The EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) has long been the framework of choice for businesses looking to scale. Created by Gino Wickman and popularized in Traction, EOS provides a structured, systematic approach to organizing teams, setting goals, and driving accountability. For many industries, this kind of structure is invaluable—it aligns teams, creates predictability, and establishes a shared language for growth.
But what works for steady-paced companies in manufacturing or professional services often falls flat in the world of B2B tech. Why? Because B2B tech is a completely different beast. It’s fast, constantly evolving, and thrives on agility, innovation, and iteration. EOS wasn’t designed to keep up with the pace of rapid product development cycles, competitive market shifts, and ever-changing customer needs.
In this article, I’ll break down why EOS falls short for B2B tech companies and explore modern alternatives that emphasize speed, flexibility, and data-driven decision-making. From OKRs to Minimum Viable Tests (MVTs) and growth experiments, I’ll show you how to adopt frameworks that match the dynamic nature of your industry.
EOS is a system built for predictability. Its foundational elements—quarterly rocks, weekly Level 10 meetings, and detailed scorecards—are all about creating consistency and alignment. And for many businesses, that’s a huge win. But for B2B tech companies, predictability often comes at the expense of agility.
Take the idea of quarterly rocks, for example. These are big goals that teams commit to achieving over a three-month period. While they provide clarity, they can also lock teams into priorities that feel outdated as soon as new data or opportunities emerge. Imagine a SaaS company that launches a new feature mid-quarter and realizes it’s driving unexpected churn. Do you wait until the next planning cycle to course-correct? In today’s fast-paced market, that delay could cost you customers—and your competitive edge.
Weekly Level 10 meetings are another hallmark of EOS. These structured, one-hour check-ins keep everyone aligned, but they’re also heavily focused on tracking progress against static goals. In a tech environment where priorities can shift overnight, spending time reviewing outdated rocks or scorecards can feel more like a chore than a driver of growth.
The biggest challenge, though, is EOS’s reliance on heavy documentation and long-term planning. While these processes are designed to create accountability, they can bog down teams that need to move quickly. For B2B tech companies, agility isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a necessity.
If EOS feels like a pair of handcuffs, OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) are the keys to freedom. Unlike EOS, which emphasizes rigid quarterly rocks, OKRs allow teams to set ambitious goals and measure success with clear, flexible metrics. They’re designed to evolve with your business, making them a perfect fit for tech companies operating in high-speed environments.
Let’s say you’re a B2B fintech startup looking to expand your European market share. An objective might be: “Grow European market share by 20%.” The key results could include specific metrics like “Generate 500 new leads,” “Convert 100 leads into paying customers,” and “Achieve €1M in new revenue.”
With OKRs, your team can review progress weekly and adjust strategies if, for example, a particular campaign isn’t generating leads. This level of flexibility is crucial in tech, where speed and adaptability are the keys to staying ahead.
It's easy to screw up OKRs, like any other framework or methodology. I wrote an entire post on how to make sure your OKRs are directly linked to your team's daily work.
Platforms like Notion or Asana make it easy to manage OKRs. Notion’s all-in-one workspace allows teams to organize goals, track progress, and collaborate in real-time. Pairing OKRs with AI-powered tools can also help automate tedious tasks like data collection and reporting, freeing up your team to focus on strategy. We created a slick Effective Strategy & OKRs Notion Template to get you up and running.
B2B tech thrives on innovation, but innovation comes with risks. It's a big word that people throw around, but being innovative is a lot tougher than it looks. That’s where Minimum Viable Tests (MVTs) come in. MVTs are small, low-cost experiments that help companies test ideas quickly and gather data before committing to full-scale projects.
EOS’s long planning cycles and documentation-heavy approach often delay decision-making. MVTs, on the other hand, are built for speed. They allow teams to validate ideas, gather feedback, and pivot if necessary—all without wasting time or resources.
Imagine your SaaS company is considering launching a new feature that will allow users to have a deeper view of their analytics. When your team thinks about this new feature, they assume that people will use it. They ask themselves if the feature will meet the users' expectations. But the first question they should ask is: will they want to use it in the first place.
Instead of investing months into development, you could create a button or pop up that would allow you to measure your users' desire to use this new feature, a smoke screen. You could also add options to evaluate if they want more data in your dashboard or if they'd prefer a way to pull your data into another tool, i.e. Data Studio, PowerBI. and release it to a small group of users. Their feedback tells you whether to scale the feature, tweak it, or scrap it altogether.
Successful tech companies mitigate risks upfront by running MVTs that help validate or invalidate initial assumptions. Amazon, for example, uses MVTs to test new features and products before rolling them out to a broader audience. The result? Faster innovation and fewer costly missteps.
In B2B tech, standing still is falling behind. Growth experiments offer a way to stay ahead by testing new strategies, gathering data, and scaling what works.
Growth experiments are small, data-driven tests designed to answer specific questions about customer behavior, marketing strategies, or product features. For example, a B2B SaaS company might experiment with different pricing models to see which one drives the most revenue.
Unlike EOS, which relies on predefined processes and quarterly reviews, growth experiments are iterative. You don't have to lock in on a couple of initiatives for the quarter or year. You only need to be clear on your main objectives. Because nobody can read the future or know what will work or not.
Teams can run multiple experiments simultaneously, gather insights quickly, and adapt their strategies in real time. This agility is critical in fast-moving markets where customer needs and competitive landscapes are constantly changing.
EOS has been a valuable framework for many businesses, but it’s no longer the best fit for B2B tech. In today’s fast-paced, innovation-driven world, agility and adaptability are non-negotiable.
Here’s how to make the shift:
By integrating OKRs, MVTs, and growth experiments into your operations, your team will be better equipped to adapt, innovate, and thrive in a competitive landscape. Ditch the rigid frameworks and embrace the flexibility your industry demands. Your business—and your bottom line—will thank you.
1. Can I still use parts of EOS while adopting OKRs or MVTs?
Absolutely! You don’t have to ditch EOS entirely. Many companies find value in specific elements like the accountability framework or meeting structure. You can adopt OKRs for goal setting or MVTs for experimentation while keeping what works for your team from EOS.
2. What’s the biggest difference between EOS and OKRs?
EOS is about long-term planning and structured processes, while OKRs focus on setting short-term, measurable goals that can adapt quickly. If you need speed and flexibility, OKRs will give you the edge EOS can’t.
3. What’s the difference between an MVT and a growth experiment?
An MVT (Minimum Viable Test) is about validating a single critical assumption with the least effort and resources possible. It’s a focused, quick experiment designed to answer one specific question, such as whether a feature, message, or strategy has potential. A growth experiment, on the other hand, is any test run to improve a specific metric—like customer acquisition, retention, or revenue. While an MVT could be a type of growth experiment, not all growth experiments are MVTs. Growth experiments often tackle broader questions and may involve testing multiple variables.
4. How do I implement MVTs in my team?
Start small. Identify a hypothesis you want to test—such as a new feature, pricing model, or marketing channel. Build a basic version or campaign, run the experiment on a small scale, and gather data to decide the next steps. Encourage a “fail fast, learn fast” culture to reduce hesitation around testing new ideas.
5. What tools should I use to manage OKRs, MVTs, or growth experiments?
Tools like Notion, Asana, or Monday work great for organizing OKRs and tracking progress. For MVTs and growth experiments, you can use Google Analytics, Mixpanel, or even lightweight project management tools like Trello to monitor results and collaborate. We built a series of Notion templates. Check them out: Strategy and OKRs, Growth Experiment Dashboard, High-productivity Meeting Agenda Template.
