Concept · Organizational & Team Heuristics
Strategic Inflection Points
Origin: Andy Grove
Biological Parallel
The Permian-Triassic extinction (252 million years ago) killed 96% of marine species—but the 4% that survived recognized the inflection point (ocean acidification, oxygen depletion) and adapted rapidly through dormancy, migration, or metabolic flexibility. Lineages that waited for confirmation went extinct. Strategic inflection points are ecological phase transitions where the rules change: what worked yesterday (size, armor, specialization) becomes lethal tomorrow. Grove observed business ecosystems undergo the same 10x changes where delay means death and paranoid adaptation wins.