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OKR template

Pre-seed startup OKR examples

This is a free pre-seed startup OKR template with 2 objectives, 6 key results, and 8 starter initiatives you can copy. No fit yet, so the only honest goals are learning speed and the first real signals that somebody needs this. It is written for Pre-seed-stage companies.

  • 2 objectives
  • 6 key results
  • Pre-seed

What does a pre-seed startup OKR look like?

Copy these as they are and edit the numbers to your own baselines. The objective is the outcome you want to be true by the end of the quarter; the key results are how you will know it happened; the initiatives are the bets you are making to get there.

Objective 1 New business

Learn faster than our runway burns

Before fit, the only thing that compounds is what we have learned. The annual goal is a product a specific group of people cannot work without; this quarter is measured on conversations with prospects and how quickly each one changes the product.

KR 1.1 Headline

Problem interviews with people in the segment we wrote down 4 → 40

How it is measured: Interviews held with people who match the written buyer definition

Baseline: 4 · Target: 40

Initiatives

  • Write who we are building for in one sentence and disqualify against it
  • Publish one page of interview notes every week that the whole team reads
KR 1.2

Median days from a learning to a shipped change 26 → 5

How it is measured: Median days between an interview insight and a change reaching users

Baseline: 26 days · Target: 5 days

Initiatives

  • Keep one change in flight at a time so nothing waits behind a big build
KR 1.3

People who said they would pay and then did 0 of 12 → 6 of 12

How it is measured: Verbal commitments that turned into a paid invoice

Baseline: 0 of 12 · Target: 6 of 12

Initiatives

  • Ask for money in every conversation that gets past the second call
Objective 2 New business

Find the first users who would be upset if we vanished

Fit is not a feeling, it is a curve that flattens. The annual goal is a retention curve that holds without us pushing on it; this quarter looks for the first new customers who come back on their own.

KR 2.1 Headline

People who would be very disappointed without us 18% → 40% of the people who answered

How it is measured: Share answering “very disappointed” if the product went away, over everyone who answered

Baseline: 18% · Target: 40%

Initiatives

  • Ask the one disappointment question of every person who has used us twice
  • Rebuild the product around the people who answered “very disappointed”
KR 2.2

Users still there in week four 9% → 30% of the users who signed up this quarter

How it is measured: Signups with activity in their fourth week, over signups this quarter

Baseline: 9% · Target: 30%

Initiatives

  • Call every user who dropped out in week two and ask what they went back to
KR 2.3

Weekly conversations with users who came back on their own 0 → 8

How it is measured: Conversations held each week with returning users

Baseline: 0 · Target: 8

Initiatives

  • Book a 20-minute call with every third-week returner

Why are these key results written this way?

Every example above passes the same quality rubric Hespia grades real OKRs against. Four rules do most of the work, and they are worth keeping when you edit the numbers:

  1. The objective has no number in it

    An objective is a qualitative state of the world you want to be true. The number belongs one level down, on the key result. An objective with a metric in the title is really a key result that lost its parent.

  2. Every key result shows a baseline, not just a target

    "Problem interviews with people in the segment we wrote down 4 → 40" is readable at a glance because the movement is visible. A target with no starting number cannot be paced weekly, so nobody can tell in week 4 whether it is slipping.

  3. Every ratio names a denominator the team cannot shrink

    "Of the accounts that started the quarter" is a fixed denominator. "Of active accounts" is not — the definition of active can move, and the percentage improves without anything real changing.

  4. Enabling work sits in initiatives, not in key results

    "Launch the new onboarding" is work; "activation in week one from 31% to 45%" is the result the work is meant to produce. Shipping the project is not the same as the outcome arriving, so the two live at different levels.

A template remembers. It doesn't chase.

Copied into a doc, these 6 key results depend on someone reopening the doc every week. Hespia seeds this exact board in one click, then reads pace on every key result weekly, flags what is slipping in week 4 instead of week 13, and writes the digest nobody wants to write. $100/month flat, whole team included.

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Pre-seed startup OKR questions

What are good pre-seed startup OKRs?

Good pre-seed startup OKRs pair a qualitative objective with key results that each carry a number. In this template the objectives are "Learn faster than our runway burns" and "Find the first users who would be upset if we vanished", and every key result underneath states the metric, where it starts, and where it needs to land — for example "Problem interviews with people in the segment we wrote down 4 → 40". If a key result has no starting number, it is a task rather than a key result.

How many key results should a pre-seed startup team have?

Three to five key results per objective, and no more than two or three objectives per team in a quarter. This template uses 2 objectives and 6 key results in total, which is a realistic quarter for one team. More than that and the weekly check-in stops fitting in fifteen minutes, which is how the ritual dies.

Are these pre-seed startup OKR examples free to use?

Yes. Every objective, key result, and initiative on this page is free to copy into any doc, spreadsheet, or goal tool, with no signup and no email. Hespia, the AI mentor that tracks weekly pace on each of these key results and chases the owners, is $100/month flat for the whole team.

Why does every key result here name its denominator?

Because a ratio without a stated denominator can be improved by shrinking the bottom number instead of growing the top one. A team that reports "percentage of active accounts" can quietly redefine "active" and post a win it did not earn. Every percentage in this template names a denominator the team cannot move, such as the accounts that started the quarter.

More OKR templates

Company and founder OKR examples

The two goals a founder-led company runs on: win the segment you chose, and make the business predictable enough to plan a year around.

Seed-stage startup OKR examples

Fit in one segment. This quarter is about proving the first customers stay, and that the motion still works when someone other than the founder runs it.

Series A startup OKR examples

The motion works once. This quarter is about making it work twice — a second seller, a second channel, and a forecast that holds.

Growth-stage company OKR examples

Growth is assumed now. The quarter is judged on expansion, payback, and margin — the numbers that decide what the growth is worth.

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