4 OKR examples for Series A
What are Series A OKRs?
The Objective and Key Results (OKR) framework is a simple goal-setting methodology that was introduced at Intel by Andy Grove in the 70s. It became popular after John Doerr introduced it to Google in the 90s, and it's now used by teams of all sizes to set and track ambitious goals at scale.
Writing good OKRs can be hard, especially if it's your first time doing it. You'll need to center the focus of your plans around outcomes instead of projects.
We understand that setting OKRs can be challenging, so we have prepared a set of examples tailored for Series A. Take a peek at the templates below to find inspiration and kickstart your goal-setting process.
If you want to learn more about the framework, you can read more about the OKR meaning online.
Best practices for managing your Series A OKRs
Generally speaking, your objectives should be ambitious yet achievable, and your key results should be measurable and time-bound (using the SMART framework can be helpful). It is also recommended to list strategic initiatives under your key results, as it'll help you avoid the common mistake of listing projects in your KRs.
Here are a couple of best practices extracted from our OKR implementation guide 👇
Tip #1: Limit the number of key results
The #1 role of OKRs is to help you and your team focus on what really matters. Business-as-usual activities will still be happening, but you do not need to track your entire roadmap in the OKRs.
We recommend having 3-4 objectives, and 3-4 key results per objective. A platform like Tability can run audits on your data to help you identify the plans that have too many goals.
Tip #2: Commit to the weekly check-ins
Don't fall into the set-and-forget trap. It is important to adopt a weekly check-in process to get the full value of your OKRs and make your strategy agile – otherwise this is nothing more than a reporting exercise.
Being able to see trends for your key results will also keep yourself honest.
Tip #3: No more than 2 yellow statuses in a row
Yes, this is another tip for goal-tracking instead of goal-setting (but you'll get plenty of OKR examples below). But, once you have your goals defined, it will be your ability to keep the right sense of urgency that will make the difference.
As a rule of thumb, it's best to avoid having more than 2 yellow/at risk statuses in a row.
Make a call on the 3rd update. You should be either back on track, or off track. This sounds harsh but it's the best way to signal risks early enough to fix things.
Building your own Series A OKRs with AI
While we have some examples below, it's likely that you'll have specific scenarios that aren't covered here. There are 2 options available to you.
- Use our free OKRs generator
- Use Tability, a complete platform to set and track OKRs and initiatives
- including a GPT-4 powered goal generator
Best way to track your Series A OKRs
OKRs without regular progress updates are just KPIs. You'll need to update progress on your OKRs every week to get the full benefits from the framework. Reviewing progress periodically has several advantages:
- It brings the goals back to the top of the mind
- It will highlight poorly set OKRs
- It will surface execution risks
- It improves transparency and accountability
We recommend using a spreadsheet for your first OKRs cycle. You'll need to get familiar with the scoring and tracking first. Then, you can scale your OKRs process by using a proper OKR-tracking tool for it.
If you're not yet set on a tool, you can check out the 5 best OKR tracking templates guide to find the best way to monitor progress during the quarter.
Series A OKRs templates
We've covered most of the things that you need to know about setting good OKRs and tracking them effectively. It's now time to give you a series of templates that you can use for inspiration!
We've added many examples of Series A Objectives and Key Results, but we did not stop there. Understanding the difference between OKRs and projects is important, so we also added examples of strategic initiatives that relate to the OKRs.
Hope you'll find this helpful!
OKRs to secure series A financing
- Secure series A financing
- Develop a compelling business plan and pitch deck
- Conduct market research and identify target audience for business plan
- Incorporate financial projections and ROI analysis to support the business plan and pitch deck
- Clearly outline the problem, solution, and value proposition in the business plan
- Create a visually appealing pitch deck with concise and engaging content
- Achieve a 10% increase in investor meetings
- Establish and maintain relationships with key industry influencers and networks to expand investor connections
- Increase outreach efforts to potential investors through targeted email campaigns
- Develop and deliver compelling presentations to attract investor interest and secure meetings
- Utilize social media platforms to promote our company and engage with potential investors
- Increase investor outreach by 50%
- Create personalized email campaigns for targeted investor segments
- Develop a comprehensive database of potential investors
- Leverage social media platforms to engage with potential investors and share updates
- Schedule regular investor meetings and webinar sessions to disseminate information
- Receive positive feedback from at least 75% of the potential investors
- Conduct thorough research on potential investors to understand their interests and preferences
- Follow up with investors promptly, addressing any questions or concerns they may have
- Deliver a compelling and concise presentation that clearly communicates the value proposition
- Tailor pitch deck to highlight benefits and potential returns for investors
OKRs to prepare for a Series A funding
- Prepare for Series A funding
- 5x monthly recurring revenue (MRR) by through expanding product offerings and acquiring new customers
- Increase customer retention rate by 15% through implementing a customer success program
- Increase the monthly active users by 10x
- Identify and target at least 15 potential investors
- Secure 50 intro calls
- Make a list of 100 VCs to reach out to
OKRs to secure Series A funding
- Be on track for Series A funding
- Show a 3x year-on-year revenue growth
- Reach $1.5M ARR
OKRs to deliver a well-informed assessment for a potential Series A follow-on investment at XY GmbH
- Deliver a well-informed assessment for a potential Series A follow-on investment at XY GmbH
- Complete a comprehensive risk-benefit analysis of the follow-on investment
- Identify and evaluate potential risks and benefits
- Compile and summarize analysis data in a final report
- Gather all relevant data pertaining to the follow-on investment
- Analyze XY GmbH's financial performance of the past two years
- Compare financial KPIs year-on-year to determine performance
- Identify notable trends or outliers in financial data
- Gather XY GmbH's financial statements from the past two years
- Evaluate competitiveness in XY GmbH's market sector
- Review customer satisfaction surveys and online reviews about XY GmbH's services
- Analyze XY GmbH's product positioning and pricing against competitors
- Conduct a SWOT analysis specific to XY GmbH's market sector
More Series A OKR templates
We have more templates to help you draft your team goals and OKRs.
OKRs to increase revenue efficiency across all business units OKRs to enhance skillset of 40% of the teams OKRs to validate AI's fit for automating HR processes OKRs to drive business expansion through innovative strategies OKRs to implement successful project tracking and KPI definition system OKRs to enhance my soft skills competency
OKRs resources
Here are a list of resources to help you adopt the Objectives and Key Results framework.
- To learn: Complete 2024 OKR cheat sheet
- Blog posts: ODT Blog
- Success metrics: KPIs examples