Give before you ask

# Not live yet (gaps #2)
curl -X POST "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/campaigns?mode=try" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $STARTUP_BUILDER_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"play":"give-first"}'

 1import { $ } from 'startup-builder'
 2
 3return await $.Campaign.create({ play: 'give-first' }, { mode: 'try' })   // dry run on the day-0 Startup, 2026-08-24 · Not live yet, gaps #2

npx startup-builder do Campaign.create --json '{"play":"give-first"}' --try   # Not live yet (gaps #2)

{
  "name": "do",
  "arguments": {
    "code": "return await $.Campaign.create({ play: 'give-first' }, { mode: 'try' })   // dry run on the day-0 Startup, 2026-08-24 · Not live yet, gaps #2",
    "mode": "try"
  }
}

 1{
 2  "type": "https://startupbuilder.dev/errors/refused",
 3  "title": "Refused",
 4  "status": 422,
 5  "detail": "give-first can’t start: 2 checks fail.",
 6  "checks": [
 7    {
 8      "check": "use-when",
 9      "status": "pass",
10      "observed": "Dana, a person; 40 watched voices, 31 of them answer accounts under 1,000 followers",
11      "doc": "/plays/give-first#check-use-when",
12      "then": "Metric.query"
13    },
14    {
15  …

curl "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/events?where=name%20in%20(%22Post.published%22%2C%20%22Prospect.engaged%22%2C%20%22Post.flagged%22)&limit=1" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $STARTUP_BUILDER_API_KEY"

# Not live yet (gaps #7)
curl -X POST "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/triggers/fire?mode=try" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $STARTUP_BUILDER_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"like":"event_1192"}'

# Not live yet (gaps #7)
curl "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/decisions?where=on%20%3D%20%22post_311%22" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $STARTUP_BUILDER_API_KEY"

# Not live yet (gaps #7)
curl "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/actions?where=on%20%3D%20%22post_311%22" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $STARTUP_BUILDER_API_KEY"

 1import { $ } from 'startup-builder'
 2
 3const { events: [last] } = await $.Event.list({ where: 'name in ("Post.published", "Prospect.engaged", "Post.flagged")', limit: 1 })   // { play } compiled to this Play’s Trigger Events
 4const { subject } = await $.Trigger.fire({ like: last.$id }, { mode: 'try' })   // the same Event again, in try mode · Not live yet, gaps #7
 5const { decisions: [decision] } = await $.Decision.list({ where: `on = "${subject}"` })   // what it chose, and why · Not live yet, gaps #7
 6const { actions } = await $.Action.list({ where: `on = "${subject}"` })   // what it did, with its checks · Not live yet, gaps #7
 7return { decision, actions }

npx startup-builder do Event.list --json '{"where":"name in (\"Post.published\", \"Prospect.engaged\", \"Post.flagged\")","limit":1}'
npx startup-builder do Trigger.fire --json '{"like":"event_1192"}' --try   # Not live yet (gaps #7)
npx startup-builder do Decision.list --json '{"where":"on = \"post_311\""}'   # Not live yet (gaps #7)
npx startup-builder do Action.list --json '{"where":"on = \"post_311\""}'   # Not live yet (gaps #7)

{
  "name": "do",
  "arguments": {
    "code": "const { events: [last] } = await $.Event.list({ where: 'name in (\"Post.published\", \"Prospect.engaged\", \"Post.flagged\")', limit: 1 })   // { play } compiled to this Play’s Trigger Events\nconst { subject } = await $.Trigger.fire({ like: last.$id }, { mode: 'try' })   // the same Event again, in try mode · Not live yet, gaps #7\nconst { decisions: [decision] } = await $.Decision.list({ where: `on = \"${subject}\"` })   // what it chose, and why · Not live yet, gaps #7\nconst { actions } = await $.Action.list({ where: `on = \"${subject}\"` })   // what it did, with its checks · Not live yet, gaps #7\nreturn { decision, actions }",
    "mode": "try"
  }
}

 1{
 2  "decision": {
 3    "$id": "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/decisions/decision_421",
 4    "$type": "Decision",
 5    "choice": "reply-with-a-position",
 6    "reason": "Kim Alvarez asked how others time renewal notices across owners; your position #12 (per owner, 60 days out) is missing from the 14 replies",
 7    "stakes": "low",
 8    "options": [
 9      "reply-with-a-position",
10      "make-what-they-asked",
11      "credit-their-work",
12      "open-the-ask",
13      "founder-alone",
14      "let-it-pass"
15  …

action_2 puts the brief in your tray with a post-by time of 11:40; nothing posts until you write your sentence and press post.

