Hockey Stick

Definition

A growth chart that shows flat revenue followed by a sudden exponential spike, resembling a hockey stick if you squint and ignore the part where most startups never reach the blade. It's the most fictional graph in pitch decks since the invention of PowerPoint.

Example Usage

"Our hockey stick projection shows us hitting $100 million in revenue by year three, which is based on the assumption that literally everything goes perfectly and also math is optional."

Related Terms

Beginner

up round

A financing round at a higher valuation than previous rounds, signaling growth and traction to the market. The opposite of a down round and considerably better for everyone's mood, if not always their long-term prospects.

🚀 Startup / VC

Intermediate

post-money valuation

Company valuation after investment capital is added, the number founders brag about while carefully omitting the 'post-money' qualifier. What your company is theoretically worth with someone else's money included.

🚀 Startup / VC

Advanced

death spiral financing

A toxic funding structure where conversion price drops as stock price falls, creating a downward spiral that destroys equity value. The financial equivalent of quicksand—struggling only makes it worse.

🚀 Startup / VC

Advanced

carve-out

Reserved portion of an acquisition's proceeds specifically allocated to employees or specific shareholders, ensuring they benefit even if the waterfall would otherwise drown them. Exit sharing mandated by negotiation or generosity.

🚀 Startup / VC

Beginner

deck fatigue

The exhaustion investors feel after reviewing hundreds of pitch decks that all blur together with the same buzzwords and hockey stick projections. It's why your 'revolutionary AI blockchain solution' makes their eyes glaze over.

🚀 Startup / VC

Beginner

entrepreneurs

Optimistic individuals who voluntarily choose unemployment with extra steps, convincing themselves that working 80 hours a week for no salary is better than working 40 hours for someone else. They're essentially professional risk-takers who transform caffeine and delusion into businesses, with a success rate that would make a Vegas gambler nervous. Society celebrates them when they succeed and conveniently forgets them when they fail.

🚀 Startup / VC

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