URL: /plays · Id: `page:/plays`

# Plays by step

> Repeatable ways to win and keep customers.

Each [Play](https://startupbuilder.dev/business/nouns/play) sits under the one step of the ARR line it moves, from getting found to earning referrals.

## Your Play mix

| Customers today | Hours a week | Budget a month | First Play | Your time | Spend | First signal |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 0 | 3 h | $0 | [Warm intros](/plays/warm-intros) | 1 h a week | $0 · $2 Worker cost | day 2 |
|  |  |  | [Cold email](/plays/cold-email) | 1 h a week | $0 · $3 Worker cost | day 15 |
|  |  |  | [Waitlist interviews](/plays/signup-interviews) | 1 h a week | $0 · $1 Worker cost | day 4 |

`sample · the 27 answers replay from /plays/mix.json until the dry run is keyless`

## We have no customers yet
| Play | What it does | Step |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Agent registries](/plays/agent-registries) | Lists your MCP server and tools where agents and developers install from, with facts-only descriptions, and counts the first calls each listing sends you. | Start conversations |
| [Buying committee](/plays/buying-committee) | Writes to 3 or more roles at each named company, one a week, and hands each engaged company to your AE within a day. | Start conversations |
| [Cold email](/plays/cold-email) | Writes first to people at companies that showed two fresh public reasons to talk, three short emails at most, and answers every reply by kind. | Start conversations |
| [Creator ads](/plays/creator-ads) | Runs a creator’s winning post, unedited, as a labeled paid Ad under the rights in their Agreement, and measures it against regions held back. | Start conversations |
| [Creator probe](/plays/creator-probe) | Pays 5 to 10 small creators for one post each, ranks every post by trials it brought per $100, so you know whose audience buys. | Start conversations |
| [Directory listings](/plays/directory-listings) | Directory listings keeps one sourced listing on every directory and review site your buyers read, and fixes any field that drifts within a week. | Start conversations |
| [Events and webinars](/plays/events-and-webinars) | Events and webinars runs your online sessions as a series, follows up each registrant within a day, and counts the Deals they open. | Start conversations |
| [LinkedIn outbound](/plays/linkedin-outbound) | Picks each day’s People on LinkedIn, drafts the connection note and the Messages, and queues them in your send tray; you press every send. | Start conversations |
| [Marketplace listings](/plays/marketplace-listings) | Lists your Product in each app store on what that store ranks by, tests every change, and asks each Customer for one Review. | Start conversations |
| [Outbound calling](/plays/outbound-calling) | A disclosed voice agent calls back anyone who asks within 60 seconds and answers your number; a person dials every cold call. | Start conversations |
| [Paid pilot](/plays/paid-pilot) | Runs your product on the buyer’s own data for a fee, against pass marks no higher than they already saw, signed before it starts. | Make the sale |
| [Positioning tournament](/plays/positioning-tournament) | Tests three ways of saying what you do, as ads that differ in one phrase, and counts only signups that fit and act. | Start conversations |
| [Deposits before you build](/plays/reserve-drop) | Sells refundable deposits for what you have not built, for 72 hours after one creator post, and builds only past a pass mark set first. | Make the sale |
| [Switch kit](/plays/switch-kit) | Wins your rival’s users with an importer tested on its exports and a dry run they see first, stating no rival fact without a source. | Make the sale |
| [Trust pack](/plays/trust-pack) | Sends the trust page and prefilled security answers with every large Quote, and releases the security report only after a click-through Agreement. | Make the sale |

Keeps paying once these work: [Annual prepay](/plays/annual-prepay), [Category hubs](/plays/category-hubs), [Commission partners](/plays/commission-partners), [Portfolio cross-sell](/plays/cross-sell), [Customer referrals](/plays/customer-referrals), [House ads](/plays/house-ads), [Next order due](/plays/next-outcome), [Signal expansion](/plays/signal-expansion), [Single sign-on upgrade](/plays/sso-rung), [Usage upsell](/plays/usage-upsell).

