Unless the number of partners also grew in proportion to the number of startups. Then the partners had 33% more startups to learn, but they were scheduled for

Unless the number of partners also grew in proportion to the number of startups. Then the partners had 33% more startups to learn, but they were scheduled for 33% fewer meetings with each startup, so the total number of meetings needed for all the partners to learn all the startups was O(P*S) which is O(N^2), since P&S are both proportional to N, so it took quadratically longer for that familiarity to occur.