# Templates

URL: /start/templates · Id: `page:start/templates`

> Every Startup starts from a Startup Template that combines an operating model, Product Templates, and the Motions it sells through.

Every [Startup](/business/nouns/startup) starts from a [Startup Template](/business/nouns/startup-template): one operating model, one or more [Product Templates](/business/nouns/product-template), and the [Motions](/business/nouns/motion) its [Offers](/business/nouns/offer) sell through. Choose the three and [StartupBuilder](/code/builders/startup) supplies the rest.

## Three choices
| Choice | The question it answers | Values |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Product Templates](/products/templates) | What does the Startup sell, and who supplies the work? | Ten, from [Dataset API](/products/templates/dataset-api) to [E2E managed service](/products/templates/managed-service) |
| [Operating models](/agents/operating-models) | Who runs it? | [Autonomous](/agents/operating-models/autonomous), [Single human](/agents/operating-models/single-human), [Multi-human](/agents/operating-models/multi-human) |
| [Motions](/business/motions) | Who buys, and who acts? | Eight chains, from [b2b](/business/motions/b2b) to [b2a2d](/business/motions/b2a2d) |

The three choices are independent. A Dataset API runs with no humans or with a founder, and sells to developers or to the coding [Agents](/business/nouns/agent) that build for them. A Startup Template names one combination that works, so a new Startup starts from a known mix instead of a blank page.

Industries are not templates. A legal-research API and a freight-rates API both start from Dataset API; the domain adds its own [Nouns](/business/nouns/noun), [Verbs](/business/nouns/verb), [Credentials](/business/nouns/credential), and regulations on top.

## A template is a diff
Every Startup inherits a base: a [Brand](/business/nouns/brand), a [Site](/business/nouns/site), the API, MCP server, SDK, and CLI, every [System](/business/nouns/system), and an [Agent](/business/nouns/agent) in each default [Role](/business/nouns/role). A template page opens with the business it runs, then lists only what it changes against that base:

- The business: how it earns, typical [Prices](/business/nouns/price), the [Demand Budget](/business/nouns/demand-budget) first revenue needs, the one [Metric](/business/nouns/metric) per state, and its seed and compounding [Plays](/business/nouns/play).
- Adds: the Product Templates, Systems, and rules it brings.
- Wakes: the [Processes](/business/nouns/process) that start running.
- Staffing: the Roles that gain a seat.
- Floor: the legal floor rows that apply.
- [Controls](/business/nouns/control): the checks its Processes and Systems satisfy.
- [Builders](/business/nouns/builder): the Builders that build it.
- Next: the templates that extend it.

A Startup Template can extend another. The [Licensed professional network](/start/templates/licensed-network) extends the [Founder-led marketplace](/start/templates/founder-marketplace): it inherits matching, payouts, and [Supplier](/business/nouns/supplier) terms, then adds Credential checks.

```bash
npm create startups "Rate Desk" -- --template autonomous-data-api
```

## Choose by supply first
Supply decides how hard a business is to run. With digital supply, [Software](/business/nouns/software) and Agents do the work, capacity has no ceiling, and demand is the only constraint. With human supply, every unit of work needs a recruited, credentialed person.

A human-supply template adds recruiting, Credential checks, payouts, and an [App](/business/nouns/app) where Suppliers take work. Choose the fewest humans the work allows: run Autonomous until a step needs a signature, a Credential, or judgment the Agents have not earned.

Last, follow the buyer. The Motion sets which [Interfaces](/business/nouns/interface) lead and which demand [Plays](/business/nouns/play) fit.

## Templates learn
Every default in a template is a [Hypothesis](/business/nouns/hypothesis). When a variant beats the default across a [Cohort](/business/nouns/cohort) of Startups, it becomes the new default. The next Startup starts from the best known version, and a Startup that overrides a default keeps its override.

