Your student entrepreneurs seem to be busy. But are they doing the right things to move their startup to the next level? It’s easy to mistake motion for progress - and that may be particularly true for highly motivated young people anxious to report back to you how much they’ve accomplished! By utilizing the Make Progress with Goals module from the Techstars Entrepreneurs Toolkit you can help your students move faster from problem to solution and create real startup progress - not just activity.
The best startup goals have two components:
This framework, traditionally referred to as “OKRs”, has become well known as a key to the success of companies like Google, Amazon, and Spotify. Originally developed by Andy Grove at Intel in 1975, this management strategy was adopted by John Doerr who eventually joined VC firm Kleiner Perkins. From there, it was implemented in 1999 at Google, a startup Kleiner Perkins had recently invested in.
Today, everyone at Google can see each other’s OKRs, and they are reset every three months to keep employees’ objectives in line with evolving company goals. (Your students may find it helpful to discuss - and update of their businesses on a more or less frequent basis, given other academic commitments.) Using this tool, Google has facilitated a collaborative and transparent culture, creating a sense of accountability across the organization.
Good objectives are a balance. They are specific enough to create focus but ambiguous enough to enable autonomy and innovation. Specificity is needed where the student founder describes exactly what they want to achieve - not generally what they want to do. Ambiguity is needed because the student founder should be open to and encourage insights and ideas from the talented team forming around them. (This model also checks the common command and control-type of leadership that can become problematic for some overly dominant founders.)
It is important to recognize that student entrepreneurs may not know the steps or solutions necessary to achieve their desired objectives. Learning this is part of the entrepreneurial experience, and while uncomfortable, it should be encouraged. If your student founders have presented a To-Do list of objectives, challenge them to ask them “So what…?” What are they ultimately trying to accomplish by completing these activities? This helps founders think about their objectives as a long-term mission, not just an immediate checkoff list.
STUDENT ACTIVITY: After discussing the elements of an effective objective, challenge the students to view the first three videos and complete the first half of the worksheet associated with this module (up to the “Reflection” section). This work can be done on students’ own time and submitted to Campus Directors for your review.
In this video recording, Techstars Managing Director Zach Nies explains some critical elements of effective key results:
The worksheet for this module references S.M.A.R.T. goals and provides a framework for weekly OKR review. Campus Directors should use the “Last Week’s Results” review, analysis of “Reactions and Learnings”, and “Advice for this week” as frequently or seldom as is helpful with your students. The worksheet also introduces the Goal Setting Canvas, the foundation for the second student activity in this module, and provides a template for students to populate.
At the beginning of a month, quarter, or semester, consider gathering several student teams together to discuss their goals and OKRs. (These students should also already been introduced to this model and utilized the worksheet down to the Goal Setting Canvas.) Campus Directors can present the fourth videos and then project the canvas on a large screen or whiteboard. Going around the room, ask one student from each team to introduce themselves, their team and business, and walk through their Goal Setting Canvas. They or you can populate it as they explain. Challenge the other team members, and other teams, to question each element of the canvas: