Deal size at $10k MRR predicts company trajectory for years: mouse hunters average 2% YoY growth, rabbit hunters 4%, deer hunters 22%, and elephant hunters 5%.
Startups rarely change their target customer — 70% keep the same animal 3+ years later, with migrations almost always moving upmarket one tier at a time.
Deer hunting (targeting ~10,000 customers at $10k/year) emerges as optimal: companies achieve 22% YoY growth while avoiding early-stage compliance burdens of elephants and churn of mice/rabbits.
Retention patterns cement early: even 3+ years post-$10k MRR, mouse hunters retain 56.2% NRR while elephant hunters hold 93.4%, showing the "animal you hunt" defines your company permanently.
Rabbit-to-deer migration is the only reliably successful upmarket shift, averaging 9% growth versus downmarket moves (rabbit-to-mouse) that collapse to -11% growth.