# Lifecycle

URL: /business/lifecycle · Id: `page:business/lifecycle`

> How a Startup moves from an idea to a business that sells, one gated state at a time.

A [Startup](/business/nouns/startup)'s [Lifecycle](/business/nouns/lifecycle) is the state it holds on the way from its first [Idea](/business/nouns/idea) to a business that compounds. A state is entered when its entry checks pass, never by hand, and every [Interface](/business/nouns/interface) reads it.

## Nine states
Five states climb: [Idea](/business/lifecycle/states/idea), [Building](/business/lifecycle/states/building), [Live](/business/lifecycle/states/live), [Repeatable](/business/lifecycle/states/repeatable) and [Scale](/business/lifecycle/states/scale). Four leave the climb. [Hold](/business/lifecycle/states/hold) keeps a Startup running with no new investment, and [Dormant](/business/lifecycle/states/dormant) stops its work and keeps its records.

[Graduate](/business/lifecycle/states/graduate) and [Sell](/business/lifecycle/states/sell) hand the Startup to a new owner, intact. Nothing ends in deletion.

| State | Entry checks | Next |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Idea](/business/lifecycle/states/idea) | 2 | [Building](/business/lifecycle/states/building) |
| [Building](/business/lifecycle/states/building) | 5 | [Live](/business/lifecycle/states/live), [Dormant](/business/lifecycle/states/dormant) |
| [Live](/business/lifecycle/states/live) | 16 | [Repeatable](/business/lifecycle/states/repeatable), [Hold](/business/lifecycle/states/hold), [Graduate](/business/lifecycle/states/graduate), [Sell](/business/lifecycle/states/sell), [Dormant](/business/lifecycle/states/dormant), [Building](/business/lifecycle/states/building) |
| [Repeatable](/business/lifecycle/states/repeatable) | 11 | [Scale](/business/lifecycle/states/scale), [Hold](/business/lifecycle/states/hold), [Graduate](/business/lifecycle/states/graduate), [Sell](/business/lifecycle/states/sell), [Dormant](/business/lifecycle/states/dormant) |
| [Scale](/business/lifecycle/states/scale) | 4 | [Hold](/business/lifecycle/states/hold), [Graduate](/business/lifecycle/states/graduate), [Sell](/business/lifecycle/states/sell) |
| [Hold](/business/lifecycle/states/hold) | 1 | [Repeatable](/business/lifecycle/states/repeatable), [Scale](/business/lifecycle/states/scale), [Graduate](/business/lifecycle/states/graduate), [Sell](/business/lifecycle/states/sell), [Dormant](/business/lifecycle/states/dormant) |
| [Graduate](/business/lifecycle/states/graduate) | 1 | None. |
| [Sell](/business/lifecycle/states/sell) | 6 | None. |
| [Dormant](/business/lifecycle/states/dormant) | 1 | [Live](/business/lifecycle/states/live) |

## Checks move a Startup
Every entry check is an assertion over the Startup's records. Its kind says how the assertion is proved.

| Kind | Proves | Example check |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `registry` | A record exists and resolves | [Brand](/business/nouns/brand) named |
| `contract` | An outside system confirms it | Payouts connected |
| `transcript` | A recorded run succeeded | Test run passed |
| `ui` | A rendered page shows it | [Site](/business/nouns/site) published |
| `metric` | A [Metric](/business/nouns/metric) holds its line over a window, outside parties only | [Customers](/business/nouns/customer) stay |

A failing check whose dependencies pass becomes a [Task](/business/nouns/task) for the [Role](/business/nouns/role) that owns it. [advance](/business/nouns/startup/advance) reads every check and moves the Startup the moment they all pass.

```text
API  POST /{namespace}/startups/{startup}/advance
SDK  await $.Startup.advance({ startup: 'startup_1' })
CLI  npx startup-builder do Startup.advance --json '{"startup":"startup_1"}'
MCP  do: return await $.Startup.advance({ startup: 'startup_1' })
```

Metric checks cannot be filled in. An [Agent](/business/nouns/agent) can write a [Problem](/business/nouns/problem) statement; it cannot write ten outside Customers who paid.

## The outside paid Order
Every state after Live counts one fact: an outside Customer paid for an [Order](/business/nouns/order). A party is outside when it shares no owner, no [Studio](/business/nouns/studio) account, no [Agreement](/business/nouns/agreement) and no sibling chain with the Startup.

A sibling Startup buying 40 seats, the owner's own card, and trades between Startups of one Studio are real revenue, reported apart. None of them counts toward [Outside revenue](/agents/founding#outside-revenue), so none moves a Startup up the climb.

The climb reads that one fact at rising strength. Live can take an outside paid Order and starts the clock to the first one. Repeatable needs ten outside Customers who arrived through [Plays](/business/nouns/play), stay, and pay back what they cost; Scale needs them spending more a year later.

## One number per state
Each climbing state names the one Metric that matters while the Startup holds it.

| State | One metric that matters | What it proves |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Idea | [Problem interviews](/agents/founding#problem-interviews) | Outside buyers describe the problem's past cost |
| Building | [Committed ICP members](/agents/founding#committed-icp-members) | Some of them commit: a deposit, a pre-order, a paid pilot |
| Live | [Outside paying Customers](/agents/founding#outside-paying-customers) | Strangers pay |
| Repeatable | [Month-3 retention](/agents/customer#month-3-retention) | They stay |
| Scale | [Net revenue retention](/agents/customer#net-revenue-retention) | They spend more |

Every number is computed from records. The [Weekly review](/workflows/processes/iteration/weekly-review) reads the state's number first; every other Metric is context.

## The weekly loop
A Startup climbs one week at a time. Weekly review finds the step where most buyers leak and makes one change per path, with an undo note, recorded as a [Decision](/business/nouns/decision).

Office hours follow. A Studio partner Agent reads the Startup's [Dashboard](/business/nouns/dashboard), asks the questions for its state, and checks last week's commitments against the records.

A human [Founder](/agents/founding/founder) answers in a short session and signs the Decision. A Founder Agent answers in writing, and an answer that cites no record counts as opinion. When the number stays flat, [Pivot review](/workflows/processes/strategy/pivot-review) decides whether to change course.

## Next
- [Research and define](/workflows/lifecycle/research-and-define): from Idea to Building on graded [Evidence](/business/nouns/evidence).
- [Build and publish](/workflows/lifecycle/build-and-publish): from Building to Live through the launch checklist.
- [Acquire and sell](/workflows/lifecycle/acquire-and-sell): the first outside paid Order, then ten.
- [Deliver and accept](/workflows/lifecycle/deliver-and-accept): when the fee is earned.
- [Support and retain](/workflows/lifecycle/support-and-retain): why Customers stay.
- [Finance and improve](/workflows/lifecycle/finance-and-improve): whether it pays, and the next change.
- [Scale, hold, and transfer](/workflows/lifecycle/scale-hold-and-transfer): what the numbers earn.
- [Pivots](/business/lifecycle/pivots): changing course without losing the record.
- [The test and live environments](/code/builders/startup/test-and-live): proving every [Offer](/business/nouns/offer) before a stranger pays.