Scaling with Intention, Using EOS as Your North Star

When I reflect on the early years of building Altvia, a software company I co-founded with my wife Kristen, two of the best decisions we made were selecting KO as our law firm, and implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS).

Our relationship with KO lasted from day one through Altvia’s acquisition by Bow River Capital in 2020. But it was EOS, also known as Traction, that provided the structure we needed for Altvia to grow intentionally rather than reactively. It wasn’t a quick fix or miracle maker, but it was a framework that helped us to move through challenges we faced with clarity, stability, and focus.

The Chaos That Comes with Growth

Altvia, like many growing companies, experienced some common pain points along the way: team misalignment, overreliance on gut-feel decision making, and a sense of working hard without seeing meaningful progress. The business was moving, but not always in a clear direction.

Implementing EOS helped us address those issues head-on. It didn’t eliminate the work, but it ensured the effort we put in was focused, strategic, and measurable.

Six Components That Shifted Everything

The power of EOS comes from its simplicity and structure. We built Altvia’s operating rhythm around six core components:

1. Vision: When everyone in a company is aligned toward a shared vision, it becomes much easier to say yes to the right opportunities and no to the distractions. Establishing a clear North Star gave us direction and purpose, helping us stay focused on what mattered most.

2. People: EOS provides tools like the Accountability Chart and People Analyzer to help ensure the right people are in the right seats. At Altvia, this framework made it easier to define roles, clarify expectations, and make tough (but necessary) calls around team structure. Having honest conversations about performance and fit strengthened both the business and its culture.

3. Data: Early on, much of our decision-making relied on instinct. EOS introduced a data-driven approach that replaced guesswork with visibility. Scorecards at the company and team-levels helped track progress and identify where adjustments were needed, turning their intuitive choices into data-backed decisions.

4. Issues: Weekly Level 10 Meetings and the Identify, Discuss, Solve (IDS) process gave our team the space and comfort to bring challenges to light and work through them collaboratively. This regular cadence created momentum, prevented issues from festering, and encouraged a culture of proactive problem-solving.

5. Process: Growth requires systems that scale. At Altvia, we made a concerted effort to document and improve our internal processes, which proved invaluable when our team grew by 50% just six weeks after acquisition. Clear processes ensured new team members were onboarded efficiently and that the culture we’d built held steady through change.

6. Traction: Setting a handful of quarterly priorities, or, ‘Rocks,’ as they’re called in EOS, at the company, department, and individual levels helped us and our team maintain focus. The 90-day cycle created a reliable rhythm of execution and reflection. Regular State of the Company meetings reinforced alignment and allowed us to celebrate progress while resetting priorities.

Why EOS Works

EOS has grown in popularity for a reason. With over 700 certified implementers and more than 200,000 companies using the framework, it has proven itself across industries. It’s not built on theory alone. It’s built for real businesses and its staying power comes from its practicality and repeatability–and Altvia serves as proof.

The effectiveness of EOS comes not from reading the book, but from consistently doing the work. Weekly meetings, quarterly planning, and shared accountability created a sustainable operating system that our team could rely on.

EOS as an M&A Advantage

When we began preparing for Altvia’s acquisition, our EOS foundation became a major advantage. The systems, metrics, and structure we had in place helped streamline the process with our investment bank. EOS didn’t just help run the day-to-day, it made Altvia more attractive and credible to buyers.

After the acquisition, the same structure supported a smooth transition. Our team was able to reset priorities, communicate clearly, and realign under new ownership without missing a beat.

Lessons Learned from the EOS Journey

Several takeaways stand out from our experience with EOS at Altvia:

• Every company has a culture, whether or not it’s intentional. EOS gives leaders the tools to build and reinforce the culture they want.

• While working with a certified implementer can help kick things off, long-term success depends on having a strong internal Integrator who can drive EOS forward day-to-day.

• The value of EOS lies not just in the tools themselves, but in the commitment to using them consistently and meaningfully.

• EOS should be a set of tools that serves the company’s vision, not a set of rigid rules that stifle it. When the framework becomes more important than the outcomes, it’s time to step back and realign.

For Altvia, EOS didn’t make the journey easy, but it made it intentional. It created structure where there had been ambiguity, and focus where there had been too many passionate ideas. In a fast-moving environment filled with competing priorities, that kind of clarity became a powerful asset.

EOS helped us scale Altvia not just with growth, but with intention. And for any founder or team looking to grow without losing their way, it may be worth exploring what this system can unlock.