## Get found

| Play | What it does | Channel | Who runs it | Use it when |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Agent legibility](/plays/agent-legibility) | Tests each night whether coding agents find your API, pick it and make a first call that works, then fixes what they read, with facts. | [AI answers](/capabilities/check-ai-answers) | Product Lead | an API, MCP or CLI that answers a cold call on your own Domain, and 3 or more tasks an agent would do with it |
| [Answer engine optimization](/plays/aeo) | Keeps the facts AI answers repeat about you true and dated, at home and at each cited source, and counts how often they name you. | [AI answers](/capabilities/check-ai-answers) | Content Lead | a public Pricing Page and 20 or more buyer questions you can name, asked in AI answers |
| [Category kit](/plays/category-kit) | Makes your category name what answer engines cite, from your own words and one dated day, and kills it at day 90 without qualified Deals. | [Blog and search](/strategy/passive) | Content Lead | a new-category stance graded on real behavior, 1,000 or more Visitors a month and a Problem cost from 5 or more Interviews |
| [Community answers](/plays/community-answers) | Finds public questions about the problem you solve and your rivals, and gets a labeled, sourced answer posted within hours, fitted to each room. | [Social](/plays/organic-social) | Content Lead | 20 or more public questions a month in your category’s pain phrases |
| [Data stories](/plays/data-stories) | Data stories turns your records into a dated release and briefs you to pitch it to scored reporters; every number links to its Dataset. | [Press and guest spots](/plays/guest-circuit) | Marketing Lead | a number only your records hold, from 1,000 or more rows and 10 or more Customers |
| [Editorial SEO](/plays/editorial-seo) | Editorial SEO writes the guides and honest comparisons your buyers search for, from your own records, then refreshes or prunes each Page that slips. | [Blog and search](/strategy/passive) | Content Lead | a published Price, 1 or more paying Customers, and 3 or more searched query families with no Page of yours |
| [Guest circuit](/plays/guest-circuit) | Books the founder on the niche’s shows with pitches in the founder’s own words, then turns each aired episode into a Page that brings buyers. | [Press and guest spots](/plays/guest-circuit) | Communications Lead | a founder who records at least once a month, with 30 stated views and 5 anecdotes on record |
| [Integration partners](/plays/integration-partners) | Builds integrations with the tools your Customers already use, sends each partner a working build, and lists one only after a Customer pays through it. | [Partnerships](/capabilities/how-your-agents-act#partnerships) | Partnerships | 10 or more paying Customers, or 50 Prospects, with a known tool stack |
| [Launch sites](/plays/launch-sites) | Launches a ready Startup on one launch site at a time; the agent books it and builds the kit, and the founder writes every word. | [Launches](/capabilities/earn-first-links/launch-circuit) | Marketing Lead | a live Startup with a public demo, and 100 or more People who said yes to hearing from you |
| [Launch week](/plays/launch-week) | Turns a quarter’s shipped Changes into five dated launch days, each with its own Page and posts, and leaves no claim on your Site false. | [Launches](/capabilities/earn-first-links/launch-circuit) | Marketing Lead | 6 or more Customer-visible Changes flag-on in a quarter, and 100 or more People who said yes to hearing from you |
| [Paid search](/plays/paid-search) | Bids on searches that show buying intent, and runs only while a first sale earns more than it costs to win. | [Ads and sponsorships](/strategy/paid) | Marketing Lead | 500 or more searches a month for your exact-intent terms, a priced Offer with a known margin, and a page that converts |
| [Paid social](/plays/paid-social) | Runs 10 to 15 distinct ad concepts at a time, each paused until approved, and spends more only after a holdout shows added sales. | [Ads and sponsorships](/strategy/paid) | Marketing Lead | $600 or more a month to spend on one social Venue, a known margin on a first sale, and a page that converts |
| [Programmatic SEO](/plays/programmatic-seo) | Turns each record only you hold into one search Page that leads with its fact, released in batches that stop when search ignores them. | [Blog and search](/strategy/passive) | Content Lead | 30 or more records that each hold a fact no other source states, and a query pattern with demand |
| [Review requests](/plays/review-requests) | Asks every Customer for an honest Review when their result lands, on the one Venue you need most, and answers every Review within a day. | [Reviews and referrals](/revenue/reviews-references-referrals) | CSM | 10 or more Customers who reached a delivered outcome, and a Venue listing of your own |
| [Sponsorships](/plays/sponsorships) | Buys one coded placement in a newsletter, podcast or event your buyers follow, and rebooks a publisher only when its own codes pay back. | [Ads and sponsorships](/strategy/paid) | Marketing Lead | $250 or more a month to spend, and 1 or more publications or events your buyers name |
| [Tools on request](/plays/request-desk) | Asks your niche each week for one annoying problem, builds the top 10 as free tools within 24 hours, and you answer every asker. | [Free tools](/plays/free-tools) | Content Lead | a niche with 2 or more communities where 20 or more problems are posted a week |

Nobody finds us. See the numbers: [Get found](/revenue/icp-reached).

