Results by workshop
OKRs
A Series C logistics SaaS scale-up had a strong vision, but the big calls happened in informal co-founder meetings, without the rest of the leadership team. A first try at OKRs had become a reporting nightmare. I interviewed the leadership team and showed them, in their own words, what was working and what wasn’t. Then we set up a weekly business review, wrote a one-page strategy and set company OKRs together. Within three months decisions had moved into the leadership team, and they broke through on five big priorities.
A Series D data SaaS scale-up of about 250 people had a problem: when its customers’ costs fell, their urgency went and the product stopped selling. Its OKRs were vague and competing with other priority lists, and the CEO was pulled into everything. I audited execution with 15 leaders, trained both leadership layers and facilitated new company OKRs. They chose to go up-market with a higher-ticket offer for the biggest companies. The company got on budget, and the CEO was no longer pulled into everything.
A Series A data and AI startup had a polished strategy document, but teams were building without clear goals, and product, engineering and sales pulled different ways. I interviewed the leaders, ran regular strategy sessions and an in-person leadership offsite, and built company OKRs with the CEO. The team found the confidence to make a big strategic call, tested it with real customers before betting on it, and still runs its OKRs a year later.
A Series C deep-tech scale-up needed a new strategy to re-ignite growth, but its leaders ran their own functions in silos, and its OKRs had become a frustrating ritual. I ran a retrospective, reset how the leadership team used OKRs, facilitated the strategy and company OKRs, and ran two quarters with them, coaching leaders along the way. The whole leadership team came to own the strategy together. Later that year the company launched a major new product from it, and it went on to become cash-flow positive.
The international arm of a Fortune 500 news and media group was busy but adrift. Its market was getting harder, leadership changes had left it without a clear direction, and its leaders were pulling different ways. A new leader asked me to help them set goals. First, over a two-day offsite, they agreed one strategy, starting from what their audience valued. Then they turned it into a small set of goals they owned. A year later, through big changes in the wider group, those goals were still keeping them focused.
A Series D SaaS startup with a new CEO had tried OKRs on its own and failed, and a heavy planning process slowed everything down. Over eight months I trained the executives, set company OKRs with them and ran three planning cycles alongside them. The OKRs put attention on the real cause of their slowdown: old partner commitments clogging onboarding. Onboarding, customer success, product and commercial teams worked on it together, and that freed the company to launch new products and capture more growth.
A corporate venture-building unit with about ten internal startups had adopted OKRs (objectives and key results), but its teams didn’t yet know how to use them well while juggling startup speed with a big firm’s senior stakeholders. I ran an OKR workshop for the unit, coached teams one by one, trained about 25 product managers and ran monthly OKR drop-ins. OKRs became part of how the teams worked. They dropped or pivoted weak ideas sooner, won sponsor backing more easily, and some ventures launched successfully and are still live today.
A seed-stage SaaS startup of about 30 people asked for help with OKRs. Underneath, the strategy wasn’t clear, and one platform was its single source of revenue. After interviewing the leadership team, I ran a one-day offsite to reset the strategy. They chose to build their agency service and their software product side by side, on purpose, and to diversify beyond that platform. When the platform later changed its rules, they pivoted quickly, and they were running their own OKR cycle within six months.
A Series D tech scale-up had grown so fast its OKR process broke. Finance wanted every goal tied straight to profit, teams set tactics, and nobody owned the strategy in between. I ran a strategy and OKR day for the leadership team, then key-results workshops with four topic owners. The leaders started setting, debating and owning the strategy themselves, closing the gap between profit targets and day-to-day work. The company later refocused on its home market, doubled its revenue and made its first profit.
Strategy offsite
A European software business unit of about 50 people was worn out. It had been through a hard year, it was losing tenders on user experience, and its two product teams competed instead of working together. Its leader wanted hope and one direction. I aligned the leadership team first, then ran a two-day conference where everyone worked on the strategy together. They left energised, collaborating across both products, and four months later were still following the direction they’d set.
A Series A data and AI startup had a polished strategy document, but teams were building without clear goals, and product, engineering and sales pulled different ways. I interviewed the leaders, ran regular strategy sessions and an in-person leadership offsite, and built company OKRs with the CEO. The team found the confidence to make a big strategic call, tested it with real customers before betting on it, and still runs its OKRs a year later.
A Series C deep-tech scale-up needed a new strategy to re-ignite growth, but its leaders ran their own functions in silos, and its OKRs had become a frustrating ritual. I ran a retrospective, reset how the leadership team used OKRs, facilitated the strategy and company OKRs, and ran two quarters with them, coaching leaders along the way. The whole leadership team came to own the strategy together. Later that year the company launched a major new product from it, and it went on to become cash-flow positive.
