The Deadly Sins of OKRs for Startups
Pitfalls That Can Derail Your Growth
In companies big and small, OKRs (Objectives & Key Results) have the potential to drive laser-sharp focus and rapid execution. The tech industry in particular has popularized them as a tool for bringing order to chaos while maintaining a spirit of creativity, innovation, and partnership.
However, like any other tool, OKRs are not a silver bullet and can be grossly misapplied. When this happens, they can actually turn into a source of distraction, misalignment, and wasted effort. Here are six deadly sins of OKRs that you must guard against as the leader of a startup or scaleup.
1. Overconsumption Syndrome
When a startup sets too many objectives, it spreads its energy so thin that nothing gets done particularly well. Rather than channeling focus into a handful of transformational goals, teams dilute their efforts across a laundry list of initiatives.
How to fix it: Constrain your OKRs to only the most critical, high-impact objectives. Embrace the mantra “less is more” to ensure that every goal directly drives your strategic vision. To do this, take responsibility as a company leader: If you cannot say what that strategic vision is, or rattle off your highest-impact objectives in an elevator, it is safe to say that no one else at your company can, either.
2. Spray-and-Pray Strategy
Instead of taking bold, calculated bets, many startups fall into the trap of scattering OKRs across every conceivable opportunity and hoping that something sticks. This scattergun approach weakens focus, and will usually lead to mediocre outcomes across the board.
How to fix it: Identify and commit to a few strategic bets that could be real game-changers for your business. Say no to the noise, and invest deeply in the initiatives that have the potential to shift your business trajectory. Does doing so require having a solid business strategy in place? Absolutely. Is it worth your time to put this in place early on, instead of hoping that grassroots innovation among your teams will magically produce a raison-d’etre for your little company? Definitely.
3. Vanity Metric Narcissism
Focusing on impressive-looking numbers that don’t translate into meaningful business impact is a subtle but dangerous sin. When key results are defined by vanity metrics, your progress can look good on paper even as the needle on real outcomes barely moves. The bad news is, both business realities and your next wave of potential investors will quickly cut through the noise to reveal if your castle is built on sand or solid ground.
How to fix it: Anchor your key results in metrics that directly reflect user value and business performance. Prioritize outcomes that drive growth, not just figures that happen to be growing fast already.
4. Fragmented Focus
Developing OKRs in departmental silos creates a fragmented vision that can pull your startup in conflicting directions. When each team sets its own isolated goals, internal competition for resources and attention can undermine your overarching mission. As strange as it may seem, more small companies fall into this trap than one might expect: With a lack of proper processes and coordination, a staff that tends to have less experience, and leadership that may be too busy with other priorities to spend time communicating their vision internally, startups are particularly vulnerable to this deadly sin.
How to fix it: Foster cross-functional collaboration to ensure that every team’s OKRs align with a unified company vision. At the company level, regularly review and adjust your goals so that they serve a coherent strategic direction. Build processes into your OKR season to make sure everyone has a chance to compare, discuss and (when needed) reprioritize their OKRs with the company vision in mind.
5. The Rigidity Trap
In a startup’s volatile environment, clinging rigidly to predetermined OKRs can lock you into a path that no longer reflects market realities. This inflexibility prevents you from pivoting when opportunities arise or challenges emerge. Compared to big stodgy companies, the strength of a startup should be its ability to adapt quickly and stay agile. Don’t let this superpower go to waste by misinterpreting how OKR lists should be used.
How to fix it: Build agility into your OKR process with regular review cycles, and allow for recalibration when necessary. Make sure everyone in your company sees OKRs as dynamic guides rather than immutable commandments. Foster a culture of psychological safety and intellectual curiosity, where admitting that one’s priorities have shifted in light of new findings is celebrated rather than deplored.
6. The Accountability Abyss
When OKRs lack true ownership, they often devolve into wish lists rather than actionable strategies. Without clear accountability, progress stalls, and team focus dissipates into routine tasks without strategic impact. OKRs without owners are almost not worth setting – except perhaps for letting leads reflect on all that they intended, but failed to get done over the past quarter.
How to fix it: Assign a dedicated owner for each objective and key result. Establish a culture of accountability through regular check-ins and clear expectations, ensuring that every OKR translates into measurable action. At the same time, lean into a culture of growth and psychological safety, where ownership is supported and guidance is provided without judgment if someone flags that the objective they own is proving trickier than they thought.
In Summary
If used wisely, OKRs can be a powerful catalyst for growth. Avoid the deadly sins of overconsumption, scattergun efforts, vanity metrics, fragmented focus, rigidity, and accountability gaps to ensure that your OKR process is an engine for strategy and success. Embrace bold bets, focus on ambitious outcomes, and stay agile to navigate the fast-paced startup environment effectively.
Have you encountered any of these pitfalls? Ana Grouverman, our founder, has put OKR processes in place for teams ranging from Google to Spotify to early-stage startups. Reach out to us to discuss how we can transform your OKRs into a true growth accelerator.