## Start conversations

| Play | What it does | Channel | Who runs it | Use it when |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Account ads](/plays/account-ads) | Shows ads to fitting companies on your list a week before the first email, then counts the Deals they open against companies held back. | [Ads and sponsorships](/strategy/paid) | Marketing Lead | 350 or more fitting companies on your List, a sending Play live, and $1,000 a month for ads |
| [Account visits](/plays/account-visits) | Finds the fitting companies behind visits to your own buying pages and writes to the right person there, from facts, never from the visit. | [Who’s visiting](/capabilities/find-customers#whos-visiting) | SDR | 500 or more visitors a month to your own pages, 4 or more fitting companies a month |
| [Agent registries](/plays/agent-registries) | Lists your MCP server and tools where agents and developers install from, with facts-only descriptions, and counts the first calls each listing sends you. | [AI answers](/capabilities/check-ai-answers) | Marketing Lead | an MCP, API or CLI Interface whose first call succeeds, and 1 or more Tools a stranger can try with a key |
| [Archive repurposing](/plays/archive-repurposing) | Turns each webinar, recording or consented call you have into a page, posts and clips for people who never saw it, in the speaker’s words. | [Social](/plays/organic-social) | Content Lead | 5 or more recordings you own, with a new one at least every 2 weeks |
| [Build in public](/plays/build-in-public) | Publishes a weekly build log compiled from your own records: what you decided, tested, killed and earned, with no typed number, after your OK. | [Social](/plays/organic-social) | Content Lead | a Decision and a test read recorded every week, and Stripe connected for any revenue you show |
| [Buying committee](/plays/buying-committee) | Writes to 3 or more roles at each named company, one a week, and hands each engaged company to your AE within a day. | [Contacts and companies](/capabilities/find-customers#contacts-and-companies) | SDR | 50 or more named companies worth $2,000 a year or more, each with 3 roles you can find |
| [Cold email](/plays/cold-email) | Writes first to people at companies that showed two fresh public reasons to talk, three short emails at most, and answers every reply by kind. | [Email and inboxes](/capabilities/reach-out#email-and-inboxes) | SDR | a List of 500 or more companies that fit, and under 5 inbound a month |
| ↳ [Moment outreach](/plays/moment-outreach) | Writes to a company only in the window a public Event opens, like a new head of operations, then waits for the next. | [Email and inboxes](/capabilities/reach-out#email-and-inboxes) | SDR | 20 or more windows a week open on your List, with a ready output for each Trigger you switch on |
| [Creator probe](/plays/creator-probe) | Pays 5 to 10 small creators for one post each, ranks every post by trials it brought per $100, so you know whose audience buys. | [Ads and sponsorships](/strategy/paid) | Partnerships | $250 or more a month for creators, and a trial or deposit a code can count |
| ↳ [Creator retainers](/plays/creator-retainers) | Keeps your best creators posting for a fixed monthly fee, and renews each on cost per trial their code brought, never on views. | [Ads and sponsorships](/strategy/paid) | Partnerships | $3,000 or more a month for creator fees, and 2 or more probe winners |
| [Directory listings](/plays/directory-listings) | Directory listings keeps one sourced listing on every directory and review site your buyers read, and fixes any field that drifts within a week. | [Reviews and listings](/capabilities/earn-first-links/directory-submissions) | Content Lead | a published Price and 5 or more directories or review sites your buyers read |
| [Events and webinars](/plays/events-and-webinars) | Events and webinars runs your online sessions as a series, follows up each registrant within a day, and counts the Deals they open. | [Webinars and events](/plays/events-and-webinars) | Marketing Lead | 1,000 or more reachable Contacts, or a co-host, and 10 or more questions a month on one problem |
| [Field presence](/plays/field-presence) | Field presence books Meetings at other hosts’ events before day one, hosts a dinner instead of a booth, and follows up only who you met. | [Webinars and events](/plays/events-and-webinars) | SDR | one event a quarter where 40 or more of your buyers’ Organizations attend, and Deals of $2,000 a year or more |
| ↳ [Hosted gatherings](/plays/gatherings) | Hosted gatherings seats people who engaged, from 8 or more Organizations in one city, at a table you host; you write every invitation and note. | [Webinars and events](/plays/events-and-webinars) | SDR | Deals of $2,000 a year or more, and 8 or more engaged Organizations in one city in 90 days |
| [Founder voice](/plays/founder-voice) | Founder voice drafts your LinkedIn and X posts from views you stated and facts on record, invents nothing, and leaves every post to your press. | [Social](/plays/organic-social) | Content Lead | a founder who posts 3 or more times a week, with 300 or more of your buyers following |
| [Free tools](/plays/free-tools) | Free tools ships only calculators an answer engine cannot replace, each as a Page, an endpoint and an agent tool, and retires unused ones. | [Free tools](/plays/free-tools) | Marketing Lead | a live Product, and 3 or more computable jobs your buyers ask that answer engines guess at |
| [Gifting](/plays/gifting) | Sends one gift the Person picks after two relevant touches at a live moment, with you approving each, and counts the Meetings it adds. | [Mail and gifts](/capabilities/reach-out#mail-and-gifts) | SDR | outreach that has held 5 or more Meetings, and 8 or more People a month with 2 relevant touches at a live moment |
| [Give before you ask](/plays/give-first) | Serves the founder 3 discussions twice a day that lack their stated view, drafts from their sentence, and holds every ask until they act. | [Social](/plays/organic-social) | Content Lead | a founder with 2 hours a week, and 20 or more niche voices who answer accounts under 1,000 followers |