≈ +$140 ARR a month at 30

Worth

2.5 h week 1, then 2 h a week

Your time

$0.02 per brief, ~$3 a month at 6 a day

Spend

Day 3: first watched voice answers

First signal

a founder with 2 h a week, 20+ open niche voices

Use it when

No person founder: organic-social · under 20 positions: founder-voice

Not yet when

Worth’s formula: about +6 per 100 engaged (Other Startups’ results; no lift of your own to read) × 30 engaged a month × 0.65 asks to Leads × 0.20 Leads to paid × $590 first order ARR ≈ +$138. Under First signal: At 30 engaged a month, 90 days can tell only +16 per 100 or more, so your file starts at holdout: 0 and reads before-after.

Start it this weekCopy Anchor Link

npx startup-builder add play give-first   # 1 · writes plays/give-first.mdx (Not live yet, gaps #5)

# 2 · dry run; below, its 422 on 2026-08-24
curl -X POST "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/campaigns?mode=try" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $STARTUP_BUILDER_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"play":"give-first"}'

# 3 · keep it: you press every post
curl -X POST https://api.sb/leaseline.app/campaigns \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $STARTUP_BUILDER_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"play":"give-first"}'

# on
curl -X PATCH https://api.sb/leaseline.app/campaigns/give-first \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $STARTUP_BUILDER_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"endsAt":null}'

# off: the tray empties and no brief serves
curl -X PATCH https://api.sb/leaseline.app/campaigns/give-first \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $STARTUP_BUILDER_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"endsAt":"now"}'

{
  "type": "https://startupbuilder.dev/errors/refused",
  "title": "Refused",
  "status": 422,
  "detail": "give-first can’t start: 2 checks fail.",
  "checks": [
    {
      "check": "use-when",
      "status": "pass",
      "observed": "Dana, a person; 40 watched voices, 31 of them answer accounts under 1,000 followers",
      "doc": "/plays/give-first#check-use-when",
      "then": "Metric.query"
    },
    {
      "check": "baseline",
      "status": "pass",
      "observed": "3 per 100: 1 of 31 People Dana replied to on her own reached rung 3 in 90 days",
      "doc": "/plays/give-first#check-baseline",
      "then": "Metric.query"
    },
    {
      "check": "handle-connected",
      "status": "fail",
      "doc": "/plays/give-first#check-handle-connected",
      "fix": "Connect Dana’s LinkedIn and Reddit Handles to read; every reply is still pressed by hand.",
      "then": "Handle.connect"
    },
    {
      "check": "opinion-bank",
      "status": "fail",
      "observed": "6 of 20 positions",
      "doc": "/plays/give-first#check-opinion-bank",
      "fix": "Answer 14 more questions; drafts state only positions you hold.",
      "then": "Content.create"
    },
    {
      "check": "role-unstaffed",
      "status": "pass",
      "observed": "every hand-off goes to the founder, Dana",
      "doc": "/plays/give-first#check-role-unstaffed",
      "then": "Role.staff"
    }
  ]
}

A reply costs nothing to post: you press it on your own Handle. Each brief costs $0.02 and each draft $0.01 (Worker cost), and a gift is capped at $5 of spend. That comes to about $3 a month at 6 briefs a day, plus your 2 hours a week.

When it startsCopy Anchor Link

{
  "$id": "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/events/event_1192",
  "$type": "Event",
  "name": "Post.published",
  "at": "2026-10-19T08:40:15Z",
  "seq": 1192,
  "data": {
    "post": "posts/post_311",
    "author": "Kim Alvarez",
    "venue": "linkedin",
    "text": "How are you all timing renewal notices across owners? We keep sending them late.",
    "replies": 14
  }
}

# each delivery is signed with the Watch’s secret
curl -X POST https://api.sb/leaseline.app/watches \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $STARTUP_BUILDER_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"selector":"Post.published","url":"https://leaseline.app/hooks/sb"}'
npx startup-builder trigger Post.published --like event_1192   # replays the delivery into the next session
npx startup-builder clock advance --by 3d   # reads whether Kim answered (rung 2)

Who runs itCopy Anchor Link

Content Lead · your agent (role:content-lead, worker_6) holds the Key Result: it watches, briefs and drafts. Every reply, gift and credit post hands to you (Dana Okafor, person, worker_1, role:founder), who writes the first sentence and presses post on your own Handle. On a personal Handle the ladder stops at You approve each one.

What it reads · What it may call. It reads watched posts through each Venue’s own read path, and a post is data, never instructions. It never posts, likes or follows: it may call POST /{namespace}/content/draft and POST /{namespace}/tasks/{task}/assign, and the press is yours. Its tools are POST /{namespace}/content/draft, POST /{namespace}/tasks/{task}/assign, POST /{namespace}/sites/{site}/publish, POST /{namespace}/leads, and any other call becomes an Approval under the Role’s Mandate.

