Is it too early to start using OKRs in your startup?
You're managing a lot - prioritizing your product's development, trying to acquire customers, and handling the growing pains of scaling a small team.
When it comes to setting clear, actionable goals to align everyone, you may wonder: should you wait until you've reached product-market fit or until your team has grown?
The short answer is: No, it’s never too early to start using OKRs.
In fact, the sooner you implement them, the better.
Why? Because OKRs will help you reach your first $1M ARR milestone.
Let’s explore why OKRs can benefit your startup at any stage.
What Are OKRs and Why Do You Need Them?
OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) are a goal-setting framework designed to help teams stay focused, aligned, and on track toward achieving ambitious goals.
They allow you to define what your team wants to accomplish (objectives) and how success will be measured (key results).
For startups like yours, OKRs help maintain clarity and direction in a fast-paced environment. They make it easier for everyone - whether you're a solo founder or leading a growing team - to align on priorities and measure progress effectively.
When Should You Start Using OKRs?
1. In the Early Days - When You’re Building Your Product and Team
Even in the very early days of your startup, you need focus and alignment to avoid getting distracted by a thousand different things.
This is the stage when you are figuring out your product-market fit and customer needs. Starting to use OKRs early on can help set a clear direction and keep your team aligned on critical early-stage goals.
Why start now?
- With a small team, aligning on a shared vision from day one is essential.
- OKRs help you stay focused on early-stage tasks like customer discovery, MVP development, or validating market fit.
For example, your OKRs could be:
- Objective: Validate product-market fit
- Key Result 1: Conduct 50 customer interviews
- Key Result 2: Achieve 70% positive feedback on the MVP
2. Once You Have a Small Team - As You Work Toward Product-Market Fit
As your team grows and you’re getting closer to achieving product-market fit, OKRs become even more valuable. Now, you have more moving parts - marketing, sales, customer support, etc. Keeping everyone aligned on the same overarching goals is critical.
Why start now?
- OKRs will help ensure that everyone is focused on the right things, like refining the product and meeting customer demand.
- You’ll have the structure you need to measure progress while dealing with growing complexity.
For example, OKRs could shift toward scaling efforts like:
- Objective: Achieve product-market fit
- Key Result 1: Achieve 100 active users
- Key Result 2: Reduce churn rate by 25%
3. When You’ve Achieved Product-Market Fit - As Your Team Expands
Once you’ve achieved product-market fit, you’ll likely have a growing team with different departments working on different goals.
This is when OKRs can really shine. You’ll need more team-specific OKRs, each aligned with the company’s broader objectives, to make sure everyone is moving in the same direction.
Why start now?
- At this stage, you need to scale efficiently and make sure each team’s goals are contributing to the larger vision.
- OKRs provide a clear framework to break down big company goals into actionable tasks for different teams.
For example, your company-wide OKRs might include:
- Objective: Scale customer acquisition to hit $1M in ARR
- Key Result 1: Acquire 1,000 new paying customers
- Key Result 2: Increase conversion rate from 10% to 15%
Each department’s OKRs would feed into this overarching goal.
Recommending reading: Team vs. Personal OKRs: What’s Best for Your Startup?
What Team Size Is Ideal for OKRs?
The truth is, there’s no specific team size that makes OKRs necessary - it’s about whether you’re ready for more structure and alignment.
Whether you have 5 people or 50, you can start using OKRs at any stage.
The key is setting clear, focused goals that align with your startup’s current needs.
If you’re just starting out, individual OKRs can also be useful for tracking your personal progress and goals. Once your team grows beyond 5-10 people, it’s a good idea to expand OKRs to team and department levels to keep everyone aligned.
What If We’re Not Ready for OKRs?
You might be wondering,
“What if our startup isn’t mature enough for OKRs yet? Shouldn’t we wait until we’ve reached product-market fit or grown the team a little more?”
Here’s the thing:
Waiting too long to implement OKRs can be detrimental.
The sooner you set clear goals, the sooner your team can start working toward them in a focused, aligned way. While OKRs may seem like a complex system, they can be simplified as you begin - start with a few key objectives and build from there.
By setting OKRs early on, you set the foundation for a stronger, more aligned team and avoid the chaos that comes with scaling too quickly without clear priorities.
Suggested article: How to Set the Right Number of OKRs to Avoid Overloading Your Team
Conclusion
The ideal time to start using OKRs is now.
Whether you’re building your product, achieving product-market fit, or scaling your team, OKRs will help you focus on the most important goals and track progress effectively.
It’s never too early to align your team around clear, actionable goals that will drive growth.
With OKRs, you can build a culture of focus, accountability, and transparency from the get-go.
Need a tool to help manage your OKRs efficiently? Try OKRs Tool - designed specifically for startups, to help you simplify goal-setting, track progress, and keep your team aligned as you grow.
