OKRs for Gary's SaaS [example]

++++

Here is our OKR and KPI for 1H 2025

++++

Goal: Build a self-sustaining bootstrapped company

North Star Metric: TBD

KPIs

Input Metrics (Leading indicators - Things we Control)

• Marketing

  • Sales Outbound

  • SEO Content creation

  • Organic Referral / Virality Rate

• GTM

  • Sign-ups

  • Onboarding / Demo meetings

• Product

  • TBD

• Free-to-Paid %

  • % of users hit a paywall and hand raise 🙋🏻‍♀️

Output Metrics: (Lagging Indicators - Signals of Success)

• Closed Sales per week

• Revenue

• Number of seats (expansion revenue)

• CAC / LTV

• Renewal Rate

• Customer Complaints

OKR KPI 1H 2025

• Objective 1: Validate with Pre-Sell

  • Book 4+ Onboarding / Demo per week (SEO, Outbound, WoM)

  • Convert 25% of the calls to pre-sold committed customers

  Objective 2: Drive Product Value

  • TBD

  Objective 3: Create an Evergreen channel

  • Create 50 content per month for SEO

  Objective 4: Build a Self Sustainable Business

  • Close 1 customer per week (4/mo)

  • Double each quarter (4/mo → 8/mo → 16/mo → 32/mo)

Don't Get Distracted: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Staying Focused

As an entrepreneur, it's easy to get overwhelmed.

Trust me, I've been there.

In the early stages of a startup…

There's a constant number of ideas, channels to explore, and people to talk to.

It can feel like you're drowning in possibilities. 🌊

The Noise of Entrepreneurship

You've got potential customers, investors, and old connections that might be interested (but not really).

There are social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit that seem promising

… if you just keep engaging.

And don't even get me started on how you could update your website better.

It's a lot.

It's overwhelming.

But here's the thing…

I've learned the value of time and focus.

The Power of Regular Realignment

This time around, I'm doing things differently.

Every few weeks, I spend an entire day rewriting our OKRs

(Objectives and Key Results)

and KPIs

(Key Performance Indicators)

It might seem like a lot of time…

but it's important to reflect and stay on track.

Breaking It Down: OKRs and KPIs

OKRs are our top-level goals and objectives.

They keep us aimed at the big picture.

KPIs, on the other hand,

… help us look at both leading and lagging indicators.

Lagging indicators are things like

• Customer sales

• Word-of-mouth virality

• …

They are important, but we can't directly control them…

We focus on the leading indicators:

• Setting up meetings

• Doing outreach

• Creating a pipeline

• Getting folks to use our product

• Taking care of them with customer success

• Asking about their likelihood to recommend us

These actions build towards product-market fit…

which is our ultimate objective…

in creating a self-sustaining business.

The Takeaway: Focus on What Matters

So, don't get distracted.

It's okay to spend a whole day looking into your objectives and leading indicators.

It helps you realign yourself and your team…

… focusing your energy where it needs to go.

Focus is our most valuable asset.

I write daily*** about my learning on launching and leading PLG. Feel free to subscribe.

I am Gary Yau Chan. 3x Head of Growth. Product Growth specialist. 26x hackathon winner. I write about #PLG and #BuildInPublic. Please follow me on LinkedIn, or read about what you can hire me for on my Notion page.