Hockey Stick Growth

Definitions

1. A revenue or user growth pattern that resembles a hockey stick when graphed — flat for a period, then suddenly turning sharply upward. The chart every VC wants to see and every founder wants to show. The chart 99% of startups put in their projections but 1% achieve.

   In plain English: When a company's growth chart looks like a hockey stick lying on its side — slow at first, then suddenly shooting up. Every startup promises this; few deliver.

2. The 'flat' part of the hockey stick (the 'blade on the ice') is where startups spend months or years finding product-market fit, iterating, and growing slowly. The 'stick' part is what happens when product-market fit clicks and growth becomes exponential. Most startups never leave the blade.

   Example: 'We showed hockey-stick projections in our pitch deck but were honest about still being in the flat part. The VC appreciated the transparency — most founders pretend the curve starts next quarter.'

   Source: anatomy of the curve

Etymology

1990s

Venture capitalists begin using 'hockey stick' to describe the J-shaped revenue curve that starts flat then shoots upward

2006

Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth' popularizes the hockey stick graph for climate data, though the metaphor is independent

2010s

Every startup pitch deck features a hockey stick chart; investors joke they've never seen one that didn't project hockey stick growth

Related Terms

• Growth Loop
• Inflection Point
• Series A
• Propensity Model