

Ask HN: What do you think caused your startup's hockey stick growth curve? - fezzl

This question obviously only applies to those who have founded or worked for a startup that has achieved the proverbial hockey stick growth. Was it a feature addition that led to it, or a particular marketing tactic, or new personnel onboard, etc.?
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ActVen
Background: I was part-owner of a company that sold last year for 8 figures.
It was primarily a professional services firm with software that drove our
competitive advantage. Most of our projects ranged in price from 20k to over
200k.

For us it was taking an open and educational marketing approach online. Even
though it may seem obvious for many of those in the technology and B2C worlds,
a very large proportion of B2B companies do not believe they can generate
leads online. Even if they do realize this, they typically approach it by only
talking about how great their product is with language that simply doesn't
resonate with the potential buyer. Prior to implementing these strategies we
generated business by cold calling and other outbound marketing techniques. We
were able to get to a point where 80% of our revenue was coming from our
inbound marketing. This led to a great "hockey stick" pattern on our revenue
chart and our eventual acquisition.

