feature factory

Definition

A product development organization obsessed with shipping features rather than solving customer problems or delivering value. The startup equivalent of a hamster wheel—lots of motion, no actual progress.

Example Usage

Engineering became a feature factory, cranking out requests from the roadmap without anyone asking if customers actually wanted them.

Origin

Product management terminology popularized by John Cutler's 2016 writing

Fun Fact

Feature factories often result from misguided OKRs or KPIs that measure output (features shipped) rather than outcomes (customer value delivered), incentivizing teams to build fast rather than build right.

Source: Product management and agile development terminology

Related Terms

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down-stack

Moving to build or sell products at a lower layer of the technology infrastructure, typically where margins are thinner but the market is larger. Often happens when companies realize their original niche is too small.

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unit economics

The revenue and costs associated with a single customer or transaction, supposedly proving your business model works before you scale. Often the awkward math that reveals you lose money on every sale but plan to make it up in volume.

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dead equity

Equity allocated to former employees, advisors, or early team members who are no longer contributing to the company but still own shares. It's the corporate equivalent of paying rent for a ghost tenant.

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spray-and-pray

An investment strategy of making many small bets across a wide portfolio, hoping a few massive winners will compensate for numerous failures—essentially portfolio construction as gambling. The scatter-shot approach favored by funds who believe they can't predict winners.

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founder-friendly

A marketing term VCs use to describe their approach, supposedly indicating fair terms and supportive behavior. In practice, it often means 'we won't screw you quite as hard as the other guys.'

🚀 Startup / VC

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dry powder

Unspent capital sitting in a VC fund, waiting to be deployed into investments. The ammunition that lets VCs act fast when hot deals emerge or support portfolio companies needing emergency cash.

🚀 Startup / VC

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