Why OKRs for Buy-and-Build Can Make or Break Your Growth Success

A Conversation Every CEO Needs to Have with Themselves

You’ve started your buy-and-build journey. The vision is clear: acquire, integrate, scale, and create something far bigger than the sum of its parts. Maybe you’ve already closed a deal or two. Maybe you're gearing up for the next one. Either way, there’s a moment—often sooner than expected—when you realize that what got you here won’t get you there.

That’s the moment when growth starts feeling chaotic instead of controlled. When your leadership team is spending more time putting out fires than executing strategy. When the bold expansion plan starts to feel like a high-stakes gamble rather than a calculated path to value creation.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because you’re missing something fundamental—a structured way to measure and drive performance.

That’s where OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) for Buy-and-Build come in.

Why You Can’t Afford to Ignore OKRs

A buy-and-build company isn’t like a traditional business. There’s no smooth, linear growth. It’s all about rapid acceleration, but that acceleration needs direction. Otherwise, you end up with:

? Acquisitions that look great on paper but don’t deliver value.

? A leadership team that’s stretched thin and unclear on priorities.

? A company that grows in revenue but crumbles in structure.

Sound familiar? That’s because most CEOs in buy-and-build strategies start with aggressive M&A goals but without the right management system to support them.

And one of the foundational elements of a good management system is having the right metrics—not a thousand vanity KPIs, but a sharp, focused set of OKRs for buy and build that drive the business forward.

The Six OKR Areas Every Buy-and-Build CEO Should Care About

OKRs for buy and build shouldn’t be about tracking everything—they should be about tracking what actually moves the needle. Through my work with fast-scaling companies, I’ve found that if you nail these six areas, everything else falls into place.

1. Business-As-Usual (BAU) Management

First things first—you can’t scale if the core business falls apart while you’re acquiring. Many CEOs focus on growth and acquisitions but don’t ask: Can the business sustain itself at its current size?

Ask yourself:

? Are we delivering consistently on client expectations?

? Is cash flow stable, or are we stretching resources too thin?

? Do we have a clear handle on operational risks?

Key OKR Example: Improve client retention from 85% to 95% while maintaining a 98% service delivery rate.

2. Professionalizing the Business

You can’t build a $100M+ business while still running on startup muscle memory. At some point, gut instinct and hustle need to be replaced with processes, structure, and governance. This isn’t about bureaucracy—it’s about scalability.

Ask yourself:

? Do we have the right reporting systems in place?

? Are key decisions still bottlenecked at the top?

? Can we onboard and integrate new employees effectively?

Key OKR Example: Implement a company-wide financial reporting system with 100% compliance by Q3.

3. M&A Readiness: Because Buying Is the Easy Part

Most CEOs in buy-and-build strategies underestimate the integration challenge. Acquiring is easy—making acquisitions actually deliver value is the hard part.

Ask yourself:

? Are we fully prepared for integration before the deal closes?

? Do we have a clear playbook for onboarding acquisitions?

? How do we track whether synergies are materializing?

Key OKR Example: Ensure that 100% of acquisitions have an integration roadmap within 30 days of closing.

4. Rapid and Future Growth Readiness

This is the part many CEOs don’t think about until it’s too late. What happens when the next acquisition doubles our size overnight?

Scaling isn’t just about revenue—it’s about building infrastructure that won’t break under pressure.

Ask yourself:

? Are we ready to absorb multiple acquisitions without chaos?

? Do we have the tech, processes, and leadership depth to handle hypergrowth?

? If we doubled in size tomorrow, what would break first?

Key OKR Example: Scale leadership team capacity by hiring three C-level executives and developing a leadership pipeline by year-end.

5. Talent and Capabilities Development

No buy-and-build strategy succeeds without the right people. But as the company grows, leadership gaps become painfully obvious.

Ask yourself:

? Are we hiring fast enough, but also hiring right?

? Do we have leaders capable of running a much larger business?

? Is our culture being intentionally built, or is it just "happening"?

Key OKR Example: Reduce leadership attrition from 15% to below 5% while maintaining a 90%+ employee engagement score.

6. Financial and Capital Efficiency

Buy-and-build can burn through cash fast if not managed properly. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of acquisitions without tracking whether they’re actually delivering returns.

Ask yourself:

? Are we balancing aggressive growth with financial discipline?

? How long does it take for acquisitions to generate ROI?

? Are we tracking the right financial health indicators?

Key OKR Example: Maintain an EBITDA margin of 25%+ while ensuring a 3-year ROI on all acquisitions.

How to Make OKRs Work Without Overloading Leadership

One of the biggest mistakes I see CEOs make? Overloading their team with too many metrics. The goal isn’t to measure everything—it’s to measure the right things.

?? Each quarter, set just one major OKR per area. ?? Make OKRs outcome-driven, not just activity-driven. ?? Review and adapt OKRs as the company evolves.

If you’re running a buy-and-build company, you don’t have time to track 50 KPIs. Instead, focus on what will actually move the business forward in the next 6–12 months.

Final Thought: Don’t Scale Blindly

OKRs aren’t just a reporting tool. They’re your compass. If your company is growing fast—through acquisitions, new markets, or aggressive expansion—you need something to keep everyone focused on what actually matters.

Otherwise, it’s just growth for the sake of growth—and that rarely ends well.

So, ask yourself:

?? Do you really know whether your acquisitions are working?

?? Can your leadership team articulate the company’s biggest priorities right now?

?? Are you tracking the right metrics, or just tracking whatever’s easy to measure?

If you’re not 100% sure, it’s time to rethink how you’re measuring success.

Because in buy-and-build, success isn’t about how many companies you acquire—it’s about whether those acquisitions actually make you stronger.

A Final Note: The PROMISE of a Business

One of the core pillars of a buy-and-build strategy is the M in PROMISE—Management Operating System. Without a structured way to measure, track, and drive performance, growth becomes unpredictable, and value creation becomes uncertain. OKRs are a critical part of building a strong Management Operating System, ensuring that leadership stays focused on execution, integration, and scaling with precision.

If you’re serious about building a high-performance buy-and-build company, you need to think beyond just acquisitions—you need to think about how you run them.

The original blog was published on the Fifth Chrome webpage.

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