The international arm of a Fortune 500 news and media group was busy but adrift. Its market was getting harder, leadership changes had left it without a clear direction, and its leaders were pulling different ways. A new leader asked me to help them set goals. First, over a two-day offsite, they agreed one strategy, starting from what their audience valued. Then they turned it into a small set of goals they owned. A year later, through big changes in the wider group, those goals were still keeping them focused.
A seed-stage SaaS startup of about 30 people asked for help with OKRs. Underneath, the strategy wasn’t clear, and one platform was its single source of revenue. After interviewing the leadership team, I ran a one-day offsite to reset the strategy. They chose to build their agency service and their software product side by side, on purpose, and to diversify beyond that platform. When the platform later changed its rules, they pivoted quickly, and they were running their own OKR cycle within six months.
A Series D tech scale-up had grown so fast its OKR process broke. Finance wanted every goal tied straight to profit, teams set tactics, and nobody owned the strategy in between. I ran a strategy and OKR day for the leadership team, then key-results workshops with four topic owners. The leaders started setting, debating and owning the strategy themselves, closing the gap between profit targets and day-to-day work. The company later refocused on its home market, doubled its revenue and made its first profit.
Strategy conference
A European software business unit of about 50 people was worn out. It had been through a hard year, it was losing tenders on user experience, and its two product teams competed instead of working together. Its leader wanted hope and one direction. I aligned the leadership team first, then ran a two-day conference where everyone worked on the strategy together. They left energised, collaborating across both products, and four months later were still following the direction they’d set.
A European enterprise software company wanted its product managers and product marketers to stop planning from features. I trained its product teams in Amazon’s Working Backwards method across several sessions: the process, worked examples, then live coaching on their own customer letters, press releases and FAQs. Teams used them to rethink and shape their products, and the method spread into another business unit and a live planning cycle. The corporate university then brought me into its leadership programme for two and a half years.
Product vision
A European software incumbent had just changed owners, and its team was worn out by change. Its two products did the same job on ageing systems, and a new entrant was loudly advocating a different approach to the market, one the team disagreed with but defended nervously. In a one-day workshop, leaders and product people wrote letters to a customer from three years ahead. They agreed one AI-first vision for both products, and to state their own view with confidence.
AI strategy
A European software incumbent had just changed owners, and its team was worn out by change. Its two products did the same job on ageing systems, and a new entrant was loudly advocating a different approach to the market, one the team disagreed with but defended nervously. In a one-day workshop, leaders and product people wrote letters to a customer from three years ahead. They agreed one AI-first vision for both products, and to state their own view with confidence.
Operating rhythm
A Series C logistics SaaS scale-up had a strong vision, but the big calls happened in informal co-founder meetings, without the rest of the leadership team. A first try at OKRs had become a reporting nightmare. I interviewed the leadership team and showed them, in their own words, what was working and what wasn’t. Then we set up a weekly business review, wrote a one-page strategy and set company OKRs together. Within three months decisions had moved into the leadership team, and they broke through on five big priorities.
A Series D data SaaS scale-up of about 250 people had a problem: when its customers’ costs fell, their urgency went and the product stopped selling. Its OKRs were vague and competing with other priority lists, and the CEO was pulled into everything. I audited execution with 15 leaders, trained both leadership layers and facilitated new company OKRs. They chose to go up-market with a higher-ticket offer for the biggest companies. The company got on budget, and the CEO was no longer pulled into everything.
A Series D SaaS startup with a new CEO had tried OKRs on its own and failed, and a heavy planning process slowed everything down. Over eight months I trained the executives, set company OKRs with them and ran three planning cycles alongside them. The OKRs put attention on the real cause of their slowdown: old partner commitments clogging onboarding. Onboarding, customer success, product and commercial teams worked on it together, and that freed the company to launch new products and capture more growth.
Run the quarter
A Series C logistics SaaS scale-up had a strong vision, but the big calls happened in informal co-founder meetings, without the rest of the leadership team. A first try at OKRs had become a reporting nightmare. I interviewed the leadership team and showed them, in their own words, what was working and what wasn’t. Then we set up a weekly business review, wrote a one-page strategy and set company OKRs together. Within three months decisions had moved into the leadership team, and they broke through on five big priorities.
A Series D data SaaS scale-up of about 250 people had a problem: when its customers’ costs fell, their urgency went and the product stopped selling. Its OKRs were vague and competing with other priority lists, and the CEO was pulled into everything. I audited execution with 15 leaders, trained both leadership layers and facilitated new company OKRs. They chose to go up-market with a higher-ticket offer for the biggest companies. The company got on budget, and the CEO was no longer pulled into everything.
