Turning a Deeptech Startup Customer-Focused with OKRs: iExec's Journey

The Challenge

As part of our ongoing series of OKR Success Stories and Case Studies, we explore how iExec, a pioneering blockchain technology startup, recently embarked on a transformative journey to become more customer-centric using the Objectives and Key Results (OKR) framework. As a deeptech company founded by academics, iExec faced the classic challenge of bringing a groundbreaking technology to market and finding product-market fit.

In a recent presentation, Laurent Hours, CFO at iExec, shared valuable insights and lessons learned from their experience implementing OKRs to drive this strategic shift. Their story offers valuable learnings for other startups and tech companies looking to become more customer-focused.

From Academics to Acquiring Customers

Founded seven years ago by co-founders from academia, iExec invented an innovative blockchain-based technology combining cryptocurrencies and confidential computing. Operating in the cutting-edge Web3 sector, their primary challenge was finding market fit and driving adoption of their solutions.

"Actually, adoption, evangelization of the solutions are not that easy," Laurent explained. "We got a very nice ambition around everything we can do with this technology today, but we know that we need to experiment, we need to try, we need to make some decision, we need to fail also on the way we're gonna execute our go-to-mass-market strategy to be able at the end of the day to find the market fit, to scale and to monitor revenue in terms of adoption."

Like many tech startups, iExec had to evolve from an academic mindset to a commercial one in order to successfully bring their technology to market and acquire customers. "We've got a kind of cultural challenge inside the company to make sure that we are focusing on the good targets and making sure also that we are focusing today on more business oriented targets," Laurent said.

This cultural shift was critical as iExec was actively working on every item that can make its valuation up, as any other startup which is not generating positive cash flows.. They needed to demonstrate to external stakeholders that they could monetize their technology and generate real customer value.

"We need to put a kind of emergency about the way we can turn the company from a tech company initially coming from academics into a product company, and finally, into a customer-oriented company that is generating revenue, a company with reaching significant milestones in its GTM execution t," Laurent explained.

Enter OKRs: A Framework for Focus and Alignment

To drive this transformation into a customer-centric organization, iExec turned to the OKR framework for focus and alignment. However, their initial attempt at rolling out OKRs did not succeed.

"I wasn't there, but I have roughly the same experience with the first try with an OKR implementation, and it didn't work," Laurent shared. "I think that focusing and putting the right resources, the right external support and mentorship, and priority around this kind of project is key. If you do it not completely with the correct focus, you should have a high priority not to succeed potentially."

Learning from this experience, iExec took a much more rigorous and structured approach to their second OKR rollout. Some key success factors included:

• Strong sponsorship and commitment from the CEO: "There was a very strong impression from our CEO Gilles, and very strong sponsorship...I think he invested a lot of time and he really made a conviction about what could be the value brought by OKR implementation inside the company."

• Following proven best practices and rituals: "We really wanted to make an implementation by the book. The OKR approach is very rigorous - there are some rules, there are some rituals. Sometimes it's a bit boring to do, I have to confess. But the experience is to say that if you are not playing it really strongly, if you want to take too many shortcuts, you won't have the outcome you expected."

• Getting expert support and mentoring: "The mentoring is key because it's not something you can learn by yourself. Every time you're gonna do something you're gonna learn something. But you really have to get some strong support from someone who already succeeded in the OKR implementation."

• Taking a phased approach and keeping things simple: "At the beginning, you need to be humble on the way you're gonna manage this methodology and also you need to focus a lot on the way you're going to be trained and take control of the key points of the methodology. There is a learning curve you need to respect."

• Involving the broader organization: "We shared widely the responsibility of the key results and also the way we were defining, challenging, and managing the KR implementation...It also gives some feedback from every position inside the organization that makes sure that you are focused and you are efficient in the way you manage the KR."

Through this focused and disciplined approach, iExec was able to successfully deploy OKRs and start driving real results. Let's look at some of their key achievements and lessons learned so far.

