Hard-Earned Truths About OKRs from the Scaling Trenches
By Marina Gorey Org Builder, People Ops Strategist, High-Performance Culture Architect
I’ve seen too many startups declare “OKRs don’t work.” And being totally transparent, it stings.
It also frustrates me when early-stage companies are prescribed rigid OKR methodologies.
OKRs, like most things in startups (and in human systems), are not one-size-fits-all. They’re about evolution.
They’re a powerful tool, but doing them well takes dedication, nuance, and a recognition that they’re not an out-of-the-box solution. OKRs require skill, judgment, and scaling muscles. And those take time to build.
Badly implemented OKRs can feel rigid, confusing, or even demoralising. Done well, tailored to your needs and evolving alongside your company , they become an engine for clarity, focus, and alignment.
I’ve used OKRs very successfully in two scaling companies (SuperAwesome and Lick, and trained countless other founders on how to use them in my coaching with Seedcamp and Techstars).
I’m passionate about OKRs because I’ve seen their potential to supercharge a team’s performance, but only if they’re approached thoughtfully, with flexibility and intention.
The number one thing I’ve learned about OKRs? It takes practice to get really good at them.
When you’re building a startup, you’re number 1 focus is survival, scaling is a distant ambition. SO it’s important to realise that the way you work with your team in the early days isn’t just about what needs to happen today. It’s about building the capability to move fast tomorrow.
This does not mean doing things today, like you would at scale (that is not going to work — you have to harness the stage you are at).
This means you need to start building the muscles that will matter when scale hits early.
Getting good at OKRs is one of those muscles.
Think of them like the steel reinforcements in the foundation of a skyscraper. You’re going to pile on revenue, customers, new products, all the exciting stuff that comes with growth. But it all rests on how strong those foundations are.
Getting really good at OKRs is part of laying that groundwork. Just like everyone on your team becoming exceptional at hiring, or having genuinely brilliant managers, or creating a culture where individuals don’t just know what the plan is, but why it matters. These are the deep structural reinforcements that make scaling not just possible, but powerful.