feature factory

Definition

A product development organization obsessed with shipping features rather than solving customer problems or delivering value. The startup equivalent of a hamster wheel—lots of motion, no actual progress.

Example Usage

Engineering became a feature factory, cranking out requests from the roadmap without anyone asking if customers actually wanted them.

Origin

Product management terminology popularized by John Cutler's 2016 writing

Fun Fact

Feature factories often result from misguided OKRs or KPIs that measure output (features shipped) rather than outcomes (customer value delivered), incentivizing teams to build fast rather than build right.

Source: Product management and agile development terminology

Related Terms

Beginner

lead investor

The VC firm that sets the terms and does the heavy lifting in a funding round, while other investors gratefully follow along. Someone has to negotiate while everyone else free-rides.

🚀 Startup / VC

Advanced

unicorn hunting

The venture capital strategy of seeking only investments with potential to return the entire fund, requiring massive exits. A portfolio approach that ignores solid doubles and triples in favor of swinging for nonexistent fences.

🚀 Startup / VC

Advanced

down round protection

A contractual mechanism that shields early investors from dilution when a startup raises money at a lower valuation than previous rounds. It's basically insurance against your company becoming less cool than you thought it was.

🚀 Startup / VC

Intermediate

extension round

Additional capital raised on the same terms as the previous round (like a Series A-1) rather than progressing to the next stage, buying time without the stigma of a flat or down round. The startup equivalent of taking an incomplete rather than failing the course.

🚀 Startup / VC

Intermediate

dry powder

Unspent capital sitting in a VC fund, waiting to be deployed into investments. The ammunition that lets VCs act fast when hot deals emerge or support portfolio companies needing emergency cash.

🚀 Startup / VC

Beginner

gross margin

Revenue minus cost of goods sold, expressed as a percentage—the fundamental measure of whether your business model makes sense before accounting for all those pesky operating expenses. VCs want this above 70% for SaaS.

🚀 Startup / VC

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