dry powder to create a collection of AI-powered workplace tools. Dry powder to do what?! Is this americanism? I've been here for over 8 years and every month I find some wording that's just bizarre, like as if there was a competition for ways in how to confuse someone.

abxyz 1y ago
“Dry powder” is cash on hand to fund acquisitions. Yes, it is one of the worst businessisms.
paulddraper 1y ago
Dry powder as in gunpowder. Perhaps you are familiar with similar phrases “ammunition” and “war chest”?
- dr_kretyn 1y ago
  You mean actual objects/entities or other financial terms?
  - paulddraper 1y ago
    As figures of speech.
diggan 1y ago
> Dry powder to do what?! Is this americanism? No, is financialism, which is basically the same thing but I digress. > Dry powder is a slang term referring to marketable securities that are highly liquid and considered cash-like - https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/drypowder.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/drypowder.asp Finance seems particularly filled with terms with no real connection attached to the concepts at hand, not sure why. Sounds cool I suppose?
- jszymborski 1y ago
  I hate meaningless jargon as much as the next person, but I think the analogy here is pretty clear and useful. Dry gun powder is ready to use, allowing you to fire whenever. Much like liquid assets, ready whenever. If your powder gets wet, it'll take you a good amount of drying before it's of any use. Much like illiquid assets, would take some time to be useful, but still useful nonetheless. I first heard it a few months ago when Chrystia Freeland, then Canada's Finance Minister, resigned and used it in her resignation letter. The meaning was immediately clear to me. > "That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war," Freeland wrote. https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/2127174/finance-minister-chrystia-freeland-resigns-from-trudeaus-cabinet https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/2127174/finance-mini...
burkaman 1y ago
I don't know if it's uniquely American but I agree it is a very annoying term. It just means cash. Finance bros like to pretend they are "going into battle" or something when they go negotiate an acquisition, so the analogy is that you have a large store of gunpowder ready to deploy at a moment's notice when you want to go to war (go acquire a company).
- kylecordes 1y ago
  On the plus side, when you're a seller, you want buyers who have this attitude. That they are going to war and the only way they can emerge victorious is by deploying an enormous amount in your direction. You want buyers who will brag to their friends about how much they spent.
  - yakshaving_jgt 1y ago
    I interviewed at Superhuman almost a decade ago, and the founder did indeed brag [repeatedly] to me about how they bought the superhuman.com domain for $300k.
- dr_kretyn 1y ago
  From the context I figured this was more a "pancake mix" as they have the powder and now they just need to add water. You know, boyz be cookin'. Wouldn't figure out that this is some "war" analogy.
  - nemomarx 1y ago
    it comes from "keep your powder dry" (ready) in the military sense, I think.
fakedang 1y ago
Financialisms like dry powder are fairly mainstream and I'm just glad that they didn't use consultantspeak.
echelon 1y ago
> Dry powder to do what? This is a very common term for business people and especially investors and startups. It's a short phrase that carries a lot of meaning and packs a lot of punch. Google Gemini: > In finance, dry powder refers to readily available cash or liquid assets that a company, investor, or fund manager holds in reserve for future investments or to meet obligations during economic downturns. It's a metaphor, originating from the need to keep gunpowder dry for use in battle, symbolizing preparedness and flexibility in financial contexts. > In essence, dry powder is unspent capital waiting to be deployed This one term packs in all of that meaning into two words, so it is quite a useful tool. "Cash" alone doesn't have an implied context, whereas "dry powder" is immediately understood for strategy and positioning. It's also nice to have analogies that are striking and evocative. It makes language fun and flowery instead of dusty and spartan. Business people have to business all day, and this injects a little flavor and excitement with wordplay. Drawing up images of 17th century battles is nice when the reality is emailing back and forth. There lots of other phrases like this that you'll stumble upon. Someone should make a dictionary of these at some point.
turnsout 1y ago
I guess that explains the Coda acquisition. Honestly, I wonder what makes anyone think that Grammarly is the right centerpiece for an AI rollup?
pb7 1y ago
[flagged]
deleted 1y ago
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abxyz 1y ago