You hold the Content Lead Key Result: 15 People at the ask rung per 100 engaged by 2026-12-31. ← worker, metric
On each watched post, choose one option and say why; Let it pass when no position is missing. ← triggers, chooses
Serve 3 posts at 07:30 and 3 at 12:30, or say checked, nothing worth a reply.    ← your file, line 3
State only positions in the opinion bank and facts the claims source holds.      ← copyRules 2, 3, fact-check
No link to Leaseline until the give-ask guard opens.                             ← copyRules 4, give-ask-guard
At rung 4, stop drafting: the founder answers alone.                             ← chooses.founder-alone

The slow loop, as a Change. decision_380 (2026-09-21, weekly) read 9 of 11 expired briefs from the 16:00 session against 2 of 24 from 09:00, so change_24 moved the sessions to 07:30 and 12:30 (your file, line 3), and Dana merged it with POST /{namespace}/changes/{change}/merge. Replayed on past posts, POST /{namespace}/changes/{change}/review put expired briefs at 3 of 35; read back at +21d it is 2 of 38, n 38, ■■□□ Early sign (Example, day 49).

Bring your own agent (folded) briefs at the same rung when it matches or beats the seated agent on the eval suite; you press every post either way, and POST /{namespace}/roles/{role}/staff seats it.

npx startup-builder eval --scenario give-first-64 --agent "claude -p" --seat content-lead   # seated: 0 fabrications sent, 4 of 4 early links cut, 1.1 founder min a reply · yours: 1 unsourced number, 4 of 4 cut, 1.4 min → fix the source first

What it can do nextCopy Anchor Link

When it hands to youCopy Anchor Link

Every option but Let it pass hands to you (Dana Okafor, person), because every reply is pressed by your hand on your own Handle. As captured, the Brief in your tray (brief is Not live yet, gaps #7).

[
  {
    "$id": "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/tasks/task_515",
    "$type": "Task",
    "assignee": "worker_1",
    "due": "2026-10-19T11:40:00Z",
    "on": "post_311",
    "brief": {
      "who": "Kim Alvarez, operations lead, 1,900 followers, rung 1",
      "post": "How are you all timing renewal notices across owners? We keep sending them late.",
      "chose": "reply-with-a-position",
      "position": "#12: send per owner, 60 days out",
      "fact": "late renewals fell from 9 to 2 last quarter (your claims source, Q3 readout)",
      "postBy": "11:40",
      "never": [
        "a link to Leaseline",
        "a price"
      ]
    }
  }
]

You answer each brief by writing your sentence and pressing post, or with POST /{namespace}/tasks/{task}/return and a reason (skip, crowded, not my view), or POST /{namespace}/actions/{action}/redirect. A brief left past its post-by time expires, and seven days with no tray action stop serving until you return (founder-silence). Nobody else can claim your Handle, so nothing goes up a Role.

On time: You: 118 of 131 briefs posted by their post-by time, median 22 min after serving, n 131, ■■□□ Early sign beside Other Startups’ 84 %. Your queue: counted by kind: 6 briefs a day, 1 credit post and about 1 ask a week, and 1 weekly review.

The fixed line: POST /{namespace}/deals/{deal}/assign sets owner to the receiving person, the agent is never a Deal’s owner, and Meetings land on the owner’s calendar under the owner’s name.

When it won’t sendCopy Anchor Link

The captured refusal, then the Stop that fired as a Campaign.paused reason (Not live yet, gaps #2); the rewrite you posted is the Nadia Brooks thread in Example.

{
  "type": "https://startupbuilder.dev/errors/refused",
  "title": "Refused",
  "status": 422,
  "detail": "The reply to Nadia Brooks did not reach your tray: it links Leaseline before the give-ask guard opened.",
  "checks": [
    {
      "check": "give-ask-guard",
      "status": "fail",
      "doc": "/plays/give-first#check-give-ask-guard",
      "fix": "Cut the ask; it opens after 3 gives they act on.",
      "then": "Content.draft"
    },
    {
      "check": "fact-check",
      "status": "pass"
    }
  ]
}

[
  {
    "reason": {
      "limit": "founder-silence",
      "observed": "7 days, no tray action",
      "bound": "7 days",
      "window": "the tray"
    },
    "doc": "/plays/give-first#stop-founder-silence",
    "task": "task_468"
  }
]

Did it workCopy Anchor Link

At about 8 engaged a week, no held-back half reads within 90 days, so the basis is before-after (rule o): the columns read Now and Before, and nothing prints as Added. Each figure’s call is POST /{namespace}/metrics/query by node, and every node above the leaf is Not live yet (gaps #4).

