URL: /plays/owned-newsletter · Id: `play:owned-newsletter`
# 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.
Sends one issue a week with one fact, your own words and one [Offer](https://startupbuilder.dev/business/nouns/offer), passed by you, and stops writing to silent readers.
```text title="Set it up · Ask"
Be our Content Lead for the newsletter: every Thursday, one fact from our records, my own words from that week’s recording, and one Offer at today’s price. I edit every issue before it goes. Hand buying replies to our AE, and stop writing to anyone silent for 90 days. Show me what’s missing; don’t send.
```
```text title="Run one · Ask"
Hand this week’s issue to the Content Lead agent and show me what it chose and why. Don’t send.
```
```ts title="Run one · SDK"
import { $ } from 'startup-builder'
const { events: [last] } = await $.Event.list({ where: 'name in ("Message.scheduled", "Source.added", "Change.merged", "Contact.subscribed", "Contact.engaged", "Message.broadcasted", "Conversation.labeled")', limit: 1 }) // { play } compiled to this Play’s Trigger Events
const { subject } = await $.Trigger.fire({ like: last.$id }, { mode: 'try' }) // the same Event again, in try mode · Not live yet, gaps #7
const { decisions: [decision] } = await $.Decision.list({ where: `on = "${subject}"` }) // what it chose, and why · Not live yet, gaps #7
const { actions } = await $.Action.list({ where: `on = "${subject}"` }) // what it did, with its checks · Not live yet, gaps #7
return { decision, actions }
```
```json title="Run one · Response · sample"
{
"decision": {
"$id": "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/decisions/decision_561",
"$type": "Decision",
"choice": "send-the-issue",
"reason": "fact_31 (1,204 notices 60 days out in September) is inside its 30-day refresh window; Dana’s Oct 16 recording has a 2-minute cut on owner statements; Pro’s Price matches the Pricing Page",
"stakes": "medium",
"options": [
"send-the-issue",
"not-now",
"welcome",
"hand-on-the-buyer",
"ask-to-keep",
"add-a-sister-slot"
],
"by": "worker_7",
"on": "broadcast_9",
"expected": "your editor pass by Oct 21 17:00 Central, and the issue sent Oct 22 at 08:00",
"reopensWhen": "no Approval.approved for broadcast_9 by 2026-10-21T22:00Z: the week records checked, nothing to send"
},
"actions": [
{
"$id": "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/actions/action_1",
"$type": "Action",
"status": "done",
"mode": "try",
"by": "worker_7",
"verb": "Content.draft",
"checks": [
{
"check": "fact-check",
"status": "pass"
},
{
"check": "provenance-hold",
"status": "pass"
}
]
},
{
"$id": "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/actions/action_2",
"$type": "Action",
"status": "pending",
"reason": "awaitingApproval",
"mode": "try",
"by": "worker_7",
"verb": "Approval.create",
"checks": []
},
{
"$id": "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/actions/action_3",
"$type": "Action",
"status": "pending",
"reason": "awaitingTime",
"mode": "try",
"by": "worker_7",
"verb": "Message.broadcast",
"checks": [
{
"check": "price-match",
"status": "pass"
},
{
"check": "spam-brake",
"status": "pass"
},
{
"check": "editorial",
"status": "pending"
}
]
}
]
}
```
`action_2` is your editor pass, due Oct 21 at 17:00 Central. `action_3` sends Thursday at 08:00 in each reader’s time zone, and only once `editorial` passes; the Price is read again on the send day.
`+3.9 per 1,000 · ■□□□ Too early to tell · n 410 · path → arr`
| Try another: the issue | Choice | Reason |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Issue 9, due Oct 22: fact_31, Dana’s Oct 16 cut, Pro at $29 | `send-the-issue` | a fresh fact, a cut and a live Offer; waiting for your pass |
| Issue 4, due Sep 17: no recording that week | `not-now` | no usable cut: the week records checked, nothing to send |
| A reply to issue 8: “Can we get this for our 3 offices?” | `hand-on-the-buyer` | a buying question: a Lead for the AE within 5 minutes |
| Sam Patel: no open, reply or click for 75 days | `ask-to-keep` | silent 75 days: one Keep or Stop, then the sunset at 90 |
| Worth | Your time | Spend | First signal | Use it when | Instead |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ≈ +$650 ARR a month at 7,800 delivered | 1 h week 1, then 40 min a week | $0.60 per issue, ~$3 a month | Day 3: first trial from an issue link | 500+ subscribers, and a 10-minute recording a week | Under 500: `organic-social` · no live Offer: publish one () |
**Where it sits:** **Stranger** → **Lead** → Trialing → Activated → At risk → Churned → Won back · Subscribers who become Leads → New Leads → New Customers ↑ → ARR added each week → ARR
Worth’s formula: about +0.8 trials per 1,000 delivered (Other Startups’ results; your own read is too early) × 7,800 delivered a month × 0.30 trials to paid × $347 Pro ARR ≈ +$650. Under First signal: Holding back 1 in 10 new subscribers at about 220 a month, about 26 weeks to tell a +1 lift; 90 days can tell only +4.2 per 1,000 or more.