| [Instant response](/plays/instant-response) | Answers every form and email within 5 minutes from your own pages, books the call, starts the trial or hands it to the right person. | [Instant response](/revenue/instant-response) | SDR | 5 or more forms and emails a month, first answer over 1 hour |
| [Lead reactivation](/plays/lead-reactivation) | Writes once to each old Lead nobody works, only when something new answers what they asked, from their last contact at the Startup. | [Lists](/capabilities/find-customers#lists) | SDR | 200 or more owned records no Play works, quiet for 90 days or more |
| [LinkedIn outbound](/plays/linkedin-outbound) | Picks each day’s People on LinkedIn, drafts the connection note and the Messages, and queues them in your send tray; you press every send. | [LinkedIn](/capabilities/reach-out#linkedin) | SDR | a person who sends from their own profile, and 200 or more ICP-fit Prospects on LinkedIn |
| [Made-with line](/plays/made-with) | Adds one disclosed “Made with” line to what your Customers send to people outside, so each report or notice can bring a signup. | [Partnerships](/capabilities/how-your-agents-act#partnerships) | Partnerships | 10 or more Customers sending 1,000 or more outputs a month to people who are not Customers |
| [Marketplace listings](/plays/marketplace-listings) | Lists your Product in each app store on what that store ranks by, tests every change, and asks each Customer for one Review. | [Reviews and listings](/capabilities/earn-first-links/directory-submissions) | Marketing Lead | a build or an Offer a store can list, and 1,000 or more listing views a month |
| [Organic social](/plays/organic-social) | Turns your own facts and shipped changes into one post a week per account, and drafts first-person posts that you send yourself. | [Social](/plays/organic-social) | Content Lead | 2 or more first-party facts or shipped changes a week, and an account with 500 or more followers |
| ↳ [Engagement bridge](/plays/engagement-bridge) | Engagement bridge messages a Person who wrote on your Post, from the account they wrote to, quoting their words; you press every send. | [Social](/plays/organic-social) | SDR | 20 or more people a month write words of their own on your posts |
| [Outbound calling](/plays/outbound-calling) | A disclosed voice agent calls back anyone who asks within 60 seconds and answers your number; a person dials every cold call. | [Phone](/capabilities/reach-out#phone) | SDR | 20 or more forms a month that offer a callback, or 30 or more calls a month to your number |
| [Owned community](/plays/owned-community) | Runs your own community room, where people moderate and a labeled agent answers only when asked, from your approved Pages. | [Webinars and events](/plays/events-and-webinars) | Marketing Lead | 300 or more people a month you can invite, and 20 founding members who say yes to your personal invite |
| [Owned newsletter](/plays/owned-newsletter) | Sends one issue a week with one fact, your own words and one Offer, passed by you, and stops writing to silent readers. | [Newsletter](/plays/owned-newsletter) | Content Lead | 500 or more subscribers who said yes to your newsletter, and a 10-minute recording from you each week |
| [Positioning tournament](/plays/positioning-tournament) | Tests three ways of saying what you do, as ads that differ in one phrase, and counts only signups that fit and act. | [Signup flows](/revenue/signup-flows) | Marketing Lead | $1,500 for a round over 7 weeks, a Story with its ICP and Problem filled, and 30 quotes from 10 or more ICP members |
| [Product signals](/plays/product-signals) | Finds teams getting value on a free account and writes to the right person, citing only their own usage, after you approve the first send. | [Who’s visiting](/capabilities/find-customers#whos-visiting) | SDR | 30 or more free or trial accounts a month, with a team plan to sell |
| [Promote winners](/plays/promote-winners) | Pays only for posts that already won free reach, and raises spend a tier only when regions with no Ads show it adds Leads. | [Ads and sponsorships](/strategy/paid) | Paid media | a post or line that won free reach on behavior, and $300 or more a month to spend |
| ↳ [Creator ads](/plays/creator-ads) | Runs a creator’s winning post, unedited, as a labeled paid Ad under the rights in their Agreement, and measures it against regions held back. | [Ads and sponsorships](/strategy/paid) | Paid media | a creator under Agreement whose post beat their median, and $600 or more a month to spend |
| [Proof-of-work outreach](/plays/proof-of-work-outreach) | Sends each Prospect one finished piece of your product’s work, made from their own public data, in a plain email that asks for nothing. | [Email and inboxes](/capabilities/reach-out#email-and-inboxes) | SDR | a List of 100 or more fit Prospects, and a cheap Verb that works on their public data |
| ↳ [Benchmark rows](/plays/benchmark-rows) | Scores every company in your niche on one measure and sends each its private row, its gap and one free fix, naming no low scorer. | [Email and inboxes](/capabilities/reach-out#email-and-inboxes) | SDR | 300 or more companies in your niche with public pages to read, and a fix you can show for free |
| [Retargeting](/plays/retargeting) | Shows Ads only to your own past visitors and signups, stops when they convert, and holds a share back to price every dollar. | [Ads and sponsorships](/strategy/paid) | Paid media | 1,000 or more of your own Visitors and Contacts in 90 days, and a conversion Event a Venue receives |
| [Video ladder](/plays/video-ladder) | Lifts each video idea from free posts to paid ads to a reshoot by a person, spending only on what the rung below proved. | [Video](/plays/video-ladder) | Content Lead | 2 or more Handles, and 10 or more live facts in your claims source |
| [Warm intros](/plays/warm-intros) | Finds who already knows each company you want, and that person asks them first, from their own account, before any introduction. | [Email and inboxes](/capabilities/reach-out#email-and-inboxes) | SDR | 3 or more introducers who opted in, and 10 or more companies on your List |