Putting the Technology and the Organization to the Test

One of the first benefits iExec saw from implementing OKRs was getting a clear-eyed view of where they really stood in terms of their technology and organizational capabilities. By setting ambitious targets and key results, they uncovered areas for improvement that weren't previously visible.

"We stressed the organization that much, we stretched the technology that much that we realized that we are not as good as what we were thinking," Laurent admitted. "It's really good to know. We had some good news and afterwards some bad news, but at the end of the day, it's always good to be able to put the processes and the technology under pressure because that shows exactly where we are and what we need to correct to be able to go to the next stage."

While it can be uncomfortable to confront gaps and weaknesses, surfacing these issues is an essential part of any improvement journey. OKRs provided a structured way to test the organization's limits and identify the most critical areas to address in order to progress.

Accelerating Velocity and Alignment

Another significant benefit iExec experienced was a marked improvement in organizational velocity and alignment. With quarterly OKRs driving clear priorities and focus, the company was able to make decisions and move faster than before.

"We're able to make decisions very quickly because we need to do it every quarter to define a project plan. And also you need to give some results and you need to share them to the organization, and you need to do it again the quarter after. So the decisions and the orientation are clearer or faster. And you get more resources allocated to the key points for the organization," Laurent explained.

OKRs also created a shared language and sense of alignment across the organization. Regular check-ins, weekly updates, and quarterly planning sessions became rituals for ensuring everyone was working towards the same goals.

"Every quarter we come back on what we did, we share the results. And we also ask everybody to contribute to the KR definition for the next quarter. So that means that we are challenged on the results, and also we are challenged on what we're going to do. And naturally, then it becomes something very common inside the organization to know what the priorities are," Laurent said.

Importantly, iExec made a deliberate choice to openly share all OKR-related information and materials across the company. Project plans, action plans, and results were completely transparent. This radical openness was key to fostering accountability and alignment.

From Sandbox to Service: Achieving Technological Reliability

One of iExec's most important OKR achievements so far has been evolving their core technology from an experimental "sandbox" into a reliable, scalable service that customers can depend on. They knew that to successfully commercialize their offering, they needed to focus relentlessly on service levels and reliability.

"My feeling is that we turned the company, from the tech side, from a kind of very nice sandbox to a service provider," Laurent shared. "So that means that we focused really on our SLAs. We still have some work to do on that, but we moved from a tech which is fantastic and you can make crazy things, but not all the time, to something a bit probably less ambitious at this stage, but accessible 24/7 and being also able to send the message to the developers that are supposed to become our customers that they can invest the time and the money and get some nice ROI if they choose to work on our technology."

This shift from fascinating but inconsistent technology to a dependable, always-on service is a crucial transition that every deeptech startup must navigate to achieve commercial success. By setting clear SLAs as key results and staying laser-focused on reliability, iExec has made major strides in becoming enterprise-ready.

Strengthening the Talent Foundation

While most of iExec's OKRs focused on core business goals, they also leveraged the framework to make rapid progress on foundational people priorities, such as recruiting key talent.

"We succeeded last year in recruiting our top 10 profiles. It's really key because we always find room for improvement in this process and we achieved it. That means that we, it was a key milestone for us to be able in 2024 to execute a strategy and start to scale," said Laurent.

Even for internal, non-revenue-generating functions, OKRs proved their value in creating focus, urgency and accountability. "Even on the processes which are not really business oriented or more support oriented, you can really improve and you can put them at a really good level of priority inside the organization and get some strong support from the management committee if you need to make some decision or to speed up any action," Laurent explained.

By using OKRs to strengthen their talent foundation alongside their core technology and business, iExec has laid the groundwork for future scaling and growth. Especially for a startup, having the right people in place is just as important as having the right product.

Lessons Learned: Keep It Simple, Involve the Team

While iExec has made major progress with OKRs, their journey hasn't been without challenges and learnings. One key takeaway has been the importance of keeping OKRs as simple and focused as possible.

