Growth
Achieving Hockey Stick Growth: A Startup's Path to Success
Written by
Lineke Kruisinga
Published on
April 9, 2025
Written by
Published on
Achieving hockey stick growth is every startup’s dream—but it doesn’t happen overnight. As Boris from Pitchdrive explains in The Reversed Hockey Stick Curve, the iconic steep upward curve only comes after a long and deliberate “flat handle” phase filled with trial, error, and strategic pivots. That early phase—often underestimated—is where resilience is built, product-market fit is shaped, and teams are formed.
This article builds on that foundation. Now that you’ve laid the groundwork, what’s next? How do you actually hit that steep upward curve—and once you do, how do you sustain it? From building a scalable model to attracting investors, this is your playbook for turning momentum into meaningful, lasting growth.
What is Hockey Stick Growth?
Hockey Stick Growth is a term used to describe a startup's growth that starts off slow and steady, then suddenly spikes upward. It’s like the shape of a hockey stick—flat at first, then a sharp rise as things start to take off. This kind of growth is exciting because it means your business has found its momentum and is ready to scale fast.
Why It Matters
Reaching Hockey Stick Growth is a big milestone for any startup. It shows that your product or service is hitting the right spot in the market. When you hit this phase, investors take notice. It’s the moment when your business starts attracting more attention, more customers, and more investment. It’s also a time when you can expand quickly and take advantage of the opportunity to become a market leader.
Signs You’re Ready for the Curve
Building a Scalable Business Model
A scalable business model is one that can handle growth without falling apart. As your startup grows quickly, you’ll need processes, systems, and structures in place that can handle the increase in demand. This means thinking ahead—building a model that can adapt to more customers, more products, and more teams. If your business model can easily grow without losing quality or efficiency, it will support your hockey stick growth and help you scale smoothly.
Product-Market Fit
Before you can experience rapid growth, you need to make sure your product or service is the right fit for your target market. Product-market fit means that your customers love what you offer, and they’re willing to pay for it. Without this foundation, all the marketing and sales efforts in the world won’t lead to lasting growth. Once you’ve found that sweet spot where your product solves a real problem for your customers, you’ll be ready to take off.
Customer Acquisition Strategy
To fuel rapid growth, you need a solid plan for attracting and keeping customers. It’s not just about getting new customers—it’s about creating a process to bring in the right ones and keep them loyal. Focus on understanding your ideal customer and target them with the right messages. Use efficient marketing channels that bring in high-quality leads and optimize your sales funnel so you can convert them quickly. When you’ve got a repeatable strategy for acquiring and retaining customers, you’ll be well-positioned for explosive growth.
Leveraging Technology for Scale
Technology and automation are powerful tools that can help your startup grow quickly without losing control. By using the right software and tools, you can automate repetitive tasks, streamline processes, and scale operations faster. For example, using customer relationship management (CRM) systems or automated marketing tools can save time and help you focus on what matters most—growing your business.
Strategic Partnerships and Networking
Building strong partnerships can speed up your growth by opening doors to new customers, markets, and resources. Look for opportunities to collaborate with other businesses that complement yours. Networking is key here—attend industry events, connect with influencers, and build relationships with people who can help take your startup to the next level. Partnerships can provide you with the credibility and reach you need to grow faster.
Effective Marketing and Viral Growth
Marketing plays a huge role in driving rapid growth. Digital marketing, social media campaigns, and influencer collaborations can all help you reach a bigger audience. Viral growth happens when your message spreads quickly, often with little effort from your side. To encourage this, create content that resonates with your target audience and encourages them to share. Influencers can also amplify your message and bring in a wave of new customers.
Customer Referrals and Word-of-Mouth
Nothing beats the power of satisfied customers telling others about your product. Word-of-mouth and customer referrals can be huge drivers of growth. If you focus on delivering excellent customer service and a great product, your customers will naturally share their experiences with friends and family. Encourage referrals by offering incentives like discounts or rewards. This organic growth can sometimes be more powerful than any marketing campaign.
Managing Increased Demand
As your business grows, so does demand. It can feel overwhelming to scale quickly, but it’s crucial to keep the quality of your product or service high. To manage this, you need to optimize your processes and systems so they can handle the increase in volume. This might mean investing in better technology, automating certain tasks, or even outsourcing parts of your operations to keep everything running smoothly.
Hiring and Team Building
One of the biggest challenges during rapid growth is building the right team. You need to hire people who can handle the increased workload and contribute to your company’s success. But it’s not just about adding more people—it's about finding the right talent that fits your company culture. As you expand, it’s also important to maintain clear communication and delegate responsibilities properly to avoid burnout or confusion within the team.
Cash Flow and Funding
With growth comes more expenses. Managing cash flow becomes crucial during this phase. You’ll need enough working capital to support increased production, marketing, and staffing. Sometimes, rapid scaling means that you’re spending more money upfront before seeing the returns. That’s why securing funding or having a strong financial cushion is important. Make sure you have a solid financial plan in place and keep a close eye on your cash flow to avoid running into financial trouble.
