Key Questions ❓

  1. What do you need to accomplish specifically to go from your current reality to your desired future state?
  2. Who will do what, by when, to make it happen?

Objective 🎯

With a clear head for what exists today and an exciting 1 year DFS, create the bridge via these goals (we call them Rocks 🪨 at Gateway X).

Goals you’re setting that you believe will move you closer to your desired future state in 3 months/1 year (and beyond). One way to think about setting your goals is as “waypoints”. When someone sails, they don't go in a straight line. Instead they sail to a specific location based on conditions and then once they get there, they chart out their next path. Its meant to reflect the uncertainty of building a startup.

With this in mind a good rock can be:

  1. State-based - i.e. ****Improve conversion by 5% to achieve first order profitability
  2. Doubt-based - Can you achieve 60% lead to meeting booking rate? What will it take?
  3. Hypothesis-based - You believe TikTok will be a good channel. What numbers would make it true?
  4. Learning-based - You want to move up market so you define a rock “Close 1 big enterprise customer” to learn how that motion differs from your current motion.

Be rigorous about your rock setting by making sure they cascade down to the actual work that needs to happen:

  1. Goals = 3-7 specific, objective, measurable goals you are seeking to achieve (as a company) that move you closer to your DFS. Write these in a way that you can look at the goal and say “yes we did this” or “no we didn’t” at the end of the period. As your business matures, you’ll set company goals + departmental goals.
  2. Output Metric Measurement = A measurable outcome that you’ll focus on to achieve your goal. Think of this as a leading indicator or KPI of goal success.
  3. Input Metric Measurement = Measurable activity goals that you’ll need to achieve to impact the output metric. Think of this as an initiative, or “how” you’ll achieve the rock.
  4. Activity = Steps, to do’s, and tasks that will drive your input metric achievement.

Try it

Use our Goal Setting template

Example Output 🚢