"Gilles, our CEO, is always mentioning the same thing when we're writing some project plan: you need to do it and to write it as simple as possible. And once you did it, you need to make it even more simple," Laurent shared. "I think it's good to get a balance between ambition and ability to get a result. You don't have to combine in the same KR two different targets, because that would be the condition for failure."

Another critical lesson has been the need to deeply involve the broader team, not just leadership, in the OKR process. At the beginning, only about 10-20% of the organization's effort was allocated to OKRs. They've since realized they need much wider engagement.

"I think today it's roughly between 30 and 50 percent of the effort which is directly dedicated to OKRs," said Laurent. "It's really good to see that we are much better and stronger than what we were last year on the same period because it's still a learning curve, but we see that we are really on the good topics and that we are going really faster on the way we can write these things and we can make the teams secure for the execution."

OKRs + Agile Budgeting = Adaptability and Accountability

As a CFO, Laurent also shared how he sees OKRs working hand-in-hand with agile budgeting to achieve organizational adaptability and fiscal accountability, especially in a fast-moving startup context.

"OKR and budget, for me, it's OKR plus budget. I consider that OKR and my experience can really securitize the execution of the budget," he explained. "In our particular context of a startup, my experience is that the budget is always wrong because it's not exactly what we planned that happens, but in terms of KPIs, in terms of financial flows, we need to deliver."

OKRs provide a way to dynamically align budgets and resources to the most important priorities, even as those priorities shift throughout the year. "OKR is really powerful to secure execution inside an organization. OKR is aligned with budget on the first months of the year, and on the way if we have some bad news or hopefully if we have some opportunities we want to take care of, it's always good to capture them inside an OKR and then to securitize at the end of the day the budget execution," said Laurent.

By linking OKRs and budgets, finance leaders like Laurent can become enablers of strategic agility rather than obstacles to it. They can empower the organization to adapt in real-time to challenges and opportunities, without losing sight of key financial metrics and goals.

Key Takeaways for Deeptech Startups and Their OKR Journeys

iExec's OKR journey yields some valuable lessons for other deeptech startups looking to become more customer-centric:

1. Expect it to be hard – a high-growth startup context is challenging, but the focus and learnings from OKRs are worth it. Be patient and persist.

2. CEO sponsorship is key – without strong and active buy-in from the top, an OKR program is unlikely to stick. Make it a leadership priority.

3. Follow best practices – OKRs have proven rituals and techniques. Resist the temptation to cut corners or skimp on the process.

4. Get expert help, at first – leverage external expertise and mentoring to accelerate your OKR journey and avoid common pitfalls. Build internal know-how over time.

5. Simple is best – keep individual OKRs focused on a single, simply-defined goal. Limit the number of OKRs to maintain focus and avoid overwhelming the team.

6. Involve everyone – OKRs are most effective when the entire organization is engaged in the process. Deliberately expand involvement over time to build understanding and commitment.

7. Make it transparent – sharing OKR information openly creates accountability and alignment. Default to transparency.

8. Use OKRs to surface ugly truths – setting ambitious OKRs will reveal organizational and product shortcomings, but that's essential for improvement. Embrace the discomfort.

9. Prioritize core customer needs – like reliability and scalability. An advanced technology is only valuable if customers can depend on it.

10. Look beyond the core business – OKRs can drive progress on critical people and organizational priorities too. Apply them to talent goals as well as product and revenue goals.

Becoming a truly customer-centric organization is never a quick or easy feat, especially for highly technical startups built by academics and engineers. It requires a fundamental mindset shift and an operating framework that relentlessly focuses the organization outward on solving real customer needs.

As iExec has shown, the OKR framework – when properly and persistently applied – can help drive this difficult but essential transformation. By setting clear, ambitious goals, staying disciplined to proven practices, and broadly engaging the team, startups can make measurable progress on their journey from the lab to the marketplace.

The road from technical breakthrough to satisfied customers is inevitably long, winding and littered with obstacles. But with the right tools, focus and support, deeptech startups can not only survive the journey but thrive. As iExec continues on their OKR journey, they're steadily laying the customer-centric foundation for long-term success.