Avoiding Growing Pains
Rapid growth can lead to “growing pains” if not managed properly. These might include things like poor customer service, missed deadlines, or problems with product quality. To avoid these pitfalls, it’s important to stay organized, set realistic expectations, and be ready to adjust as you go. Keep monitoring your progress, and be open to feedback from your team and customers so you can quickly address any issues that arise.
Why Investors Love Hockey Stick Growth
Investors are always on the lookout for startups that show potential for fast, sustained growth. Hockey stick growth signals that your business is scaling quickly, which is attractive because it means a higher chance of significant returns. When your startup enters this phase, it shows that you’ve found a market fit and are ready to expand rapidly—making it a prime investment opportunity.
Showcasing Growth Metrics
When attracting investors, it’s crucial to present clear and compelling growth metrics. Show data that highlights your progress—like customer acquisition rates, revenue growth, and market share increase. Investors want to see hard evidence that your business is growing, so use graphs, charts, and key performance indicators (KPIs) to back up your claims. Make sure your numbers tell a story of steady progress and potential for more.
Managing Investor Expectations
With rapid growth comes high expectations, but it’s important to align those expectations with the reality of scaling. While it’s exciting to show off your progress, be clear about the challenges that still lie ahead. Investors need to understand that growing quickly comes with risks, and not everything will always go according to plan. Set realistic goals and timelines, and keep investors in the loop with regular updates.
Valuation and Growth Stages
Hockey stick growth can significantly impact your startup’s valuation. During the early stages of growth, investors may look at your business’s potential rather than its current value. As you continue to grow, your valuation will increase, reflecting the market confidence in your business. Understanding this progression helps you navigate funding rounds more effectively, ensuring that you’re getting a fair valuation that reflects your company’s growth potential.
Boris makes it clear: the flat handle, the long, early-stage grind is not something to skip over, but the very reason your startup survives long enough to grow. But what happens after you hit the curve? What if you're one of the startups that has found its momentum?
Here’s the hard truth: the work doesn’t stop once you see the steep upward trend. In fact, that’s when a new phase of discipline, focus, and intentional scaling begins.
Sustain, Don’t Just Spike
Boris argues that startups often burn too fast, too early. If you’ve made it to the blade, it means you didn’t so don’t fall into that trap now. Scaling beyond the curve means resisting the urge to chase vanity metrics or rush into reckless expansion. Instead, treat your new phase as a second foundation—one that demands just as much intentionality.
Now is the time to:
Diversify with Intention
If your current growth path came from a pivot, remember the mindset that got you there: experimentation, customer listening, and flexibility.
Use that same mindset now:
Too many startups forget the lessons from the flat phase once they scale. The best ones carry those lessons forward.
Go Global, but Stay Grounded
In the flat handle, you learned patience. Keep it with you. International expansion can fuel growth, but only when your foundation allows for it. Boris emphasizes how pivots and patience lead to stronger startups apply the same logic to global markets:
Keep Innovating Like You’re Still in the Flat Phase
The teams that thrive beyond the hockey stick are the ones that never stop experimenting—just like they did when things were slow. As Boris says: “Experiment by design.”
Even in rapid growth, keep asking:
Success can make startups complacent. But the best founders—like those Boris highlights, from Rydoo to NineID—keep iterating even after hitting scale. That’s what turns early growth into long-term dominance.
Key Metrics to Track
When your startup is experiencing rapid growth, it’s important to track the right metrics to ensure things are moving in the right direction. Some of the key metrics to watch include:
KPIs for Scaling Startups
As your startup grows, you’ll need to track key performance indicators (KPIs) that measure both your growth and efficiency. Some KPIs to consider include:
Tracking these KPIs will help you make data-driven decisions and keep your growth on track.
Feedback Loops
Customer feedback is essential during rapid growth. Regularly collect feedback from customers to understand what’s working and what needs improvement. Use surveys, reviews, or direct conversations to get insights. This data can guide product improvements, help you fix issues before they become bigger problems, and ensure that you’re meeting your customers’ needs. Having feedback loops in place will make sure your growth is sustainable and that you’re constantly adapting to what your customers want.
True hockey stick growth isn’t just about what happens when things accelerate—it’s about what came before. Boris’ insights into the “flat handle” phase remind us that building a strong foundation through experimentation, cost control, and team building is what enables scalable growth in the first place.
This article picks up where that leaves off: how to recognize the moment to scale, and how to do it right. When you're ready to hit the curve—do it with intention, a clear strategy, and the knowledge that the real magic started long before the growth spurt.
Good to read:
⏩️The Reversed Hockey Stick Curve
⏩️Startup Pivoting: Knowing When and How to Change Course for Success
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