# Who signs

URL: /agents/operating-models/who-signs · Id: `page:agents/operating-models/who-signs`

> Who signs for a Startup, and what it owes, as people join it.

Every [Startup](/business/nouns/startup) has a legal entity, and only a person signs for it. [Agents](/business/nouns/agent) prepare every act on the [legal floor](/systems/legal-and-corporate/floor); the operating model decides which [Human](/business/nouns/human) signs.

## The owner of record
A Startup built in the [Studio](/business/nouns/studio) sits inside the Studio-held entity from the day it is created. The Studio's holding [Company](/business/nouns/company) is its owner of record, so it can sell, sign, and file before any person joins it.

A self-serve Startup connects its own entity through Stripe. The holder of that Stripe account is the owner of record, and Stripe carries the [identity checks](/systems/legal-and-corporate/floor/identity). [Claim](/business/nouns/startup/claim) binds a Startup to that verified owner and turns on every [Verb](/business/nouns/verb) that moves money.

## The legal floor
Each floor row names the [Role](/business/nouns/role) that signs it. An Agent can hold that Role, but the law wants a natural person for the act, so a Human signs in the Role's name:

- Autonomous: the officer desk, the Studio's team of officers, signs for every Startup the Studio holds.
- Single human: the [Founder](/agents/founding/founder) signs every floor act.
- Multi-human: the cofounder [Agreement](/business/nouns/agreement) names which Human signs each row, and the Founder signs the rest.

The work before the signature never changes. An Agent drafts the filing, checks it, and queues it with its [Evidence](/business/nouns/evidence) attached; the Human reads and [signs](/business/nouns/agreement/sign). A floor act that waits for a signature holds only its own [Action](/business/nouns/action), never the Startup.

A two-founder tax-preparation service shows the split. One founder is an enrolled agent and signs every return as preparer under [Sworn filings](/systems/legal-and-corporate/floor/sworn-filings). The other signs board consents under [Governance](/systems/legal-and-corporate/floor/governance), and the Agents prepare both.

## Equity and pay
With no Humans, the Studio holds the equity, and nobody draws pay. With one Human, the Founder's equity sits on the cap table in the [Equity](/systems/equity) [System](/business/nouns/system) from the first day.

Several Humans need terms between them. Each cofounder Agreement records equity and vesting, the Roles each person holds, and the floor rows each person signs. [Payroll](/systems/people/payroll) pays every Human who works for the Startup.

Paying people wakes its own rows. A contractor triggers [Information returns](/systems/legal-and-corporate/floor/information-returns) before the first payment. A licensed professional who performs [Reserved Acts](/business/nouns/reserved-act) wakes [Licensed acts](/systems/legal-and-corporate/floor/licensed-acts): each act carries their [Attestation](/business/nouns/attestation) under a current [Credential](/business/nouns/credential).

## Floor rows that wake as humans join
| When | Rows that wake |
| --- | --- |
| A person becomes owner or officer | [Identity checks](/systems/legal-and-corporate/floor/identity), [Governance](/systems/legal-and-corporate/floor/governance) |
| A Human grants an Agent a [Mandate](/business/nouns/mandate) to send in their name | [Delegated sending](/systems/legal-and-corporate/floor/delegated-sending) |
| A Human is paid as a contractor | [Information returns](/systems/legal-and-corporate/floor/information-returns) |
| A credentialed Human performs a Reserved Act | [Licensed acts](/systems/legal-and-corporate/floor/licensed-acts) |
| A Human signs returns or sworn statements | [Sworn filings](/systems/legal-and-corporate/floor/sworn-filings) |

## Next
- [Acting in a person's name](/agents/operating-models/acting-for-a-person): Mandates and delegated sending.
- [Legal floor](/systems/legal-and-corporate/floor): every row, what wakes it, and the Role that signs.