We’ve all seen those charts showing “hockey-stick growth.” They are the envy of entrepreneurs who haven’t found it, and among the most important moments in a company’s history for those who have. Hockey-stick growth tells a story: A company was slowly finding its way, and then—rocket ship. The rest is history.
But hockey-stick growth didn’t just happen. Something triggered it. There was an inflection point. What was it?
I was a founder and longtime product lead at Airbnb, and now I write a newsletter about product growth that’s the No. 1 business newsletter on Substack. (Find it at .) And I wanted to answer this question: To find out, I spent weeks researching inflection points and chatting with leaders at two dozen of today’s most successful