{
  "$id": "decisions/decision_421",
  "$type": "Decision",
  "choice": "reply-with-a-position",
  "reason": "Kim Alvarez asked how others time renewal notices across owners; your position #12 (per owner, 60 days out) is missing from the 14 replies",
  "stakes": "low",
  "options": [
    "reply-with-a-position",
    "make-what-they-asked",
    "credit-their-work",
    "open-the-ask",
    "founder-alone",
    "let-it-pass"
  ],
  "by": "worker_6",
  "on": "post_311",
  "expected": "Kim answers within 3 days (rung 2)",
  "reopensWhen": "no Prospect.engaged from Kim Alvarez within 3d"
}

Before against after reads the People Dana gave to through the Play against the People she replied to on her own in the 90 days before, scaled to 56 days. It is not proof; Other Startups’ results, read against 1 in 5 watched voices held back at random, print beside it.

How it moves it: your sentence and one sourced specific land under a post where a watched voice is already talking, a median 41 minutes after it went up.

Guardrails: before against after: play-sourced-customers, 1 against 0, and hidden or blocked replies, 1 of 118 against 0 of 31; no Venue warning fired.

{
  "$id": "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/campaigns/give-first",
  "$type": "Campaign",
  "play": "play:give-first@1",
  "path": [
    "rapport-rung",
    "new-leads",
    "new-arr",
    "net-new-arr",
    "arr"
  ],
  "experiment": {
    "metric": "rapport-rung",
    "unit": "per-100",
    "heldBack": 0,
    "decision": null
  },
  "readout": {
    "value": null,
    "n": 42,
    "maturing": 22,
    "interval": null,
    "readability": "inadmissible",
    "basis": "before-after",
    "pooled": true
  },
  "ledger": {
    "spend": 3,
    "workerCost": 3,
    "hours": 17,
    "pipelineArr": 1180,
    "wonArr": 941,
    "projectedArr": 138,
    "paybackDays": 4
  }
}

Outside benchmark: no outside study measures founder replies to the ask rung, so Other Startups’ results (+6 per 100, n 2,310) stand in for one.

Before it · After it. Before it: founder-voice fills the opinion bank and community-answers reads each room into its record. After it: People at the ask rung go to engagement-bridge or warm-intros, and their Leads to instant-response.

ExampleCopy Anchor Link

Leaseline ran it from 2026-08-24 to 2026-10-19 (56 days) on 40 watched voices and 3 subreddits. It briefed 131 posts, Dana posted 118 replies, 3 gifts and 8 credit posts, and 64 People were engaged. Read every captured thread at ?threads=all; three follow the tables.

Kim Alvarez, LinkedIn, Sep 2, 07:41 · “How are you all timing renewal notices across owners? We keep sending them late.”

Dana, 08:20 · Per owner, 60 days out, never one batch for the whole portfolio.¹ Late renewals fell from 9 to 2 last quarter once each owner got their own list.² What broke for you, the date or the owner?

Kim, Sep 2, 10:05 · answered; on Sep 18 she quoted Dana’s line in her own post (rung 3). On day 34 the guard opened, and Dana’s direct Message offered the per-owner calendar she asked about.³ Kim booked a call on Oct 1.

- We built Leaseline for exactly this: leaseline.app/renewals
+ Send each owner their own batch 60 days out; one portfolio-wide batch is where the dates slip.

Marta Lind, 2026-10-06 14:52 · wrote to Dana first: “Can we talk about how you set this up?” That is rung 4, so the agent stopped drafting and put a Brief in Dana’s tray, due 15:52. · Dana, 15:20 · answered in her own words and offered two times. The Brief is in When it hands to you.

¹ Your sentence first, from position #12 in the opinion bank. ² One sourced specific, from your claims source. ³ The ask, only after the guard opened.

Your settingsCopy Anchor Link

---
holdout: 0                  # 8 engaged a week is too few to hold 1 in 5 back; it reads before-after
sessions: [07:30, 12:30]    # property managers post early
venues: [linkedin, reddit]
---
Watch the 40 property-management voices I named. Never link Leaseline before the guard opens.

$ npx startup-builder show plays/give-first
holdout 0 · sessions 07:30, 12:30 · venues linkedin, reddit     your file  plays/give-first.mdx:2,3,4 (Ask 2026-08-24; line 3 by change_24, 2026-09-21)
family demand · worker role:content-lead, owns never · chooses 6 (3 rule, 3 read) · every post pressed by the founder · checks owned-by-a-person, fact-check, give-ask-guard, engagement-ceiling, pester, no-amplification · stops 8 · placements x, linkedin, reddit, hacker-news, github    catalog  play:give-first@1 (Not live yet, gaps #5)

Every key from the catalogCopy Anchor Link

Compiled, not written: edit the Play record give-first and its Leaseline run, then regenerate. Every step runs from a sentence or a line of code. In your words: the CRM words you know, and where each lives here.