`sample · api.sb/leaseline.app · 41 Customers at 2026-10-19 · on Message.scheduled · first draft 4 min after the cycle opened · 9 keys Not live yet`
## Start it this week
```bash
npx startup-builder add play owned-newsletter # 1 · writes plays/owned-newsletter.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":"owned-newsletter"}'
# 3 · keep it: you pass every issue as editor
curl -X POST https://api.sb/leaseline.app/campaigns \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $STARTUP_BUILDER_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"play":"owned-newsletter"}'
# on
curl -X POST https://api.sb/leaseline.app/processes/content-marketing/enable \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $STARTUP_BUILDER_API_KEY"
# off: no issue, welcome or re-permission sends
curl -X POST https://api.sb/leaseline.app/processes/content-marketing/pause \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $STARTUP_BUILDER_API_KEY"
```
```json title="The dry run’s 422 · 2026-08-24 · sample"
{
"type": "https://startupbuilder.dev/errors/refused",
"title": "Refused",
"status": 422,
"detail": "owned-newsletter can’t start yet: 1 check fails and 1 warns.",
"checks": [
{
"check": "use-when",
"status": "pass",
"observed": "1,860 subscribers who said yes; 1,790 are not Customers",
"doc": "/plays/owned-newsletter#check-use-when",
"fix": "Nothing to do: only addresses whose yes names Leaseline count.",
"then": "Metric.query"
},
{
"check": "baseline",
"status": "pass",
"observed": "1.1 trials per 1,000 delivered from the monthly update, n 9,400 delivered in 90 days",
"doc": "/plays/owned-newsletter#check-baseline",
"fix": "Nothing to do: Before reads your monthly update’s last 90 days.",
"then": "Metric.query"
},
{
"check": "domain-authenticated",
"status": "fail",
"observed": "news.leaseline.app has no DNS records",
"doc": "/plays/owned-newsletter#check-domain-authenticated",
"fix": "Add the 3 DNS records shown for news.leaseline.app; it passes once they resolve.",
"then": "Domain.authenticate"
},
{
"check": "fact-check",
"status": "pass",
"observed": "12 facts on the facts Page, each with a refresh date",
"doc": "/plays/owned-newsletter#check-fact-check",
"fix": "Nothing to do: each issue’s fact must sit inside its refresh window.",
"then": "Content.draft"
},
{
"check": "provenance-hold",
"status": "pass",
"observed": "0 recordings yet; the first issue waits for one",
"doc": "/plays/owned-newsletter#check-provenance-hold",
"fix": "Record 10 minutes this week; every take quotes your own words.",
"then": "Content.draft"
},
{
"check": "spam-brake",
"status": "pass",
"observed": "trailing 7-day rate 240 Messages; one issue is 1,860",
"doc": "/plays/owned-newsletter#check-spam-brake",
"fix": "Nothing to do: the broadcast Mailbox sends the issue in time-zone waves.",
"then": "Message.broadcast"
},
{
"check": "owned-by-a-person",
"status": "pass",
"observed": "31 subscribers have an open Lead a person owns",
"doc": "/plays/owned-newsletter#check-owned-by-a-person",
"fix": "Nothing to do: their buying replies go to their owner.",
"then": "Task.assign"
},
{
"check": "role-unstaffed",
"status": "warn",
"roles": [
"sales-lead"
],
"owned": 31,
"doc": "/plays/owned-newsletter#check-role-unstaffed",
"fix": "Staff the AE, or leave it: buying replies come to you.",
"then": "Role.staff"
}
]
}
```
| Check | Fix (one call) | Your time | Wait |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `use-when` · `baseline` · pass: 1,860 subscribers; 1.1 per 1,000, n 9,400 (gaps #8) | on `subscriber-leads`, which fills Before in Your number | 1 min | none |
| `domain-authenticated` · fail | on news.leaseline.app | 10 min | until DNS resolves, often under 1 h |
| `fact-check` · `provenance-hold` · `spam-brake` · pass: 12 facts; first recording due; time-zone waves (gaps #1) | record 10 minutes before Thursday; each runs again on every issue | 10 min | none |
| `owned-by-a-person` · pass: 31 owned by you | nothing; it runs again on every reply | 0 min | none |
| `role-unstaffed` · warn (gaps #8): 31 subscribers have a person owner, you | , or leave it: buying replies come to you within 60 min | 0 min | none |
`Your number · Before 1.1 per 1,000 · Now 1.5 per 1,000 delivered · Target 2 by Dec 31 · ■□□□ Too early to tell · n 410 new subscribers · Other Startups +0.8, ■■■□ Likely`
Each issue costs about $0.60 to send to 1,860 and $0.05 to draft (Worker cost); transcribing your 10-minute recording costs about $0.06. The archive Pages cost nothing. That comes to about $3 a month at 4 issues.