A Series C deep-tech scale-up needed a new strategy to re-ignite growth, but its leaders ran their own functions in silos, and its OKRs had become a frustrating ritual. I ran a retrospective, reset how the leadership team used OKRs, facilitated the strategy and company OKRs, and ran two quarters with them, coaching leaders along the way. The whole leadership team came to own the strategy together. Later that year the company launched a major new product from it, and it went on to become cash-flow positive.
A Series D SaaS startup with a new CEO had tried OKRs on its own and failed, and a heavy planning process slowed everything down. Over eight months I trained the executives, set company OKRs with them and ran three planning cycles alongside them. The OKRs put attention on the real cause of their slowdown: old partner commitments clogging onboarding. Onboarding, customer success, product and commercial teams worked on it together, and that freed the company to launch new products and capture more growth.
A seed-stage SaaS startup of about 30 people asked for help with OKRs. Underneath, the strategy wasn’t clear, and one platform was its single source of revenue. After interviewing the leadership team, I ran a one-day offsite to reset the strategy. They chose to build their agency service and their software product side by side, on purpose, and to diversify beyond that platform. When the platform later changed its rules, they pivoted quickly, and they were running their own OKR cycle within six months.
A Series D tech scale-up had grown so fast its OKR process broke. Finance wanted every goal tied straight to profit, teams set tactics, and nobody owned the strategy in between. I ran a strategy and OKR day for the leadership team, then key-results workshops with four topic owners. The leaders started setting, debating and owning the strategy themselves, closing the gap between profit targets and day-to-day work. The company later refocused on its home market, doubled its revenue and made its first profit.
Set up the team
No results with this workshop yet.
Audit
A Series C logistics SaaS scale-up had a strong vision, but the big calls happened in informal co-founder meetings, without the rest of the leadership team. A first try at OKRs had become a reporting nightmare. I interviewed the leadership team and showed them, in their own words, what was working and what wasn’t. Then we set up a weekly business review, wrote a one-page strategy and set company OKRs together. Within three months decisions had moved into the leadership team, and they broke through on five big priorities.
A Series D data SaaS scale-up of about 250 people had a problem: when its customers’ costs fell, their urgency went and the product stopped selling. Its OKRs were vague and competing with other priority lists, and the CEO was pulled into everything. I audited execution with 15 leaders, trained both leadership layers and facilitated new company OKRs. They chose to go up-market with a higher-ticket offer for the biggest companies. The company got on budget, and the CEO was no longer pulled into everything.
A Series A data and AI startup had a polished strategy document, but teams were building without clear goals, and product, engineering and sales pulled different ways. I interviewed the leaders, ran regular strategy sessions and an in-person leadership offsite, and built company OKRs with the CEO. The team found the confidence to make a big strategic call, tested it with real customers before betting on it, and still runs its OKRs a year later.
A Series C deep-tech scale-up needed a new strategy to re-ignite growth, but its leaders ran their own functions in silos, and its OKRs had become a frustrating ritual. I ran a retrospective, reset how the leadership team used OKRs, facilitated the strategy and company OKRs, and ran two quarters with them, coaching leaders along the way. The whole leadership team came to own the strategy together. Later that year the company launched a major new product from it, and it went on to become cash-flow positive.
A seed-stage SaaS startup of about 30 people asked for help with OKRs. Underneath, the strategy wasn’t clear, and one platform was its single source of revenue. After interviewing the leadership team, I ran a one-day offsite to reset the strategy. They chose to build their agency service and their software product side by side, on purpose, and to diversify beyond that platform. When the platform later changed its rules, they pivoted quickly, and they were running their own OKR cycle within six months.
Go-to-market
A Series D data SaaS scale-up of about 250 people had a problem: when its customers’ costs fell, their urgency went and the product stopped selling. Its OKRs were vague and competing with other priority lists, and the CEO was pulled into everything. I audited execution with 15 leaders, trained both leadership layers and facilitated new company OKRs. They chose to go up-market with a higher-ticket offer for the biggest companies. The company got on budget, and the CEO was no longer pulled into everything.
A Series A data and AI startup had a polished strategy document, but teams were building without clear goals, and product, engineering and sales pulled different ways. I interviewed the leaders, ran regular strategy sessions and an in-person leadership offsite, and built company OKRs with the CEO. The team found the confidence to make a big strategic call, tested it with real customers before betting on it, and still runs its OKRs a year later.
A seed-stage SaaS startup of about 30 people asked for help with OKRs. Underneath, the strategy wasn’t clear, and one platform was its single source of revenue. After interviewing the leadership team, I ran a one-day offsite to reset the strategy. They chose to build their agency service and their software product side by side, on purpose, and to diversify beyond that platform. When the platform later changed its rules, they pivoted quickly, and they were running their own OKR cycle within six months.