They find us, nobody talks to us. See the numbers: [Start conversations](/revenue/new-leads).

## Make the sale

| Play | What it does | Channel | Who runs it | Use it when |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Agent-to-agent selling](/plays/agent-to-agent) | Lets an agent open a working account in one call, locks its sends until a person claims it, then asks that person once to pay. | [Signup flows](/revenue/signup-flows) | SDR | an Interface agents call, and 5 or more calls a month from callers with no key |
| [Closer handoff](/plays/closer-handoff) | Hands a large Deal that stalled twice to a commissioned closer, paid only on collected revenue, and tests it against the Deals your agent keeps. | [Offers and Deals](/revenue/offers) | AE | 2 or more Deals of $10,000 a year or more stalling twice a quarter |
| [Deposits before you build](/plays/reserve-drop) | Sells refundable deposits for what you have not built, for 72 hours after one creator post, and builds only past a pass mark set first. | [Offers and Deals](/revenue/offers) | Marketing Lead | a signed creator Agreement and an unbuilt product that ships within 90 days |
| [Developer relations](/plays/developer-relations) | Developer relations fixes what coding agents read, call by call, and ships each fix only when the suite and time to first call agree. | [AI answers](/capabilities/check-ai-answers) | Content Lead | 20 or more new API Keys a month, median first call over 15 minutes |
| [Lead nurture](/plays/lead-nurture) | Follows up each unbought Lead with notes keyed to what they did, most in month one, until they buy, reply or go quiet 90 days. | [Sequences](/revenue/sequences) | SDR | 20 or more new Leads a month who do not buy or book within 7 days |
| [Open source](/plays/open-source) | Publishes your SDK and CLI as open code, answers outside issues from a labeled agent account, and counts installs that reach a paid call. | [Free tools](/plays/free-tools) | Marketing Lead | 50 or more installs a month of your SDK or CLI, or 20 outside developers calling your API |
| [Paid pilot](/plays/paid-pilot) | Runs your product on the buyer’s own data for a fee, against pass marks no higher than they already saw, signed before it starts. | [Offers and Deals](/revenue/offers) | SE | 2 or more open Deals a month at or over your median won value whose buyer asks to test on their own data |
| [Product-led growth](/plays/product-led) | Gives free Customers enough to reach the result twice, then shows the upgrade inside the task at the Limit, with the real Price. | [Signup flows](/revenue/signup-flows) | CSM | 20 or more free signups a month, on a free Offer with a metered Limit |
| [Risk-reversal offers](/plays/risk-reversal-offers) | Takes the risk off the buyer: a written results-or-free bar, a 14-day top-tier trial with no card, a one-press refund and free data moves. | [Offers and Deals](/revenue/offers) | CSM | 10 or more trial starts a week, and a Product output you can count against a bar |
| [Switch kit](/plays/switch-kit) | Wins your rival’s users with an importer tested on its exports and a dry run they see first, stating no rival fact without a source. | [Offers and Deals](/revenue/offers) | SDR | one named rival, and 40 or more companies a month that publicly run it |
| [Trust pack](/plays/trust-pack) | Sends the trust page and prefilled security answers with every large Quote, and releases the security report only after a click-through Agreement. | [Offers and Deals](/revenue/offers) | SE | 2 or more Quotes a month at your enterprise line, or 1 or more security questionnaires |
| ↳ [Data residency](/plays/data-residency) | Data residency answers where a buyer’s records live, sends the eu Quote with its annex, and holds acceptance until the region reads back. | [Offers and Deals](/revenue/offers) | SE | 2 or more open Deals a quarter ask where data lives, with a second region on offer |
| [Waitlist interviews](/plays/signup-interviews) | Interviews each Waitlist signup with your disclosed agent, admits by fit under a published cap, and sends a result built on their company. | [Signup flows](/revenue/signup-flows) | SDR | 20 or more Waitlist signups a month, and onboarding slots for fewer |
| [Written references](/plays/written-references) | Answers a buyer’s reference request within days with a reference an opted-in Customer writes and signs, its credit shown on it. | [Reviews and referrals](/revenue/reviews-references-referrals) | SE | 2 or more reference requests a month, and 5 or more Customers in the reference pool |

