Lessons Learned: The Ups & Downs of Implementing OKRs at a SaaS Startup [+Template]

This article originally appeared on the Whatagraph blog.
October at Whatagraph started on a high tide: We had just closed the 3rd Quarter with record sales, our marketing metrics were all in the green, expectations for Q4 were optimistic and our MRR goal was motivating.
However, to reach sustainable growth with the somewhat limited resources that we (and most startups) have, we had to keep the team focused. Not just on their own projects and tasks, but on the overall company goal. So we decided to implement OKRs.
What the hell are oh-k-ahrrrs?
OKRs (Objectives-Key Results) is a popular methodology for setting measurable goals that ensure people across the organization are focused on the same priorities and track their progress towards reaching them.
OKRs were first introduced in the late 1970s at Intel. Now they are used by such industry giants as Amazon, LinkedIn, Uber, Google, etc.
OKRs consist of:
- Objectives define what you want to achieve and should be short, inspirational, and challenging.
- Key results are a set of measurable metrics that track your progress towards the Objective. Each Objective should have 2–5 KRs, ideally expressed in a numerical value.
- Initiatives, which are basically the actions you’re going to take to move forward with key results and reach the set objective.
The main benefit of OKRs: Organizational alignment.
OK, sounds good, let’s do this!
The decision to implement OKRs didn’t happen overnight. Teams at Whatagraph have been working with Agile and Scrum for quite a while, but to make OKRs effective, we knew that all departments had to understand the main purpose and benefit of this new framework.
Our reasons to adopt OKRs at Whatagraph, and on rather last-minute terms, were based on the main benefits that they bring:
- Alignment — to reach a certain MRR goal, we needed all teams to focus their priorities and find more efficient ways to cooperate with one another.
- Agility — to make sure we deliver the highest value in the shortest amount of time, we had to reduce waste and increase innovation.
- Autonomy and engagement — to make sure everyone understands how their daily work impacts the bigger picture, we had to choose clear success criteria.
“If everything is important, then nothing is,” — Patrick Lencioni, author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.
The first step was, obviously, to set a clear company Objective and assign measurable Key Results. We ended up focusing on monthly recurring revenue (MRR), which, in return, shaped our company-level KRs around leads and churn.
The second step was to set department-level OKRs. Admittedly, this brought in some confusion as department heads were worried they know too little about the framework, weren’t sure if their goals will align with the upper management’s vision, etc.
However, after some back and forth, each department had 2–3 Objectives set that were all focused around the main company goal — MRR — and spiraled down to individual-level OKRs. Here’s a good example from Perdoo on how the OKR structure could look like for a sales team:

Where we are now
A month has passed since the implementation of OKRs at Whatagraph, and it hasn’t gone by without some re-adjustments. After writing down the initial Objectives and Key Results, the next important step was figuring out how to track our progress.
While there are numerous apps that help with this sort of thing, for now, we decided to stick with good ol’ spreadsheets. We do weekly check-ins at department and company level to measure our progression and assign a confidence score to each KR.
Instead of assigning numerical values, we chose to simplify it to three colors: green meaning we’re positive we will reach the KR, yellow — we’re running into some bumps but still think we can hit it, and red — we see this area is underperforming and requires more focus.
Closing thoughts
OKR implementation at Whatagraph is by no means complete. There are already obvious gaps and misalignments between teams that will have to be re-evaluated for the next quarter.
However, here are the key things we have learned in the process that are crucial if you’re considering setting OKRs are your own company:
Our key takeaways
- Don’t go overboard when setting OKRs for the first time. Pro tip: Make sure you limit yourself to 1–2 Objectives and 2–5 KRs.
- Understand that OKRs focus on achieving a goal, not explaining the process. Pro tip: When writing, try phrasing it as “By the end of the quarter we will have done” instead of “We will be doing.”
- Key Results are easiest to follow when they’re incremental, not binary. Pro tip: When writing, try phrasing it as “Generate X number of sessions to our new blog” instead of “Launch a new blog.”
- OKRs should be ambitious, but achievable. Pro tip: Your goal should be ambitious to the point that obtaining 80% would mean you’ve achieved your target, and anything beyond that is considered.
Download a *free* OKR tracking template that we use at Whatagraph
Get the template on our original blog post here.
Have anything to add?
Hey there! Do you have an interesting story with OKRs or maybe want to share some feedback? We’d love to hear your thoughts.
