diff --git a/cmd/minikube/cmd/dashboard.go b/cmd/minikube/cmd/dashboard.go
index 51957e4b58..cba6f43c22 100644
--- a/cmd/minikube/cmd/dashboard.go
+++ b/cmd/minikube/cmd/dashboard.go
@@ -84,7 +84,8 @@ var dashboardCmd = &cobra.Command{
 		svc := "kubernetes-dashboard"
 		out.ErrT(out.Verifying, "Verifying dashboard health ...")
 		checkSVC := func() error { return service.CheckService(ns, svc) }
-		if err = retry.Expo(checkSVC, 1*time.Second, time.Minute*5); err != nil {
+		// for slow machines or parallels in CI to avoid #7503
+		if err = retry.Expo(checkSVC, 100*time.Microsecond, time.Minute*10); err != nil {
 			exit.WithCodeT(exit.Unavailable, "dashboard service is not running: {{.error}}", out.V{"error": err})
 		}
 
@@ -97,7 +98,7 @@ var dashboardCmd = &cobra.Command{
 
 		out.ErrT(out.Verifying, "Verifying proxy health ...")
 		chkURL := func() error { return checkURL(url) }
-		if err = retry.Expo(chkURL, 1*time.Second, 3*time.Minute); err != nil {
+		if err = retry.Expo(chkURL, 100*time.Microsecond, 10*time.Minute); err != nil {
 			exit.WithCodeT(exit.Unavailable, "{{.url}} is not accessible: {{.error}}", out.V{"url": url, "error": err})
 		}
 
diff --git a/pkg/addons/addons.go b/pkg/addons/addons.go
index b39ee3f601..3b5666e9dd 100644
--- a/pkg/addons/addons.go
+++ b/pkg/addons/addons.go
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ func enableOrDisableAddonInternal(cc *config.ClusterConfig, addon *assets.Addon,
 		return err
 	}
 
-	return retry.Expo(apply, 1*time.Second, time.Second*30)
+	return retry.Expo(apply, 100*time.Microsecond, time.Minute)
 }
 
 // enableOrDisableStorageClasses enables or disables storage classes
diff --git a/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/bsutil/kverify/default_sa.go b/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/bsutil/kverify/default_sa.go
index 453edff703..072446a254 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/bsutil/kverify/default_sa.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/bsutil/kverify/default_sa.go
@@ -18,36 +18,36 @@ limitations under the License.
 package kverify
 
 import (
-	"fmt"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	meta "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/wait"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes"
-	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/util/retry"
+	kconst "k8s.io/kubernetes/cmd/kubeadm/app/constants"
 )
 
 // WaitForDefaultSA waits for the default service account to be created.
 func WaitForDefaultSA(cs *kubernetes.Clientset, timeout time.Duration) error {
 	glog.Info("waiting for default service account to be created ...")
 	start := time.Now()
-	saReady := func() error {
+	saReady := func() (bool, error) {
 		// equivalent to manual check of 'kubectl --context profile get serviceaccount default'
 		sas, err := cs.CoreV1().ServiceAccounts("default").List(meta.ListOptions{})
 		if err != nil {
 			glog.Infof("temproary error waiting for default SA: %v", err)
-			return err
+			return false, nil
 		}
 		for _, sa := range sas.Items {
 			if sa.Name == "default" {
 				glog.Infof("found service account: %q", sa.Name)
-				return nil
+				return true, nil
 			}
 		}
-		return fmt.Errorf("couldn't find default service account")
+		return false, nil
 	}
-	if err := retry.Expo(saReady, 500*time.Millisecond, timeout); err != nil {
+	if err := wait.PollImmediate(kconst.APICallRetryInterval, timeout, saReady); err != nil {
 		return errors.Wrapf(err, "waited %s for SA", time.Since(start))
 	}
 
diff --git a/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/kubeadm/kubeadm.go b/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/kubeadm/kubeadm.go
index 3ae20295e4..c91f4b6f7c 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/kubeadm/kubeadm.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/kubeadm/kubeadm.go
@@ -522,7 +522,7 @@ func (k *Bootstrapper) restartCluster(cfg config.ClusterConfig) error {
 		_, err := k.c.RunCmd(exec.Command("/bin/bash", "-c", fmt.Sprintf("%s phase addon all --config %s", baseCmd, conf)))
 		return err
 	}
-	if err = retry.Expo(addonPhase, 1*time.Second, 30*time.Second); err != nil {
+	if err = retry.Expo(addonPhase, 100*time.Microsecond, 30*time.Second); err != nil {
 		glog.Warningf("addon install failed, wil retry: %v", err)
 		return errors.Wrap(err, "addons")
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/provision/buildroot.go b/pkg/provision/buildroot.go
index 2f630f9332..50fb6a28ae 100644
--- a/pkg/provision/buildroot.go
+++ b/pkg/provision/buildroot.go
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ func (p *BuildrootProvisioner) Provision(swarmOptions swarm.Options, authOptions
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	err := retry.Expo(configAuth, time.Second, 2*time.Minute)
+	err := retry.Expo(configAuth, 100*time.Microsecond, 2*time.Minute)
 	if err != nil {
 		glog.Infof("Error configuring auth during provisioning %v", err)
 		return err
diff --git a/pkg/provision/ubuntu.go b/pkg/provision/ubuntu.go
index 3fbf006b69..29349cd66c 100644
--- a/pkg/provision/ubuntu.go
+++ b/pkg/provision/ubuntu.go
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ func (p *UbuntuProvisioner) Provision(swarmOptions swarm.Options, authOptions au
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	err := retry.Expo(configAuth, time.Second, 2*time.Minute)
+	err := retry.Expo(configAuth, 100*time.Microsecond, 2*time.Minute)
 
 	if err != nil {
 		glog.Infof("Error configuring auth during provisioning %v", err)