Fred Wilson wrote a great article on this this morning. The graph is from Paul Graham. Together they are two of the best thinkers on start-ups and technology business today. The curve looks all too familiar:

Infinity Softworks has been through this curve. While we didn’t have a TechCrunch initiation, we definitely had this spike in 1998-2001 as we ramped sales on Palm OS, expanded the product and formed incredibly good partnerships that meant massive distribution and awareness. Then everything flattened for a few years before the bottom fell out in 2005 and our crash of ineptitude occurred in 2007 when we tried to develop a math education Windows and Mac product that no one cared about and a BlackBerry app that made the sound of a deflating balloon on launch.

We began to recover in 2009 (not before we both spent a brief time consulting for someone else to make ends meet) with our iOS app and hit the wiggles of false hope when the iPad launched in 2010. We’ve been in those wiggles ever since.

Come on, Promised Land! Papa needs a new pair of tennis shoes!