A bootstrapped UK tech consultancy of about 50 people was struggling to sell to the senior buyers it wanted, because it described its own solutions in engineers’ terms. Its founders weren’t fully aligned on where to grow. In a two-day Working Backwards workshop, the team started from real customers: their problems, in their own words, and what they buy on. Within weeks the new customer journey was built into their sales process. Over the next four years they tripled in people and revenue, and were acquired.
Working Backwards
Nestlé Purina’s European customer supply-chain team kept agreeing plans in meetings that never turned into action. Every idea needed support from several functions, 40 brands and five regions. I trained the team in Amazon’s Working Backwards method: you write the launch press release and FAQ before you build anything. They used it for two proposals, one for retail partners and one for ecommerce, and shared the drafts across the business. Senior leadership signed off both, including the budget holders who had pushed back.
A European software group with 76 product managers was moving from custom projects to products, but most of its product managers came from delivery or sales. At a two-day forum each wrote a “Dear Customer” letter, Amazon’s way of describing a product from the customer’s side before building it. Over the next five months I coached each business unit as its product managers tested their ideas with customers and turned them into costed business cases. One showed a return of about three times its cost.
A Fortune 500 tech company wanted its leaders to decide with Amazon-style written narratives instead of slide decks. Its executives had been trained by leading experts, but needed help applying it. I reshaped the follow-up into practical workshops where they wrote and reviewed PR/FAQs and six-page memos on their own core work. The practice spread company-wide, bringing clearer thinking, better decisions and improved operating results.
A bootstrapped UK tech consultancy of about 50 people was struggling to sell to the senior buyers it wanted, because it described its own solutions in engineers’ terms. Its founders weren’t fully aligned on where to grow. In a two-day Working Backwards workshop, the team started from real customers: their problems, in their own words, and what they buy on. Within weeks the new customer journey was built into their sales process. Over the next four years they tripled in people and revenue, and were acquired.
A European software incumbent had just changed owners, and its team was worn out by change. Its two products did the same job on ageing systems, and a new entrant was loudly advocating a different approach to the market, one the team disagreed with but defended nervously. In a one-day workshop, leaders and product people wrote letters to a customer from three years ahead. They agreed one AI-first vision for both products, and to state their own view with confidence.
A European enterprise software company wanted its product managers and product marketers to stop planning from features. I trained its product teams in Amazon’s Working Backwards method across several sessions: the process, worked examples, then live coaching on their own customer letters, press releases and FAQs. Teams used them to rethink and shape their products, and the method spread into another business unit and a live planning cycle. The corporate university then brought me into its leadership programme for two and a half years.
Decision documents
Nestlé Purina’s European customer supply-chain team kept agreeing plans in meetings that never turned into action. Every idea needed support from several functions, 40 brands and five regions. I trained the team in Amazon’s Working Backwards method: you write the launch press release and FAQ before you build anything. They used it for two proposals, one for retail partners and one for ecommerce, and shared the drafts across the business. Senior leadership signed off both, including the budget holders who had pushed back.
A Fortune 500 tech company wanted its leaders to decide with Amazon-style written narratives instead of slide decks. Its executives had been trained by leading experts, but needed help applying it. I reshaped the follow-up into practical workshops where they wrote and reviewed PR/FAQs and six-page memos on their own core work. The practice spread company-wide, bringing clearer thinking, better decisions and improved operating results.
PM training
A European software group with 76 product managers was moving from custom projects to products, but most of its product managers came from delivery or sales. At a two-day forum each wrote a “Dear Customer” letter, Amazon’s way of describing a product from the customer’s side before building it. Over the next five months I coached each business unit as its product managers tested their ideas with customers and turned them into costed business cases. One showed a return of about three times its cost.
A corporate venture-building unit with about ten internal startups had adopted OKRs (objectives and key results), but its teams didn’t yet know how to use them well while juggling startup speed with a big firm’s senior stakeholders. I ran an OKR workshop for the unit, coached teams one by one, trained about 25 product managers and ran monthly OKR drop-ins. OKRs became part of how the teams worked. They dropped or pivoted weak ideas sooner, won sponsor backing more easily, and some ventures launched successfully and are still live today.
A European enterprise software company wanted its product managers and product marketers to stop planning from features. I trained its product teams in Amazon’s Working Backwards method across several sessions: the process, worked examples, then live coaching on their own customer letters, press releases and FAQs. Teams used them to rethink and shape their products, and the method spread into another business unit and a live planning cycle. The corporate university then brought me into its leadership programme for two and a half years.