Having a personal financial stake in an investment, ensuring that you will feel the pain of a loss, though usually not quite as much as your clients will.
What they actually mean
"If this goes completely wrong, I might have to sell the second car."
Heard in the wild
"Our lead partners have plenty of skin in the game with this new fund."
To indicate a vague, highly conditional level of interest in a deal, allowing one to claim credit if it succeeds or pretend it never happened if it fails.
We can soft-circle five million for the round, assuming of course that the wind remains in the east and the moon is in a favorable phase.
Translation
I am saying yes now to make you go away, but I have signed absolutely nothing.
A competitive pitching process where multiple investment banks present identical, glossy slide decks to a client who will ultimately choose their partner based on who bought them the most expensive dinner.
"We have the beauty parade for the acquisition mandate on Thursday, so ensure the logo on slide 47 is perfectly aligned."
Translation
"Let's perform some corporate theatre for people who already made up their minds last Tuesday."
The savings promised to justify a merger.
"The deal unlocks significant synergies."
Translation
Two teams became one.