“Dry powder” is cash on hand to fund acquisitions. Yes, it is one of the worst businessisms.

paulddraper 1y ago

Dry powder as in gunpowder. Perhaps you are familiar with similar phrases “ammunition” and “war chest”?

dr_kretyn 1y ago
You mean actual objects/entities or other financial terms?
- paulddraper 1y ago
  As figures of speech.

diggan 1y ago

> Dry powder to do what?! Is this americanism? No, is financialism, which is basically the same thing but I digress. > Dry powder is a slang term referring to marketable securities that are highly liquid and considered cash-like - https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/drypowder.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/drypowder.asp Finance seems particularly filled with terms with no real connection attached to the concepts at hand, not sure why. Sounds cool I suppose?

jszymborski 1y ago
I hate meaningless jargon as much as the next person, but I think the analogy here is pretty clear and useful. Dry gun powder is ready to use, allowing you to fire whenever. Much like liquid assets, ready whenever. If your powder gets wet, it'll take you a good amount of drying before it's of any use. Much like illiquid assets, would take some time to be useful, but still useful nonetheless. I first heard it a few months ago when Chrystia Freeland, then Canada's Finance Minister, resigned and used it in her resignation letter. The meaning was immediately clear to me. > "That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war," Freeland wrote. https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/2127174/finance-minister-chrystia-freeland-resigns-from-trudeaus-cabinet https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/2127174/finance-mini...

burkaman 1y ago

I don't know if it's uniquely American but I agree it is a very annoying term. It just means cash. Finance bros like to pretend they are "going into battle" or something when they go negotiate an acquisition, so the analogy is that you have a large store of gunpowder ready to deploy at a moment's notice when you want to go to war (go acquire a company).

kylecordes 1y ago
On the plus side, when you're a seller, you want buyers who have this attitude. That they are going to war and the only way they can emerge victorious is by deploying an enormous amount in your direction. You want buyers who will brag to their friends about how much they spent.
- yakshaving_jgt 1y ago
  I interviewed at Superhuman almost a decade ago, and the founder did indeed brag [repeatedly] to me about how they bought the superhuman.com domain for $300k.
dr_kretyn 1y ago
From the context I figured this was more a "pancake mix" as they have the powder and now they just need to add water. You know, boyz be cookin'. Wouldn't figure out that this is some "war" analogy.
- nemomarx 1y ago
  it comes from "keep your powder dry" (ready) in the military sense, I think.

fakedang 1y ago

Financialisms like dry powder are fairly mainstream and I'm just glad that they didn't use consultantspeak.

echelon 1y ago

> Dry powder to do what? This is a very common term for business people and especially investors and startups. It's a short phrase that carries a lot of meaning and packs a lot of punch. Google Gemini: > In finance, dry powder refers to readily available cash or liquid assets that a company, investor, or fund manager holds in reserve for future investments or to meet obligations during economic downturns. It's a metaphor, originating from the need to keep gunpowder dry for use in battle, symbolizing preparedness and flexibility in financial contexts. > In essence, dry powder is unspent capital waiting to be deployed This one term packs in all of that meaning into two words, so it is quite a useful tool. "Cash" alone doesn't have an implied context, whereas "dry powder" is immediately understood for strategy and positioning. It's also nice to have analogies that are striking and evocative. It makes language fun and flowery instead of dusty and spartan. Business people have to business all day, and this injects a little flavor and excitement with wordplay. Drawing up images of 17th century battles is nice when the reality is emailing back and forth. There lots of other phrases like this that you'll stumble upon. Someone should make a dictionary of these at some point.

turnsout 1y ago

I guess that explains the Coda acquisition. Honestly, I wonder what makes anyone think that Grammarly is the right centerpiece for an AI rollup?

pb7 1y ago

[flagged]

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]