As the core US business began to look more like a line than a hockey stick, international and payments were layered on top. Together, the aggregate business started to look like a hockey stick, but underneath it was actually many new lines of business. This phase of eBay’s story is not unique for fast-growing startups. What looks like an exponential growth curve is often, in reality, a series of lines layered quickly on top of each other. Uber’s impressive growth trajectory was a combination of launching in more and more cities each year, while simultaneously layering on new products—like
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