OKRs
Use OKRs when
The team is large enough that a quarterly focus helps, and you can still name the few numbers that prove the objective. Bad OKRs are slogans. Good ones point at a KPI you already measure the same way every month.
OKRs vs KPIs
OKRs vs KPIs: a goal system versus the numbers you actually run
Reviewed August 21, 2026 by Robb
KPIs are the measures you watch because the business depends on them. OKRs are a way to set a few ambitious goals for a period. Founders paste OKR templates over a company that still cannot close the books. We would rather have five true KPIs than a wall of objectives nobody can audit. Investors will ask for the former.
KPIs
Use KPIs when
Always. Cash, margin, retention, pipeline quality — whatever actually runs the company. Definitions that do not change every board meeting. If a raise asks for ‘the metrics,’ this is the list.
A raise is not an OKR workshop
Partners will not underwrite your Q3 objectives slide. They will underwrite revenue, retention, and burn that match the ledger. Put OKRs in the operating cadence. Put KPIs in the packet.
One definition
If sales, product, and finance all mean something different by ‘active,’ you do not have a KPI. You have three stories. We lock definitions in the close process so the dashboard and the books stop fighting.
Ambition still needs a calendar
OKRs that assume a hire you cannot fund are fiction. Tie objectives to the cash view. That is how a goal system stays adult.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need OKRs to raise?
No. You need numbers you can defend. OKRs are internal. Do not confuse the two packs.
How many KPIs?
Fewer than you think. The ones that change a decision. A dashboard of forty is a hiding place.
Who owns the definitions?
Finance should own the ones that hit the board pack, with the operators who produce the activity. One owner. Written down.