They talk, they don’t buy. See the numbers: [Make the sale](/revenue/new-paying-customers).

## Keep Customers

| Play | What it does | Channel | Who runs it | Use it when |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Annual prepay](/plays/annual-prepay) | Offers a steady monthly Customer a year up front, at a discount their own churn pays for, and answers an annual cancel with one save. | [Renewals](/revenue/renewals) | CSM | 10 or more monthly Customers past their third renewal, losing 2 % or more a month |
| [Next order due](/plays/next-outcome) | Tells a Customer the day their last order makes the next one due, with the live price and a one-click order. | [More seats and upgrades](/revenue/upgrades-and-seats) | CSM | 10 or more Customers with a delivered Service Order in your outcome map, 3 or more next outcomes due a month |
| [Objection watch](/plays/objection-watch) | Records why each Customer or Deal said no, holds them from other outreach, and sends one Message, with proof, once the reason stops being true. | [What they tell you](/revenue/what-they-tell-you) | CSM | 20 or more nos a month recorded with a reason: lost Deals, cancels, downgrades and stalled trials |
| [Run it beside the old tool](/plays/run-beside) | Runs a new Customer’s work beside their old tool every day, fixes each difference you caused, and books the switch when the report reads zero. | [Onboarding](/revenue/onboarding) | CSM | 4 or more switching Customers a month, with 20 or more checkable items a day each |

They buy, then leave. See the numbers: [Keep Customers](/revenue/churned-arr).

## Grow each Customer

| Play | What it does | Channel | Who runs it | Use it when |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Signal expansion](/plays/signal-expansion) | Shows a growing Customer the seats they already use at the live Price, and names a successor within 5 business days when their champion leaves. | [More seats and upgrades](/revenue/upgrades-and-seats) | CSM | 20 or more paying Customers on a seat-priced Offer, 2 or more a month adding people past their seats |
| [Single sign-on upgrade](/plays/sso-rung) | Answers each single sign-on ask within one business hour with the plan that includes it, and the admin tests sign-in before paying. | [More seats and upgrades](/revenue/upgrades-and-seats) | CSM | 2 or more single sign-on asks a month, and an Offer that includes it |
| [Usage upsell](/plays/usage-upsell) | Offers the next Offer when a Customer’s use paces past its Limit, with today’s prorated charge; the Customer upgrades in one press. | [More seats and upgrades](/revenue/upgrades-and-seats) | CSM | 10 or more Customers on an Offer with a Limit, 3 or more a month pacing past it |

They stay, spend stays flat. See the numbers: [Grow each Customer](/revenue/expansion-arr).

