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Published on The Hockey Stick Curve (http://www.jleung.com/main)

What is a Hockey Stick Curve?

By Jeff Leung
Created 4 Jun 2007 - 3:26am
  1. Duh. It's the curve at the end of a hockey stick. My preference is a light mid-heel curve at a 5.5 lie. I'm just like Mike Modano, but I don't skate as fast, shoot as hard, stickhandle as well, and I'm not as good looking. But I'm less of a wuss [1] .
  2. Apparently it is also a controversy over global warming [2] . Yeah, I got nothing on that.
  3. A chart used by entrepreneurs and salepeople to illustrate exponential growth following a short, flat incubation period. It's extremely convenient for someone trying to pitch a business venture because it
    1. makes potential investors instinctively drool over the prospect of huge return on investment, but also
    2. buys time to burn any cash invested, effectively building in an excuse for initial failure, which, almost inevitably, leads to total failure. In 1998 it was common for mobile-related startups to bandy these things around.
      A typical Hockey Stick Curve chart, circa 1998
      In 2007 it looks like this:
      A typical Hockey Stick Curve chart, circa 2006
      I guess the more things change the more things stay the same.







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http://www.jleung.com/main/blog-entry/2007/06/04/what-is-a-hockey-stick-curve