How to Get Started with Ninety
The fastest way to get started with Ninety is to invite your leadership team and hold your first Level 10 Meeting® (L10®), the weekly meeting at the center of EOS® (the Entrepreneurial Operating System®).
Every Ninety tool is available from day one, and you don't need to set them all up before that first meeting. Your team adds Rocks (your 90-day priorities), the Scorecard (your weekly metrics dashboard), the Vision/Traction Organizer® (V/TO®), and the rest one at a time, between meetings. This guide is for anyone new to Ninety, whether you're starting EOS for the first time, working with a Professional EOS Implementer®, or moving over from another tool.
Video tour of Ninety
Watch the video below for a quick tour of how Ninety is laid out, so you know where everything lives before you start working in it.
The tour covers:
The left-hand navigation, grouped by purpose. My 90 is where you land at login and shows only what's assigned to you. Scorecard through Headlines covers everything you'll use in your Level 10 Meeting. Below that sit your bigger-picture tools, the V/TO and The Accountability Chart® (your org structure in EOS).
1-on-1s, the Knowledge Portal, and the Directory. Your quarterly and annual review process, your documented processes, and everyone in your account, whether they're names on the Accountability Chart or invited users.
The Create button, in the top-right corner of every page, for adding an Issue, To-Do, Rock, or Headline from wherever you are.
Settings in the bottom-left corner, where you configure your account, manage billing, add teams, set your account language, and find integrations.
What Ninety is
Ninety is a business management platform built for companies running on EOS. It gives you a tool for each of the Six Key Components® of EOS: Vision, People, Data, Issues, Process, and Traction. Leadership teams, department teams, companies of all sizes, and EOS Implementers working with multiple clients all run on Ninety. If EOS is new to you, Introduction to EOS®: How the Entrepreneurial Operating System Works explains the model.
Ninety helps you:
Run structured, effective meetings.
Monitor business metrics on Scorecards.
Solve Issues using IDS® (Identify, Discuss, and Solve).
Maintain your organization's Accountability Chart.
Align your team around a shared V/TO.
Get help from Maz, Ninety's AI companion, in every tool.
Important: Ninety is not a video conferencing tool. Remote teams often use Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet for video and share their screen with Ninety open during meetings.
Choose your starting point
Where you start in Ninety depends on where your company is in its EOS journey. Pick the description that fits your team.
You're new to EOS and implementing it yourself. Invite your leadership team and hold your first Level 10 Meeting, then follow the five steps below. Beginning the EOS® Self-Implementing Journey with Ninety walks through the first three steps in detail.
You're working with a Professional EOS Implementer®. Most Implementer-led teams start Ninety right after their Focus Day®, bring the tools they built that day into Ninety, and begin at Step 3, weekly Scorecard tracking. Only an Owner can invite your Implementer. See Preparing for and Running Your Focus Day® on Ninety and Inviting Your Implementer.
You already run EOS, or you've held your own Focus Day. Bring your existing Scorecard, Rocks, Issues, and V/TO into Ninety and pick up at Step 3. You can upload them yourself or ask Ninety support to bring everything over. See Transferring and Uploading Your Existing Data to Ninety.
The five steps to running your company on EOS® with Ninety
The Ninety Proven Process is a five-step path for running your whole company on Ninety. Your team moves to the next step by holding meetings, and the setup for each step happens between them.
Step | What your team adds | You're ready for the next step when |
1. Hold your first Level 10 Meeting | Your leadership team, a short-term issues list, and a weekly meeting time | Three or more leaders meet in Ninety and solve at least one Issue |
2. Make the meeting a habit | To-Dos, Headlines, and your first Rocks | You've held three Level 10 Meetings in three different weeks, in your regular time slot |
3. Track your numbers | A Scorecard of 5–15 weekly Measurables, each with one owner and a weekly goal | Every number is entered before every meeting for four weeks in a row |
4. Share the vision and plan a quarter | The Accountability Chart, the V/TO, a State of the Company Meeting, and department-level 10 Meetings | Your leadership team holds its first Quarterly Planning Meeting in Ninety |
5. Live in a 90-Day World® | A Quarterly Planning Meeting every 90 days, and Rocks and Scorecards for every team | There's no finish line. Every team meets weekly, and every quarter is planned |
Beginning the EOS® Self-Implementing Journey with Ninety covers Steps 1 through 3. Expanding EOS Beyond Your Leadership Team: A Company-Wide Rollout Guide and Quarterly Meetings on Ninety covers Steps 4 and 5. To decide whether a piece of work belongs on a Rock, a milestone, a To-Do, or an Issue, see Choosing Between Rocks, Milestones, To-Dos, and Issues.