## Earn referrals

| Play | What it does | Channel | Who runs it | Use it when |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Category hubs](/plays/category-hubs) | Ranks every product in a category by one published rule, labels your own, and sends each visitor to the best fit, outside products included. | [Blog and search](/strategy/passive) | Marketing Lead | 2 or more of your Startups in one category, or 1 with 10 or more products to rank, and 500 or more searches a month for it |
| [Champion follow](/plays/champion-follow) | When a champion changes jobs, offers them their own setup, pre-loaded at the new company, 30 days in; the old company’s data never moves. | [Reviews and referrals](/revenue/reviews-references-referrals) | SDR | 30 or more champions on file and 2 or more job moves a quarter |
| [Commission partners](/plays/commission-partners) | Pays Customers and creators who send you buyers a share of what you collect, after refunds, and checks every payout first. | [Partnerships](/capabilities/how-your-agents-act#partnerships) | Partnerships | 20 or more Customers past their refund window, with Stripe connected |
| [Creator partnership](/plays/creator-partnership) | Moves creators who already answer your buyers’ questions up one ladder of Agreements, each rung paid on revenue they bring after refunds, never on views. | [Partnerships](/capabilities/how-your-agents-act#partnerships) | Partnerships | 20 or more creators in your niche who answer buyers’ questions, with Stripe connected |
| [Customer referrals](/plays/customer-referrals) | Asks Customers to invite a peer right after they get the result they came for, and rewards both once the peer’s first payment clears refunds. | [Reviews and referrals](/revenue/reviews-references-referrals) | CSM | 10 or more Customers who reached the outcome you declared, with Stripe connected |
| [Family opt-in](/plays/family-opt-in) | Family opt-in shows one unticked box on your other Startup’s sign-up, asking for your updates, and records each yes as its own Consent. | [Newsletter](/plays/owned-newsletter) | Marketing Lead | you run 2 or more Startups whose buyers overlap, and the host gets 100 or more sign-ups a month |
| [Portfolio cross-sell](/plays/cross-sell) | Shows your other Startup’s Offer inside your product, bill or email, labeled as a sister product, at the moment a Customer needs it. | [Ads and sponsorships](/strategy/paid) | CSM | 50 or more active Customers at the host, and a sister Startup with 10 or more paying Customers |
| ↳ [House ads](/plays/house-ads) | Shows one labeled Ad for your sister product on a Page whose topic fits, only where it is worth more than the Page’s own unit. | [Ads and sponsorships](/strategy/paid) | Marketing Lead | 2 or more Startups you run, and 5,000 or more eligible host Page views a week |
| [Sibling audiences](/plays/sibling-audiences) | Shows your cold Ads to Contacts your other Startup collected, after each daily build removes every opt-out, and holds a share back to price it. | [Ads and sponsorships](/strategy/paid) | Paid media | another Startup you run with 2,000 or more Contacts it collected, and Lists that overlap |

They like it, nobody hears. See the numbers: [Earn referrals](/revenue/referral-share).

