Best OKRs for startups, with examples

If there is one thing that can help a startup to maintain its focus and not waste its energy on unimportant tasks, then it is – OKRs, which stands for Objectives and Key Results. OKRs are not just another goal-setting methodology. In fact, today’s industry giants like Google and Intel have adopted this framework in their nascent stages and have grown up to become multi-billion-dollar businesses today.

OKRs consist of two parts – Objectives and Key Results. The objectives are the major goals that you want your startup to achieve in any quarter (or even a month). The key results are defined under each of the objectives and these are actionable and measurable steps that can be taken to complete that objective. Ideally, an objective should be clear, concise, and inspirational i.e. those that push your team’s limits. And the key results should be specific, measurable, and relevant.

Identifying the best OKRs for Startups –

To ensure that you are setting the best OKRs for your startup you must find out those main areas of improvement that can give you the biggest returns. Through our research, we have found some of the key business areas that all startups should focus on. Following are some of those business areas around which you can create your OKRs -

1. Increase revenue or sales – Increasing the revenue or sales is one of the most important objectives of a startup. This is a recurring objective that should be a part of your every OKR cycle, though you may shift its focus every quarter. ‍
2. Improve marketing or generate leads – A budding business’s top priority is to establish or market itself. So, marketing or generating leads is a crucial objective that can’t be missed at any cost. ‍
3. Get new customers or reduce churn – Establishing a strong customer base, getting more people to sign up, and reducing the churn of existing customers is good for any enterprise, not just for startups. ‍
4. Start or improve support and maintenance – Customer support is essential to turn your one-time customers into your long-term clients. Having superior customer support is one of the best ways to stand out among your competition. ‍
5. Hire new and suitable talent – As a startup begins to grow, it starts to require more and more manpower together with some fresh talent. Hiring enthusiastic and committed employees will be a foundational step towards its success. ‍
6. Employee empowerment and skill development - The success of any startup depends on the talent and knowledge of its members. Continuous employee empowerment and skill development is a key objective that will ensure your startup remain competitive.

Best OKR examples for startups

Now let’s look at some of the best OKR examples for startups or small businesses. These OKRs are based on the above-discussed categories of objectives. The key results under each of the objectives specify what needs to be done to achieve the objective. The following OKR template with examples for startups is a great start but modify and redefine the objectives and the key results to suit your industry and work culture.

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Startup OKR for launching a product

Startup OKR for increasing revenue

Startup OKR to improve customer satisfaction

Startup OKR for product branding

Startup OKR for raising capital

In Conclusion

The above set of OKR examples is a good template to refer to when writing your own OKRs. But OKR is not a one-time, set-and-forget type of activity. It is a very dynamic and collaborative goal-setting methodology. Hence, using a tool to implement the OKRs in your start-up will make a real difference. For a startup, you need a tool that is easy and quick to adopt, at the same time versatile in functionality. Witsmate is an innovative OKR tool that makes OKR adoption easy, effective, and affordable. It provides features like timelines, reminders, comments, team management, etc. which are essential for implementing OKRs effectively. If interested, get a free trial by just signing up here.

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