What does ‘boiling the frog’ mean?
Boiling the frog is a metaphor — based on a folkloric (and apocryphal) claim that a frog placed in slowly-heated water won’t notice and will eventually boil — used to describe gradual deterioration that goes unnoticed until it’s too late. In startups, the metaphor warns against slow drift away from core focus, eroding morale, accumulating tech debt or quietly missed milestones.
Investor and board discipline includes asking ‘are we boiling the frog?’ on a quarterly basis: looking at NDR trends, cohort retention, employee NPS and runway burn. Surface-level metrics may stay healthy while underlying quality degrades.