# Ownership and lifecycle

URL: /business/record/ownership-and-lifecycle · Id: `page:business/record/ownership-and-lifecycle`

> Who holds a Startup, the Lifecycle states it moves through, how a pivot works, and what every transition preserves.

Every [Startup](/business/nouns/startup) has an owner of record and a [Lifecycle](/business/nouns/lifecycle). Ownership says who holds its rights, the Lifecycle says what it is doing, and a change to one never rewrites the other.

## The owner of record
Every Startup has a legal entity behind it. A Startup the [Studio](/business/nouns/studio) builds is held by the Studio's holding [Company](/business/nouns/company), which is its owner of record; the Studio's officer desk signs for it.

A self-serve Startup, created on [startups.new](/start/startups-new) or with `npm create startups`, connects its founder's own entity through a connected Stripe account. The holder of that account is the owner of record, and Stripe verifies who they are.

Ownership and operation stay separate. An officer who signs an [Agreement](/business/nouns/agreement) gains no operating [Permission](/business/nouns/permission), and the [Agents](/business/nouns/agent) that run the Startup own nothing.

## Nine states
A Startup is always in exactly one state. Five mark progress from an [Idea](/business/nouns/idea) to a compounding business; four mark a different course.

| State | The Startup |
| --- | --- |
| [Idea](/business/lifecycle/states/idea) | States its Idea and who pays, before any build work |
| [Building](/business/lifecycle/states/building) | Has Agents building its [Brand](/business/nouns/brand), [Products](/business/nouns/product), [Offers](/business/nouns/offer), [Site](/business/nouns/site), and API |
| [Live](/business/lifecycle/states/live) | Is publicly reachable and takes money for at least one Offer |
| [Repeatable](/business/lifecycle/states/repeatable) | Wins, serves, and keeps [Customers](/business/nouns/customer) with no person in the loop |
| [Scale](/business/lifecycle/states/scale) | Compounds: Customers expand, demand diversifies, margins hold |
| [Hold](/business/lifecycle/states/hold) | Keeps serving Customers while its owner adds no new investment |
| [Graduate](/business/lifecycle/states/graduate) | Leaves its Studio for a Company of its own |
| [Sell](/business/lifecycle/states/sell) | Has an agreed sale to a new owner |
| [Dormant](/business/lifecycle/states/dormant) | Runs no work; its records, Site, and [Domain](/business/nouns/domain) stay kept |

Each state has entry checks, and the checks read [Evidence](/business/nouns/evidence) and [Metrics](/business/nouns/metric), never typed-in fields. reliefvet.app, a marketplace that books licensed relief veterinarians into clinics, entered Building only once outside clinics had placed refundable deposits.

## What every transition keeps
A transition changes what the Startup is doing, never what it is. Its identity, Customers, Agreements, Domains, records, and financial history carry through every state.

Nothing is deleted. A retired Offer stops new purchases, while its open [Orders](/business/nouns/order), [Subscriptions](/business/nouns/subscription), and remedies run to their end.

## Pivots
A pivot is a [Change](/business/nouns/change) to the founding [Hypothesis](/business/nouns/hypothesis), named for the slot it moved. It is a diff between two versions of one sentence, and the Startup stays the same Startup.

reliefvet.app began with general practice clinics. Emergency hospitals filled shifts three times faster and paid 40% more per shift, so it moved its customer slot to emergency hospitals.

Before the Change merged, its preview showed every compiled output it touched: the Site's headline, two Offers, and the demand [Plays](/business/nouns/play). The old version kept its Evidence, the [Decision](/business/nouns/decision) recorded why, and every open shift Agreement stayed in force.

## Hold and dormancy
Hold is an operating choice, not a failure. The Startup keeps serving Customers and meeting its Agreements while new investment stops.

A hold records which monitoring stays on, which spending stops, and what Evidence would justify investing again. reliefvet.app on hold still books every shift a clinic requests, but runs no paid demand.

Dormant goes further: no work runs at all. A Startup enters it only once its open obligations are fulfilled or transferred, so dormancy never strands a Customer. A Dormant Startup can return to Live.

## Graduating and selling
To graduate, a Startup moves to a Company of its own. Forming that Company and issuing its equity is legal work; the Brand, Customers, records, and operating definition move intact.

A sale transfers a coherent package to the buyer:

- Products, Offers, and the Customers who accepted them
- Agreements, including those with every [Supplier](/business/nouns/supplier)
- Domains, the Brand, and its rights
- Records, Decisions, and financial history
- Every shared dependency, named with its [Price](/business/nouns/price) and term

For a marketplace, supply is half the asset. A buyer of reliefvet.app receives each veterinarian's Agreement and [Credential](/business/nouns/credential) records along with the clinics. Anything the Startup buys from a sibling or runs on Studio [Systems](/business/nouns/system) is listed with its terms, so nothing it relies on stays hidden.

## Next
[Identity and structure](/business/record/identity-and-structure) reads differently with the Lifecycle in mind, and the [Lifecycle chapters](/business/lifecycle) follow each state in depth.