Those who know me would say I'm extremely (excessively might be a better word) organized—start by asking my wife. My obsession with knowledge sharing and structured information might even be seen as borderline obsessive. There is a reason for this. My experience in larger companies has shown me, time and again, how much time and productivity is wasted when information isn't widely available or easily accessible. This creates inefficiencies, duplications, and misalignments that early-stage companies with limited funding simply can't afford.
Even if process and structure aren't your cup of tea, I advise establishing at least one process as early as possible. This process should help create, monitor, measure, and communicate objectives for yourself and your team. Your first investors will expect quick progress on key milestones. Without a process to efficiently prioritize the many competing priorities within your company, you'll likely fail.
Those who have worked with me in recent years know my passion for OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). I strongly recommend that founders implement OKRs in their company from day one—and read John Doerr's "Measure What Matters," which is truly eye-opening. Many of your team members might find this exercise premature or excessive at first. However, trust me—it will instill a discipline that will serve you well as your team and customer base grow tenfold. Even at this early stage, OKRs provide a framework to organize your management priorities and goals, and communicate them to the rest of the team. This transparency is key to achieving a level of alignment and efficiency that few companies manage to attain.
During flyiin's initial phase, I hadn't established a proper goal framework, as we had neither a team nor investors in place. I began using OKRs a few months after our successful—and only—funding round in 2019. I'd heard about OKRs and how they were incredibly helpful for founders managing numerous priorities and ensuring team alignment. I immediately bought the book I mentioned above and read it within a couple of weeks. Convinced by the model, I decided to implement it at flyiin right away, despite our team consisting of fewer than 10 people.
I presented the model to my co-founder and the team, starting by drafting annual, high-level OKRs that touched on all aspects of the venture. This gave them visibility into what we should achieve by the end of the year. Then, I asked the product and tech teams to produce quarterly OKRs, providing them with a framework to define and monitor their contribution to our yearly objectives. I would draft myself quarterly OKRs for the other areas (sales, funding, finance, operations, etc.).
The team wasn't sold on the necessity of going through this process at such an early stage. At first, they found it to be a complete waste of time because we were changing focus quite often, depending on the commercial opportunities that popped up. Despite their reluctance, I kept pushing for OKRs as they provided me with the best methodology to keep the team updated on how well or poorly we were doing against our objectives and on our overall progress. I believe the team ultimately recognized the value of OKRs as we approached our acquisition by Priceline.
Key Takeaway #27
Implement a process for setting, monitoring, and communicating objectives from day one, with OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) being highly recommended. This framework organizes priorities and ensures team alignment, proving invaluable as the company grows.