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Lifecycle stages

Build and publish

How a Startup's definition becomes Products, a Site and Interfaces, and how the launch checklist admits it to Live.

Building turns a Startup's definition into working Products; publishing puts its Offers where Customers and their Agents can accept them. The launch checklist decides when a stranger can.

Five Builders, one definition

StartupBuilder reads the definition and runs build, which provisions every System, Site and Interface the definition declares. Four more Builders each own one part of the result.

BuilderBuilds
SiteBuilderThe Site, its Pages, its Brand and its Domain
SoftwareBuilderSoftware, Datasets and Agents, with their APIs
ServiceBuilderDelivery Workflows, Outcome Contracts and supply
SalesBuilderOffers, Prices, checkout and demand

Agents seated in Roles do the work. The Engineering Lead implements each Change, and the Designer shapes the Site as data that renders for people and Agents alike.

Sell while you build

The Building state is not hidden. SiteBuilder publishes a reserve page on the first day: the Offer, its Price, and a refundable deposit. Each deposit is commitment-grade Evidence and counts toward Committed ICP members.

Take a Startup that sells a Dataset of municipal building permits to developers of construction software. Its reserve page offers a year of API access at $1,200, with a $100 deposit. Twelve deposits in two weeks say more about demand than any feature list.

Each Product kind proves something different

Choosing an API as the Interface removes nothing a Product promises underneath. Every Startup passes the root checks, and each Product kind adds the proof it needs.

  • A Dataset proves provenance: every Source is licensed, crawled within its terms, or synthetic.
  • An Agent passes its evaluation suite on every task type its Offers sell.
  • A Service publishes its outcome, its SLA, and the remedy when the SLA is missed.
  • A marketplace onboards its first Suppliers, and a licensed one verifies each Supplier's Credential.

The permits Startup owes the Dataset proof. Each of its 300 city portals is a Source with its terms recorded, and a city whose terms forbid reuse never enters the Dataset.

Publish only what delivery keeps

publish makes an Offer available to accept. Every published Offer needs a Workflow that delivers it, with each step assigned to Software, an Agent, or a Human.

A Page that promises more than delivery provides creates an obligation the Startup cannot meet. The Content Lead writes from the definition, so copy and capability share one source of truth.

The launch checklist

Live reads its root entry checks in order, plus the checks each Product kind adds.

CheckIdKindApplies toPasses when
Offers publishedlive-offersregistryEvery StartupAt least one Offer is published with a price and terms; launch refuses a Startup without one.
Work definedlive-workregistryEvery StartupEvery published Offer has a workflow that delivers it, with each step assigned to software, an Agent, or a person.
People assignedlive-peopleregistryEvery StartupEvery role the workflows need is held by an Agent or a person, with instructions and limits.
Site publishedlive-siteuiEvery StartupThe site serves home, pricing, terms, and privacy pages under the Brand, readable by people and agents.
Test run passedlive-test-runtranscriptEvery StartupA sample Customer completes every published Offer end to end in test, with no real charge or message.
Portal readylive-portaluiEvery StartupThe customer portal on the site shows each Customer their orders, deliveries, invoices, and messages.
Agent API openlive-agent-apicontractEvery StartupThe API, MCP server, OpenAPI document, llms.txt, and agents.json serve every published Offer and pass conformance.
Payouts connectedlive-payoutscontractEvery StartupStripe takes payments for the Startup and pays out to its bank account.
Address resolveslive-addresscontractEvery StartupThe canonical Domain serves the Site over HTTPS with a valid certificate and, where it embeds a payment form, Stripe lists it as a payment method domain.
Five slots at Commitmentlive-slotsgradeEvery StartupAll five Founding Hypothesis slots hold Commitment Evidence from outside people. Slots customer, problem, approach, switch, differentiation at Commitment or stronger, outside Evidence only.
Sources securedlive-sourcesregistryDataset API, DirectoryEvery dataset source is licensed, crawled within its terms, or synthetic.
Evals passinglive-evalstranscriptAgent as a ServiceThe Agent passes its evaluation suite on every task type its Offers sell.
SLA publishedlive-slaregistryServices-as-Software, E2E managed serviceEvery service Offer states its outcome, its SLA, and the remedy when the SLA is missed.
Supply seededlive-supplyregistryMarketplace, Licensed-human marketplaceThe first suppliers are onboarded, have accepted supplier terms, and can receive payouts.
Credentials verifiedlive-credentialscontractLicensed-human marketplaceEvery supplier who performs licensed work holds a verified, current credential for each jurisdiction served.
Human steps staffedlive-human-loopregistryE2E managed serviceEvery human step in delivery has a staffed role, a response time, and an escalation path.

Every Interface reads the same checklist: the startups.new console shows 8 of 10 ready, and the API returns the two failing checks. Each failing check opens a Task for the Role that owns it.

Launch

When every check passes, launch deploys the current Version to the live environment and puts the Startup on its Domain. From then on, live runs only what was deployed; an edit reaches Customers only through the next deploy.

Launch starts a clock. Days to first outside Order counts from this moment, and the number that matters becomes Outside paying Customers.

Next

Acquire and sell brings the first outside Customers to the published Offer. The test and live environments explain what the test run proves.