Your first Level 10 Meeting®
Your first Level 10 Meeting in Ninety needs your leadership team, a list of Issues to solve, and a weekly time slot. Set up each one in the order below, then run the meeting. This is Step 1 of the five steps.
Invite your leadership team
Your leadership team is the small group accountable for running the whole company. It usually includes the person who runs the business day to day and the leaders of sales and marketing, operations, and finance. Aim for at least three leaders in Ninety, since a weekly meeting needs a team to meet with. One person can hold two seats, so a three-person leadership team is common.
Owners, Admins, Implementers, and Managers can invite users. Managers can invite only into licenses your account already has. To invite your leaders:
Click Add Teammates in the left navigation.
Choose a licensed role for each leader (Owner, Admin, Manager, or Team Member, also called Managee) so they can own Rocks, Issues, and To-Dos.
Enter the email address and choose Leadership Team in the Team(s) dropdown.
Click Add another user for the next leader, then click Add teammates.
Ask each leader to accept the invitation email from helpful@ninety.io.
Tip: Give anyone outside the leadership team their own team first. If you invite someone who isn't a leader, create a team for them before sending the invitation so they don't end up in the leadership meeting.
Add the rest of your company as Inactive users for now. Inactive users can't log in to Ninety and don't use a license, and you can still place them in a seat when you build the Accountability Chart in Step 4. Owners and Admins can add everyone at once:
Click Directory, then click Import users via CSV.
Download the template.
Enter Inactive in the Role column for everyone who isn't on the leadership team.
Upload the file in Company Settings > Data Import.
Important: Fill in the Role column for every row. Anyone left blank is imported as a Managee, which uses a paid license.
For the full steps, see Adding and Inviting Users to Your Account and Importing a Bulk Set of Users.
Add your first Issues
Issues are the problems, obstacles, ideas, and opportunities your team needs to solve, and solving them takes up most of a Level 10 Meeting. Before your first meeting, ask every leader what's working and what's not. Whatever isn't working becomes an Issue. Have each leader add at least two.
Click Issues in the left navigation and choose the Leadership Team.
Open the Short-Term tab.
Click + Add Issue, type a short title, and press Enter.
Click the Issue's row to add an owner and a sentence of context.
A short-term Issue is anything your leadership team should resolve in the next 90 days, and it doesn't need a solution attached. Anything that can wait longer, like a new location or a future product line, goes on the Long-Term tab for quarterly planning. For more options, see Creating Issues.
Schedule your weekly meeting
Your weekly Level 10 Meeting works best on the same day, at the same time, every week. Block 90 minutes, the standard length of a leadership team Level 10 Meeting, so your team has room to solve Issues. Owners, Admins, Implementers, and Managers can schedule meetings.
Click Meetings in the left navigation and choose the Leadership Team from the Team dropdown.
Click Schedule a Meeting and choose Level 10 Meeting from the Agenda dropdown.
Pick the date and time, then choose a weekly option from the Repeating Meeting Cadence dropdown.
Choose a facilitator and a scribe. The facilitator keeps the meeting on the agenda, and the scribe runs Ninety during the meeting.
Click Schedule, then add the meeting to your work calendar from the popup.
Note: Calendar invitations don't sync with Ninety. If you move the meeting, update it in Ninety and in your calendar.
For calendar options and more see Scheduling Meetings.
Run your first meeting
Your first Level 10 Meeting only needs three sections of the agenda: Segue, IDS, and Conclude. Skip the Scorecard, Rock Review, Headlines, and To-Do List sections for now. Your team adds those in Steps 2 and 3.
The person starting the meeting works from the Upcoming Meetings page. It lists each scheduled meeting with its date, time, agenda, scribe, and facilitator. A meeting's Start button turns on the day of the meeting.
