How MeetEdgar reached $4M ARR using controllable quarterly goals

Executive overview

Outcome-based goals fail because they don't tell teams what to do each day. MeetEdgar uses "big rocks" — three per department per quarter — defined as actions the team fully controls, not outcomes they hope to influence.

Set controllable tactics as goals, not outcomes you can't guarantee.

The big rocks system

• Three big rocks per department per quarter — no more
• Department-level (not company-wide): cross-team goals create misalignment
• Each rock must be fully within that team's control
• A clear yes/no check-in replaces ambiguous progress tracking

Outcome goals vs. controllable goals

• Outcome goal: "Grow blog traffic to 100,000 visitors/month"
• Problem: team wakes up each day unsure what to do; everyone runs in different directions
• Controllable equivalent: "Publish 3 blog posts per week" (up from 1)
• The tactic is the best current guess at achieving the outcome — not a guarantee
• When the tactic is done, it's unambiguously done