## The catalog
| Template | Kind | Definition |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Autonomous data API](/start/templates/autonomous-data-api) | Startup Template | An Autonomous data API runs with no humans and sells a Dataset API and Headless SaaS to developers and their Agents. |
| [Autonomous agent business](/start/templates/autonomous-agent) | Startup Template | An Autonomous agent business runs with no humans and sells Agent as a Service to businesses, people, and other Agents. |
| [Agent-run services firm](/start/templates/agent-run-services) | Startup Template | An Agent-run services firm runs with no humans and sells warranted outcomes as Services-as-Software, with the Agent behind them for hire. |
| [Managed service firm](/start/templates/managed-service-firm) | Startup Template | A Managed service firm extends the Agent-run services firm with Humans who share Roles and an E2E managed service for businesses. |
| [Solo SaaS](/start/templates/solo-saas) | Startup Template | A Solo SaaS has one Human founder and Agents in every other Role, selling SaaS and its Headless SaaS to businesses and people. |
| [Autonomous directory](/start/templates/autonomous-directory) | Startup Template | An Autonomous directory runs with no humans and sells listings in a Directory to Organizations that want buyers and Agents to find them. |
| [Founder-led marketplace](/start/templates/founder-marketplace) | Startup Template | A Founder-led marketplace has one Human founder who signs for a Marketplace, while Agents recruit Suppliers and serve buyers. |
| [Licensed professional network](/start/templates/licensed-network) | Startup Template | A Licensed professional network extends the Founder-led marketplace into a Licensed-human marketplace that buyers and their Agents book. |
| [Autonomous storefront](/start/templates/autonomous-storefront) | Startup Template | An Autonomous storefront runs with no humans and sells physical goods as a Dropship store to people and the Agents that shop for them. |
| [Dataset API](/products/templates/dataset-api) | Product Template | A Dataset API sells keyed lookups and queries over a Dataset to developers and Agents, metered per call. |
| [Headless SaaS](/products/templates/headless-saas) | Product Template | Headless SaaS sells Software with no App of its own: Customers and their Agents use it through the API, MCP server, SDK, and CLI. |
| [SaaS](/products/templates/saas) | Product Template | SaaS adds an App for people to Headless SaaS, sold as a Subscription per seat, with onboarding to first value. |
| [Directory](/products/templates/directory) | Product Template | A Directory sells listings: Organizations pay to appear in a searchable Dataset that buyers and their Agents browse free. |
| [Marketplace](/products/templates/marketplace) | Product Template | A Marketplace matches buyers with Suppliers who deal with each other directly, and earns a take rate on every transaction it settles. |
| [Licensed-human marketplace](/products/templates/licensed-marketplace) | Product Template | A Licensed-human marketplace matches buyers with credentialed professionals and adds recruiting, Credential checks, and an App where they take work. |
| [Agent as a Service](/products/templates/agent-as-a-service) | Product Template | Agent as a Service sells an Agent that Customers hire into a Role or hand Tasks to through the API or MCP server. |
| [Services-as-Software](/products/templates/services-as-software) | Product Template | Services-as-Software sells a warranted outcome that Agents deliver end to end under an Outcome Contract, billed only once accepted. |
| [E2E managed service](/products/templates/managed-service) | Product Template | An E2E managed service runs a whole business function for the Customer, with Agents doing the work and Humans in the loop. |
| [Dropship store](/products/templates/dropship-store) | Product Template | A Dropship store sells physical goods from a catalog while an upstream holds the stock and ships each Order, with tracking passed through. |
| [Autonomous](/agents/operating-models/autonomous) | Operating model | Autonomous is the operating model with no humans: Agents fill every Role, and one-way decisions wait out a delay window before they proceed. |
| [Single human](/agents/operating-models/single-human) | Operating model | Single human is the operating model with one Human, a working CEO or a passive board chair, and Agents in every other Role. |
| [Multi-human](/agents/operating-models/multi-human) | Operating model | Multi-human is the operating model where several Humans share Roles with Agents, each Human working under their own Mandate and Limits. |
| [b2b](/business/motions/b2b) | Motion | b2b is the Motion where a business buys the Offer and its people or Agents use it. |
| [b2c](/business/motions/b2c) | Motion | b2c is the Motion where a person buys the Offer for their own use. |
| [b2d](/business/motions/b2d) | Motion | b2d is the Motion where a developer buys the Offer to build it into their own Software. |
| [b2a](/business/motions/b2a) | Motion | b2a is the Motion where an Agent finds, buys, and uses the Offer itself, paying within its own Limits. |
| [b2h2a](/business/motions/b2h2a) | Motion | b2h2a is the Motion where a person buys the Offer and their Agent uses it. |
| [b2a2b](/business/motions/b2a2b) | Motion | b2a2b is the Motion where an Agent buys the Offer on behalf of a business. |
| [b2a2c](/business/motions/b2a2c) | Motion | b2a2c is the Motion where an Agent buys the Offer on behalf of a person. |
| [b2a2d](/business/motions/b2a2d) | Motion | b2a2d is the Motion where an Agent buys the Offer on behalf of a developer. |