Click Meetings, choose the Leadership Team, and click Start on your scheduled meeting.
Have teammates click Join Meeting to follow along on their own screens.
In Segue, each person shares a piece of good news, one personal and one professional.
In IDS, work your Issues most important first. Identify the real issue, discuss it, and solve it, then capture next steps as To-Dos with one owner each.
In Conclude, recap the To-Dos and have everyone rate the meeting from 1 to 10. A blank rating marks that person absent.
Click Finish to end the meeting and send the recap email.
Once the meeting starts, everyone else on the team who opens Meetings sees the meeting in progress, the section it's on, and a Join Meeting button.
A first meeting might spend five minutes on Segue, 60 minutes on IDS, and five minutes on Conclude. Once your leadership team has solved at least one Issue, you've finished Step 1. For more on each section, see Level 10 Meetings, Powered by Ninety.
When to invite the rest of your company
Invite the rest of your company in stages, starting once your leadership team has its weekly meeting running. People outside the leadership team get little from Ninety until leaders are comfortable with the tools and ready to roll them out department by department. Waiting also means your company hears about EOS from its leaders first.
Steps 1 and 2: Leadership team only. Everyone else stays in the Directory as an Inactive user.
Step 3: A short heads-up. Your CEO tells the company that the leadership team has started a new way of running the business. Nothing changes for anyone else's role yet, and no one new needs access.
Step 4: Everyone sees the vision. At your State of the Company Meeting, move the rest of the company to the Observer role so they can view the V/TO and Accountability Chart. Observers are free and view-only, and they can't own Rocks, Issues, or To-Dos. See Ninety's Observer Role Explained.
Step 4 onward: Departments start meeting. When a department starts its own Level 10 Meeting, give its members licensed roles so they can own Rocks, Issues, and To-Dos.
Owners, Admins, and Implementers can change a user's role, including moving Inactive users to Observer and Observers to a licensed role. Managers can't change roles.
Step 5: New hires join on day one. Add each new hire to their team in Ninety right away. Onboarding New Team Members with the EOS Powered by Ninety Guide gives them a 10-week learning path.
For the full plan, including the State of the Company Meeting agenda and starting department meetings, see Expanding EOS Beyond Your Leadership Team: A Company-Wide Rollout Guide.
Ask Maz what to do next
Maz, Ninety's AI companion, answers questions about how EOS and Ninety work, and what to set up next using what's already in your account. Maz is available to every user on any paid plan. Try questions like "What should our leadership team do before our first Level 10 Meeting?" or "Help me write a short-term Issue about late invoices." To learn what Maz can do in each tool, see Introduction to Maz.
Your first login
There are two ways to start using Ninety.
Option 1: You're invited to join an existing company.
You'll receive an email invitation with a link.
Click the link and create your password.
Enter the verification code sent to your email.
Complete your profile step.
You're ready to join your team.
Option 2: You're creating a new company account.
Visit ninety.io and sign up for a free trial (see Starting a New Account).
Set up your company profile and invite your leadership team.
Follow the steps in "Your first Level 10 Meeting" in this guide, or request a data upload if you're bringing tools from somewhere else.
Troubleshooting login issues
Most login problems come down to a delayed email, a browser issue, or an invitation sent to a different email address.
Issue: The verification code doesn't arrive.
Solution:
Check your spam or junk folder, and search your email for "Ninety."
Wait two to three minutes, then click Resend code.
If no code arrives after five minutes, contact support.
Issue: The login screen keeps spinning.
Solution:
Try an incognito or private browsing window.
Switch to Google Chrome, Ninety's recommended browser.
If the issue persists, contact support.
Issue: You can't accept your invitation.
Solution:
Make sure you're opening the link from the email address the invitation was sent to.
Ask your company's Owner or Admin to resend the invitation from the Directory.
If the issue persists, contact support.
Issue: A reactivated company doesn't appear in your Company dropdown.
Solution:
Confirm you still have access to the email address linked to that company.
If you don't, ask the company's Owner or Admin to update the email address on your account.
Refresh your browser after the email address is updated.
For password resets and other sign-in problems, see Resetting Your Password and Fixing Login Issues.