## By who buys
| Who buys | Hub id | Plays that fit |
| --- | --- | --- |
| <a id="by-who-buys-b2a"></a>Agents | `b2a` | [Answer engine optimization](/plays/aeo), [Agent registries](/plays/agent-registries), [Agent-to-agent selling](/plays/agent-to-agent), [Category hubs](/plays/category-hubs), [Commission partners](/plays/commission-partners), [Portfolio cross-sell](/plays/cross-sell), [Data stories](/plays/data-stories), [Developer relations](/plays/developer-relations), [Free tools](/plays/free-tools), [Integration partners](/plays/integration-partners), [Launch week](/plays/launch-week), [Made-with line](/plays/made-with), [Open source](/plays/open-source), [Product-led growth](/plays/product-led), [Programmatic SEO](/plays/programmatic-seo) |
| <a id="by-who-buys-b2a2b"></a>Agents, for businesses | `b2a2b` | [Agent registries](/plays/agent-registries), [Agent-to-agent selling](/plays/agent-to-agent), [Made-with line](/plays/made-with) |
| <a id="by-who-buys-b2a2c"></a>Agents, for consumers | `b2a2c` | [Agent registries](/plays/agent-registries), [Agent-to-agent selling](/plays/agent-to-agent), [Made-with line](/plays/made-with) |
| <a id="by-who-buys-b2a2d"></a>Agents, for developers | `b2a2d` | [Agent registries](/plays/agent-registries), [Agent-to-agent selling](/plays/agent-to-agent), [Made-with line](/plays/made-with) |
| <a id="by-who-buys-b2b"></a>Businesses | `b2b` | [Answer engine optimization](/plays/aeo), [Buying committee](/plays/buying-committee), [Category hubs](/plays/category-hubs), [Category kit](/plays/category-kit), [Cold email](/plays/cold-email), [Commission partners](/plays/commission-partners), [Community answers](/plays/community-answers), [Creator partnership](/plays/creator-partnership), [Creator probe](/plays/creator-probe), [Portfolio cross-sell](/plays/cross-sell), [Customer referrals](/plays/customer-referrals), [Data stories](/plays/data-stories), [Directory listings](/plays/directory-listings), [Editorial SEO](/plays/editorial-seo), [Engagement bridge](/plays/engagement-bridge), [Events and webinars](/plays/events-and-webinars), [Founder voice](/plays/founder-voice), [Free tools](/plays/free-tools), [House ads](/plays/house-ads), [Integration partners](/plays/integration-partners), [Launch week](/plays/launch-week), [Lead nurture](/plays/lead-nurture), [LinkedIn outbound](/plays/linkedin-outbound), [Made-with line](/plays/made-with), [Marketplace listings](/plays/marketplace-listings), [Organic social](/plays/organic-social), [Outbound calling](/plays/outbound-calling), [Owned newsletter](/plays/owned-newsletter), [Paid search](/plays/paid-search), [Paid social](/plays/paid-social), [Positioning tournament](/plays/positioning-tournament), [Product-led growth](/plays/product-led), [Programmatic SEO](/plays/programmatic-seo), [Promote winners](/plays/promote-winners), [Deposits before you build](/plays/reserve-drop), [Retargeting](/plays/retargeting), [Review requests](/plays/review-requests), [Sponsorships](/plays/sponsorships), [Switch kit](/plays/switch-kit), [Video ladder](/plays/video-ladder) |
| <a id="by-who-buys-b2c"></a>Consumers | `b2c` | [Answer engine optimization](/plays/aeo), [Category hubs](/plays/category-hubs), [Category kit](/plays/category-kit), [Commission partners](/plays/commission-partners), [Community answers](/plays/community-answers), [Creator ads](/plays/creator-ads), [Creator partnership](/plays/creator-partnership), [Creator probe](/plays/creator-probe), [Portfolio cross-sell](/plays/cross-sell), [Customer referrals](/plays/customer-referrals), [Data stories](/plays/data-stories), [Directory listings](/plays/directory-listings), [Editorial SEO](/plays/editorial-seo), [Engagement bridge](/plays/engagement-bridge), [Free tools](/plays/free-tools), [House ads](/plays/house-ads), [Launch sites](/plays/launch-sites), [Launch week](/plays/launch-week), [Lead nurture](/plays/lead-nurture), [Made-with line](/plays/made-with), [Marketplace listings](/plays/marketplace-listings), [Organic social](/plays/organic-social), [Owned newsletter](/plays/owned-newsletter), [Paid search](/plays/paid-search), [Paid social](/plays/paid-social), [Positioning tournament](/plays/positioning-tournament), [Product-led growth](/plays/product-led), [Programmatic SEO](/plays/programmatic-seo), [Promote winners](/plays/promote-winners), [Deposits before you build](/plays/reserve-drop), [Retargeting](/plays/retargeting), [Review requests](/plays/review-requests), [Switch kit](/plays/switch-kit), [Video ladder](/plays/video-ladder) |
| <a id="by-who-buys-b2d"></a>Developers | `b2d` | [Answer engine optimization](/plays/aeo), [Agent registries](/plays/agent-registries), [Category kit](/plays/category-kit), [Commission partners](/plays/commission-partners), [Community answers](/plays/community-answers), [Creator partnership](/plays/creator-partnership), [Creator probe](/plays/creator-probe), [Portfolio cross-sell](/plays/cross-sell), [Customer referrals](/plays/customer-referrals), [Data stories](/plays/data-stories), [Developer relations](/plays/developer-relations), [Engagement bridge](/plays/engagement-bridge), [Founder voice](/plays/founder-voice), [Free tools](/plays/free-tools), [House ads](/plays/house-ads), [Integration partners](/plays/integration-partners), [Launch sites](/plays/launch-sites), [Launch week](/plays/launch-week), [Lead nurture](/plays/lead-nurture), [Made-with line](/plays/made-with), [Open source](/plays/open-source), [Organic social](/plays/organic-social), [Owned newsletter](/plays/owned-newsletter), [Positioning tournament](/plays/positioning-tournament), [Product-led growth](/plays/product-led), [Programmatic SEO](/plays/programmatic-seo), [Review requests](/plays/review-requests), [Sponsorships](/plays/sponsorships), [Switch kit](/plays/switch-kit) |
| <a id="by-who-buys-b2h2a"></a>People, through their agents | `b2h2a` | [Answer engine optimization](/plays/aeo), [Made-with line](/plays/made-with) |