Sorry for the confusion. I left off the axis labels because the graph was merely a conceptual contrast to the tired hockey stick curve.The idea of its iterative

Sorry for the confusion. I left off the axis labels because the graph was merely a conceptual contrast to the tired hockey stick curve.The idea of its iterative shape, relative to a hockey stick, is the important point. But I actually like your point because its interesting (a little) to think about what the axes have to be for those shapes to work. There is probably no confusion around the y axis representing traction - whatever metric is meaningful for the business at that stage. It could be users, or revenue, or engagement, etc. That pesky x axis is the issue. In the second graph, it cannot be time, as many have pointed out. And that's confusing because the x axis in the first graph of the hockey stick shape is usually time. The x axis in the second graph could instead be a measure of learning, or perhaps product development as one commenter suggested. It probably works best as degree of product/market fit. As prod/mkt fit increases with iterations, so does traction.