goal-setting
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Betterworks Learned the Hard Way: Goals Don’t Manage People - Managers Do
The enterprise software company started by making goals visible. Then its customers taught it the harder lesson: a dashboard cannot coach a person, so Betterworks rebuilt performance management around the conversations between the numbers.
Betterworks bets everything on OKRs. Lattice made them a footnote.
Two of the biggest names in performance software chose opposite religions. One organizes the whole product around goals. The other treats goals as just another tab, and built its empire on feedback instead.
Your Performance Software Is Making a Management Bet
Lattice, 15Five and Betterworks all track goals, but they begin from different ideas about how people improve. The right choice depends less on a feature checklist than on the management rhythm your company will actually sustain.
Leadr
Leadr is a Texas-based B2B SaaS company that builds continuous-performance software to help managers develop the people who report to them. Positioned as an operating system for managers, the platform brings 1-on-1 meetings, goal setting, feedback, engagement surveys, reviews and AI meeting tools into one place. Founded in 2019 by veterans of the church-tech unicorn Pushpay, Leadr raised a $10M Series A led by Bedrock and works toward a stated mission of developing one million leaders. Its customers span businesses, hospitals, nonprofits, churches and educational institutions.
WorkBoard
WorkBoard is a Redwood City-based enterprise SaaS company that builds an AI-native strategy execution and OKR platform. It helps large organizations set objectives and key results, align teams around them, automate business reviews, and track progress in real time so strategy turns into a repeatable 'operating rhythm.' Co-founded in 2014 by CEO Deidre Paknad and Daryoush Paknad, the company serves major enterprises including Boeing, 3M, Cisco, Capital One and Workday, and in 2025 acquired rival Quantive to consolidate the enterprise OKR market.
Sown To Grow
Sown To Grow is a K-12 platform that helps students set goals, reflect on their learning, and check in on how they're feeling - giving teachers and district leaders the real-time signal they need to support student well-being and academics through Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS).
Rupa Gupta
Rupa Chandra Gupta is the cofounder and CEO of Sown To Grow, a K-12 edtech platform that puts students in charge of their own learning through goal-setting, progress tracking, and structured reflection. A former Bain consultant turned school administrator, she co-founded the company in 2015 after witnessing firsthand the gap in tools that gave students genuine ownership over their education. Sown To Grow has raised over $5M in venture funding and serves districts across the United States, with measurable outcomes including record-breaking graduation rates in Stockton Unified School District.
Tara McMullin
Tara McMullin is a writer, podcaster, and business philosopher who helps small business owners build sustainable, humane companies. Formerly known as Tara Gentile, she spent a decade building a formidable reputation before reclaiming her own name in 2018. She is the founder of What Works, a digital platform and podcast downloaded over 2 million times, co-founder of YellowHouse.Media, and author of books including 'What Works' (Wiley). Drawing on feminist theory, critical sociology, and media studies, she challenges conventional business wisdom with intellectual rigor and a sharp editorial voice.