# Founder

URL: /agents/founding/founder · Id: `role:founder`

> The Founder is the Startup’s decider: it owns the strategy, sets the Goals, and rules on every Task another Role escalates.

The Founder is the [Startup](/business/nouns/startup)’s decider: it owns the strategy, sets the [Goals](/business/nouns/goal), and rules on every [Task](/business/nouns/task) another [Role](/business/nouns/role) escalates. Each ruling is a [Decision](/business/nouns/decision) with its reason, so the next [Worker](/business/nouns/worker) in the seat inherits it.

## Responsibilities
- Owns the strategy and records every change to it as a Decision.
- Sets the Goals and the one Metric every Team reads first.
- Holds the founding Hypothesis and the positioning calls.
- Rules on escalations: a Limit crossed, a Permission widened, or a regulated act.
- Hands the seat to a Human cofounder when one joins, with no change to any Interface.

## Verbs
| Verb | Object | Event |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Idea.pursue](/business/nouns/idea/pursue) | [Idea](/business/nouns/idea) | [`Idea.pursued`](/business/events/Idea.pursued) |
| [Startup.launch](/business/nouns/startup/launch) | [Startup](/business/nouns/startup) | [`Startup.launched`](/business/events/Startup.launched) |
| [Startup.pause](/business/nouns/startup/pause) | [Startup](/business/nouns/startup) | [`Startup.paused`](/business/events/Startup.paused) |
| [Startup.resume](/business/nouns/startup/resume) | [Startup](/business/nouns/startup) | [`Startup.resumed`](/business/events/Startup.resumed) |
| [Limit.raise](/business/nouns/limit/raise) | [Limit](/business/nouns/limit) | [`Limit.raised`](/business/events/Limit.raised) |
| [Approval.approve](/business/nouns/approval/approve) | [Approval](/business/nouns/approval) | [`Approval.approved`](/business/events/Approval.approved) |
| [Approval.refuse](/business/nouns/approval/refuse) | [Approval](/business/nouns/approval) | [`Approval.refused`](/business/events/Approval.refused) |
| [Decision.create](/business/nouns/decision/create) | [Decision](/business/nouns/decision) | `Decision.created` |
| [Goal.create](/business/nouns/goal/create) | [Goal](/business/nouns/goal) | `Goal.created` |
| [Startup.update](/business/nouns/startup/update) | [Startup](/business/nouns/startup) | `Startup.updated` |
| [Role.review](/business/nouns/role/review) | [Role](/business/nouns/role) | [`Role.reviewed`](/business/events/Role.reviewed) |
| [Metric.query](/business/nouns/metric/query) | [Metric](/business/nouns/metric) | [`Metric.queried`](/business/events/Metric.queried) |
| [Issue.create](/business/nouns/issue/create) | [Issue](/business/nouns/issue) | `Issue.created` |
| [Agent.pause](/business/nouns/agent/pause) | [Agent](/business/nouns/agent) | [`Agent.paused`](/business/events/Agent.paused) |
| [Agent.resume](/business/nouns/agent/resume) | [Agent](/business/nouns/agent) | [`Agent.resumed`](/business/events/Agent.resumed) |
| [Risk.accept](/business/nouns/risk/accept) | [Risk](/business/nouns/risk) | [`Risk.accepted`](/business/events/Risk.accepted) |

Tools: `strategy`, `decisions`, `goals`, `pending-feed`.

## Role contract
| Part | This seat |
| --- | --- |
| Purpose | So one seat decides what the Startup is for, and every other seat knows whom to ask. |
| Results | [Outside revenue](/agents/founding#outside-revenue), [Weekly outside revenue growth](/agents/founding#weekly-outside-revenue-growth), [Default alive](/agents/founding#default-alive) |
| Standards | Rules on every escalation within one business day. Records every change of strategy as a Decision, with the Evidence behind it. |
| Processes owned | [Iteration](/workflows/processes/iteration), [Strategy](/workflows/processes/strategy), [Hold review](/workflows/processes/hold-review), [Graduate](/workflows/processes/graduate), [Sell](/workflows/processes/sell), [Go dormant](/workflows/processes/go-dormant), [Resume](/workflows/processes/resume) |
| Limits | [Limit.raise](/business/nouns/limit/raise) up to $5,000 per month |
| Mandates | Pauses the Startup when spend crosses its hold line, and resumes it when spend recovers ([Startup.pause](/business/nouns/startup/pause), [Startup.resume](/business/nouns/startup/resume)) |
| Approvals | [Startup.launch](/business/nouns/startup/launch), [Limit.raise](/business/nouns/limit/raise) |
| Autonomy | `assist`; `supervised` on Low decisions |
| Schedule | `weekly` |
| Channels | `email`, `chat` |
| Also called | CEO, Chief Executive |
| Filled by | A role agent, from the start; a person answers its Approvals. |

## Hands off to
- [Strategist](/agents/founding/strategist)
- [Product Lead](/agents/product/product-lead), [Product Team](/agents/product)
- [Finance Lead](/agents/finance/finance-lead), [Finance Team](/agents/finance)

## Processes owned
Accountable for [Strategy](/workflows/processes/strategy) and the calls only the owner makes: [Hold review](/workflows/processes/hold-review), [Graduate](/workflows/processes/graduate), [Sell](/workflows/processes/sell), [Go dormant](/workflows/processes/go-dormant) and [Resume](/workflows/processes/resume).

## Metrics
The one [Metric](/business/nouns/metric) that matters at the Startup's current [Lifecycle](/business/nouns/lifecycle) state, and runway.

## Approvals
- **Answers.** Every [Approval](/business/nouns/approval) a lead seat opens past its [Limit](/business/nouns/limit).
- **Asks first.** No seat: its Decisions top the chain. An act the law reserves to a person still goes to a [Human](/business/nouns/human) signatory.

## Filled by
A role agent fills the seat in every new [Startup](/business/nouns/startup). The founder, a [Human](/business/nouns/human), answers its [Approvals](/business/nouns/approval) and signs what the law reserves to a person; every ruling stays on the record.

An agent already fills this seat. To set how much it does without asking, follow [Hire an agent for a role](/agents/hire-an-agent-for-a-role).

## Example
Avery is the Founder [Agent](/business/nouns/agent) of an autonomous Startup that sells freight-rate lookups. The [Sales Lead](/agents/sales/sales-lead) asks to quote a logistics platform 25% off, past its 20% discount [Limit](/business/nouns/limit). Avery approves this one [Deal](/business/nouns/deal) and records the Decision: the annual volume pays for it, and the Limit stays.