Ninety's mobile app
Ninety's mobile app is available on all paid plans. Observers can't use the mobile app. Learn what the app can do in Introduction to Ninety's Mobile App.
Setting up your profile
After you log in for the first time, take a few minutes to set up your profile.
Add a profile picture so teammates recognize you.
Check that your name is spelled correctly.
Review your role and team assignments.
Set your notification preferences.
Live support and training
The fastest way to get help with Ninety is to click the chat bubble in the bottom-right corner of your screen.
Ninety also offers free live webinars and training every week, including how to get the most from Ninety's most-used tools, when to roll out Ninety to more teams, and daily office hours for your questions.
If you'd prefer one-on-one help or want to see whether Ninety is right for you, sign up for a 30-minute demo (see How to Schedule a Demo with Ninety).
Videos and podcasts
Ninety's 90 × EOS YouTube channel has free video series on setting up and running Ninety, plus the Impact Moments podcast. If you're new, start with the Setting Up Ninety videos below. They follow the same order as the five steps in this guide.
Setting Up Ninety: Short videos from Christine Watts, Ninety's Head of Professional Services, on setting up each part of your account.
A Quick Tour of the Ninety Platform (the tour at the top of this guide).
Mastering Your Scorecard: Building a Scorecard your team trusts and reading it every week.
Your Annual Planning Guide: A nine-video series on preparing for and running Annual Planning in Ninety.
Ninety Tutorials: Short walkthroughs of individual Ninety features.
Ninety in Action: Customer Stories: Companies that run on EOS with Ninety share how they use it.
About Ninety's Software: An overview of what Ninety is and how it supports EOS.
Impact Moments podcast: Hosts Kris Snyder and Christine Watts talk with founders, EOS Implementers, and Ninety users about the point when an EOS tool started working for their team. You can also listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify from the Impact Moments page.
Our EOS® blog
Our in-house Professional EOS Implementer, Kris Snyder, has written several articles to help you understand EOS as a system for improving your business.
For a weekly dose of EOS guidance, subscribe to the 90 × EOS newsletter. For definitions of every EOS term, see the EOS Glossary, and find more in EOS Resources.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I start in Ninety?
Invite your leadership team, add a few short-term Issues, and hold your first Level 10 Meeting. After that, your team adds To-Dos, Headlines, and Rocks, then a Scorecard, then the Accountability Chart and V/TO. The table in "The five steps to running your company on EOS with Ninety" lays out the full path.
Is there a roadmap for implementing EOS in Ninety?
Yes. The Ninety Proven Process has five steps, and your team finishes each one by holding a specific set of meetings. Step 1 is your first Level 10 Meeting, and Step 5 is running every quarter on a 90-day plan.
Do we have to set up every tool before our first meeting?
No. Your first Level 10 Meeting needs only your leadership team, a list of Issues, and a weekly time slot. It runs three sections of the agenda: Segue, IDS, and Conclude. Rocks come in Step 2 and the Scorecard in Step 3.
When should we invite the rest of the company?
Start with your leadership team only, and add everyone else as Inactive users so their names are ready. The rest of the company moves to the free Observer role at your State of the Company Meeting in Step 4, and each department gets licensed roles when it starts its own Level 10 Meeting.
Is there one video that shows how Ninety works?
The video tour at the top of this guide shows how Ninety is laid out and where each tool lives. To see a full meeting in Ninety, watch How to Run a Level 10 Meeting, then work through the rest of the Setting Up Ninety videos listed in "Videos and podcasts." For a guided walkthrough with time for questions, join one of Ninety's free weekly webinars.
Can someone help us set up Ninety?
Yes. Ninety support can bring your existing Scorecard, Rocks, Issues, and V/TO into Ninety for you (see Transferring and Uploading Your Existing Data to Ninety). You can also join weekly webinars and office hours, or click the chat bubble in the bottom-right corner of any page.
How do Rocks, milestones, To-Dos, and Issues fit together?
A Rock is one of your most important priorities for the next 90 days, a milestone is a dated checkpoint inside a Rock, a To-Do is a one-person action due within seven days, and an Issue is anything your team needs to discuss or solve. For examples, see Choosing Between Rocks, Milestones, To-Dos, and Issues.