The hockey stick curve: why understanding emerging technologies is a startup’s new superpower

And once again, about the importance of scaling companies’ operations, using the exponential curve as an example.

You need to build the foundation: assemble a team, define your market, and find your first funding. In 2026 and beyond you’ll need one more crucial building block: an understanding of exponential technologies.

“The best investment today is your understanding of exponential technologies and how they are changing our world.”

— Питер Диамандис

Exponential technologies are about multiplying growth. It’s not just “something about AI.”

These are technologies that don’t grow linearly, but along a curve: slow, slow… and then suddenly 10–100x faster and more powerful. What’s growing “like a hockey stick” right now?

Everything in this category: AI, robotics, biotech, AR/VR, autonomous transport, new energy sources.

The rules of the game have changed.
If your product is linear and a competitor builds theirs on an exponential technology, they don’t win by a small margin — they win by orders of magnitude: faster, cheaper, smarter.

A new MVP logic.
“Doing it manually” or hardcoding is no longer a competitive advantage. The advantage goes to those who understand how to put AI, automation, and data at the core of the product architecture — not as a cosmetic layer.

Scale is built into the idea from the start.
Exponential technologies allow you to design a startup that can scale to thousands and millions of users without proportional growth in costs or team size.

Risk and safety have switched places.
What used to seem “risky” — experimenting with new technologies — now looks very different.

Right now the real risk is ignoring them and building a company as if it were still 2010.

The smartest “investment round” we can make today is in ourselves:

- figure out which exponential technologies are already knocking on your industry’s door;

- understand how they are changing customer expectations;

- design your product and business model so you can ride that growth instead
of chasing it from behind.

Well, the classic question to ask yourself: “Sklifosovsky! Be specific already!”

Here’s what I do myself: I set up this working set of three questions for the coming months:

“What in my product could grow 10x if I integrate exponential technologies in the right way?”

“Where is that very ‘hockey stick’ point—when yesterday’s result is multiplied by today’s and the numbers start shooting up exponentially?”

“What could be the multiplier? 🚀

Where can I make things a bit FASTER, CHEAPER, SIMPLER?”

If your team wants to master the basics of exponential growth and dive into the skills of building fast‑growing products, get in touch. We have a training program on trendwatching and the fundamentals of exponential technologies.

And for top‑level executives, we offer a separate program, “C-Level Sales: Selling through Trust and Influence,” focused on building strategic relationships with complex and hard‑to‑reach senior decision‑makers.