The hockey stick may be odd in the case of startups, and maybe in regards to strict specialization (of software engineering), which may be the intended audience of HN. There is nothing wrong (in fact normal, and considered healthy if the slope of growth matches the needs) for expansion of a product in diff countries, upon acquisition of new manufacturing or distribution points, for example, or after divestiture events, or even some M&As directed towards short term expansion of product reachability, when a large, global company leverages a small acquired one for a niche product gaining large distribution capabilities, etc., etc. All in all - hockey stick shape is not always bad - quite to the contrary.