As a founder, everything you do should be informed by your "why", the mission you're set out to do. This helps you keep a clear strategy throughout, which in turn impacts how you define your KPIs and enact your culture. In this presentation Tao highlights important principles they followed at GYG which helped them keep an eye on the larger picture while executing for hyper-scale. GetYourGuide is world's largest online platform for booking travel activities. The founders got the idea when they were in university, spending the first years semi-bootstrapping and doing everything themselves. Today it's 15M monthly active users and $170 in total funding.

1. From vision to KPIs
The Family, May 2nd 2018

2. May 2018
Strategy
OKRs & KPIs
People
Supports
Vision
Structure
Processes
Culture
Mission

3. May 2018
Mission: Why do we exist?
Elements of a good vision
● Aspirational & valuable
● Very long or infinite time horizon
● Last credible answer in a chain
of “why” questions
● May evolve over time
Common mistakes
● It’s a not a brand slogan

4. May 2018
Vision: Painting a desirable future
Elements of a good vision
● 5-10 years time horizon
Other Comments
● More important to have clear
mission + strategy

5. May 2018
Strategy: The consistent path in the fog of war
Elements of a good strategy
● 12-24 months time horizon
● Real-world business outcome that is
targeted and important
● Financial outcome that is targeted
● Not too detailed to leave room for
changes in tactics
● Lays out principles of operations
● Clear prioritized steps and
milestones to achieve the strategy
● Supported by (some) data
Common mistakes
● Not having one
● Too tactical
● Too broad (“Grow”)
● Lack of focus
● follow bad external advice, e.g.
"Internationalization", "China
strategy", etc.

6. May 2018
Structure: Structure Follows Strategy
Elements of a good structure
● Clear trade-offs between mission
and functional (skills) lines
● Clear ownership
● Cross-functional where
appropriate
● Follows some best practices
Common mistakes
● Building structure around people
instead of hiring people around a
structure
● Politics
● Overhead (Too many managers
with fewer than 4 direct reports)
● Not changed regularly
● Getting creativeOther Comments
● Further reading: High Output
Management

7. May 2018
OKRs & KPIs: Can’t manage what you can’t
measure
Elements of a good KPIs
● Ideally cascading KPIs from the top
● Everybody should know their
personal 2 most important KPIs
when you wake them at 1am at
night
Common mistakes
● “My work can’t be measured”
● Too many non-customer-centric
KPIs
● Weird, made-up KPIs
Elements of a good OKRs
● Watch the Google Ventures video
on OKRs
Common mistakes
● So many

8. May 2018
Processes: German efficiency
Elements of a good process:
● Simple
● Deliberate process design
principles
Common mistakes
● Too many processes
● Becoming a slave of your own
processes

9. May 2018
Culture: Culture eats strategy for breakfast
Elements of a “good” culture:
● 80% descriptive, 20% aspirational
● Lays our values and desirable
behaviors
● Owned by all employees
● Update regularly
Common mistakes
● Not authentic
● Not specific
● Leaders don’t lead by example
● Not owned by everyone

10. May 2018Operations Structure
Enjoy the journey