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OKR Example: A Startup's Quarterly OKRs

A 25-person SaaS company setting three objectives for a quarter, with baselines on every key result.

Every key result below has a starting number. That is the single practice that separates OKRs that get scored from OKRs that get quietly forgotten in week six.

Note that the third objective is deliberately narrow. The temptation to add a fourth was resolved by writing the candidate down under 'explicitly not this quarter'.

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1

Objective 1

  • Make the first week so good that customers stop churning
2

Key Results — Objective 1

  • Activation rate (first value in 7 days) from 34% to 55%
  • Week-4 retention from 61% to 75%
  • Median time to first value from 4.2 days to under 1 day
  • Support tickets in first 7 days from 2.1 per account to under 1
3

Objective 2

  • Prove the sales motion works without the founders in the room
4

Key Results — Objective 2

  • Deals closed without founder involvement from 8% to 40%
  • Two account executives each closing 4+ deals in the quarter
  • Documented, repeatable sales playbook used in 100% of deals
  • Average sales cycle from 47 days to under 35
5

Objective 3

  • Stop firefighting: make the platform boringly reliable
6

Key Results — Objective 3

  • Sev-1 incidents from 6 per quarter to 1
  • Uptime from 99.1% to 99.9%
  • On-call pages outside working hours from 23 to under 5

What this canvas reveals

  • Objective one is about retention, not growth — the team concluded that acquiring more customers into a leaky product was the more expensive path.
  • Every key result names a baseline, so scoring at quarter end is arithmetic rather than argument.
  • Objective three has only three key results and one owner. Narrow objectives finish; broad ones drift.

Block by block

1Objective 1

  • Make the first week so good that customers stop churning

2Key Results — Objective 1

  • Activation rate (first value in 7 days) from 34% to 55%
  • Week-4 retention from 61% to 75%
  • Median time to first value from 4.2 days to under 1 day
  • Support tickets in first 7 days from 2.1 per account to under 1

3Objective 2

  • Prove the sales motion works without the founders in the room

4Key Results — Objective 2

  • Deals closed without founder involvement from 8% to 40%
  • Two account executives each closing 4+ deals in the quarter
  • Documented, repeatable sales playbook used in 100% of deals
  • Average sales cycle from 47 days to under 35

5Objective 3

  • Stop firefighting: make the platform boringly reliable

6Key Results — Objective 3

  • Sev-1 incidents from 6 per quarter to 1
  • Uptime from 99.1% to 99.9%
  • On-call pages outside working hours from 23 to under 5