Earlier, I only knew the name too. It wasn’t until I took a closer look at the materials that I understood what it was.
Charles Hoskinson and Jeremy Wood co-founded IOHK (now called Input Output), a blockchain research and development company.
Cardano uses an extended UTXO model (eUTXO), unlike Ethereum’s account-based model. With eUTXO, the execution outcome and transaction fee can be determined before a transaction is submitted.
Holders of $ADA can delegate their coins to a stake pool and share in the staking rewards.
If there’s anything I’ve missed, let me know in the comments.

This is not investment advice. Invest at your own risk.