Being an Ally who brings purpose, happiness and productivity to work via OKRs

Vetri Vellore is a seasoned entrepreneur. After his 14 years career with Microsoft, Vetri Vellore started Chronus, an enterprise mentoring platform which got acquired by a PE firm. He later started Ally, an OKR software provider, which he scaled from a team of 15 to 250+ in 2 years, helping 1000s of customers in bringing purpose, focus and happiness to work and unleash productivity gains of 2x to 4x. Ally had raised series C funding and and was on the path to scale up when Microsoft approached them, resulting in an acquisition that yielded great results for team members and investors. 

Tune in to this episode to learn more on 

• 9:23 Advice for hardcore engineering background on how to become great at business
• 16:16 Why he decided to build an OKR software?
• 17:39 How Ally helps companies unleash productivity gains of 2x to 4x?
• 19:24 What is a modern operating system for running a company?
• 20:33 How they framed ICP and how did it change over time?
• 24:50 How customers and investors think of product category?
• 28:26 Leveraging customer interviews to sharpen Demand Generation
• 32:39 How to optimize for CAC in SEM
• 34:43 Sales team size and structure
• 39:46 Managing churn as OKR software requires new habits and culture change
• 48:04 How to hire super human senior talent in customer success?
• 50:17 How to set a change management practice to success?
• 53:51 Role of Chief of Staff
• 56:55 What's a 'Modern work experience'?
• 57:52 Insights on acquisition by Microsoft
• 1:00:34 M&A Integration risks & cultural fit
• 1:01:41 M&A Negotiation tips
• 1:02:06 Choice between Independence v/s Impact as an entrepreneur
• 1:12:14 Tips on scaling team from 15 to 250+ in 2 years

Tune in for more insights, happy listening!