## When it starts
| When | Trigger id | Starts on | Window | How it gets in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| This week’s issue is 3 days from its send | `issue-due` | `at` on `Message.scheduled` where sendAt - 3d | draft by Monday; your pass by Tuesday 17:00 | the send day in your file; writes it |
| Someone ticks the newsletter box on any Page or at sign-up | `subscriber-joined` | `event` on `Contact.subscribed` where list = 'newsletter' | welcome within 1d | your subscribe Form posts to |
| A reply or poll answer asks about buying | `buying-reply` | `event` on `Conversation.labeled` where label = 'buying' | a Lead within 5 min; a person within 60 | replies to the broadcast Mailbox |
| + 2 more: an act that resets the silence clock, and 75 days of silence, a `state` that starts the re-permission ask (`?lanes=all`) | | | | |
```json title="One signed delivery · StartupBuilder-Signature"
{
"$id": "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/events/event_1380",
"$type": "Event",
"name": "Message.scheduled",
"at": "2026-10-19T13:00:00Z",
"seq": 1380,
"data": {
"broadcast": {
"$id": "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/broadcasts/broadcast_9",
"list": "the-renewal-desk",
"sendAt": "2026-10-22T08:00:00",
"timezone": "reader"
},
"fact": "fact_31",
"source": "recordings/recording_14"
}
}
```
```bash title="Reproduce it in test"
npx startup-builder trigger Message.scheduled --like event_1380 # replays the delivery in test
npx startup-builder clock advance --to 2026-10-22T08:00 # sends issue 9 in test (action_3) once your pass is in
npx startup-builder listen Lead.created --forward-to http://localhost:3000/hook
```
## Who runs it
**Content Lead · your agent** (`role:content-lead`, `worker_7`) holds the Key Result and drafts every issue from your recording and the facts Page. **You** (Dana Okafor, person, `worker_1`) pass every issue as editor, on every rung. Buying replies go to **AE · Priya Shah (person)** (`role:sales-lead`, `worker_3`, staffed on day 9). Your number links to Did it work.
| Option | Rung today | Evidence (passed of n) | Moves up at | Drops back when | You can |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Send this week’s issue | You approve each one | 7 passed, 1 held | never: a person edits every issue | — | · |
| Welcome the subscriber · Ask whether to keep it | It does it, you can stop it | 410 of 410 · 38 of 38 | met on day 16 (200 sends, no Stop in 30 days) | any email Stop → You approve each one | inside the 15-minute hold |
| Hand the buying reply on · Not now | It does it | 6 of 6 · 1 of 1 | — | — | |
| Add your other Startup’s slot | You approve each one | 0 offered | at 200 slot sends with no `slot-opt-out` | — | |
| Change the issue rule | You approve each one | 1 merged of 1 | never | — | · |
| Never: a line you didn’t say, a reader’s clicks in an issue, a countdown that resets | Refused, every time | 1 drafted, 1 refused | never | — | none: the Check holds it |
**What it reads · What it may call.** It reads your recording, the facts Page and the live Pricing Page. Clicks and Visits only choose who counts as engaged; they never appear in an issue, and no text in a reply picks a recipient or a link. Its tools are , , , , , , and any other call becomes an Approval under the Role’s Mandate.
```md title="The brief (folded): compiled Agent-register Markdown · play:owned-newsletter@1 · each line names its record key"
You hold the Content Lead Key Result: 2 trials per 1,000 delivered by 2026-12-31. ← worker, metric
Each issue: one dated fact, one take in Dana’s own sentences, one Offer at the send day’s Price. ← copyRules 1–4
Trim and order her sentences; never rewrite one into your own phrasing. ← copyRules 4
No fresh fact, no cut or no editor pass: skip the week. ← chooses.not-now.when
A buying reply becomes a Lead for the AE within 5 minutes. ← chooses.hand-on-the-buyer, your file line 7
```
**The slow loop, as a Change.** `decision_371` (2026-09-21, weekly) read 4 issues with the Offer under the take and 3 trials, and 2 with the poll first and the Offer last with 0. `change_26` fixed the order as fact, take, Offer, poll (your file, line 5), and Dana merged it with . **Replayed on past issues**, put them at 1.7 per 1,000; read back over the next 3 issues it is 1.6, n 5,420 delivered, ■□□□ Too early to tell (Example, day 52).
**Bring your own agent** (folded) starts at It does it, you can stop it when it matches or beats the seated agent on the eval suite, and at You approve each one when it does not; issues stay with you either way.
```bash
npx startup-builder eval --scenario owned-newsletter-8 --agent "claude -p" --seat content-lead # seated: 0 lines off source, 0 Checks failed sent, $0.65 an issue · yours: 2 lines off source → You approve each one
```
## What it can do next
| Option | Picked when | Decided by | Runs | Hands to | If it’s just you |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Send this week’s issue `send-the-issue` | a fresh fact, a cut and a live Offer, and your pass | Your rule (line 5) | `publish-content` → for you → in time-zone waves, plus the archive Page | you pass it as editor · Take this one | you |
| Not now `not-now` | no fresh fact, no usable cut, or no pass by the deadline | Your rule (line 6) | nothing; the week records checked, nothing to send | nobody | the same |
| Welcome the subscriber `welcome` | someone says yes to the newsletter | Your rule (the subscribe Form) | `newsletter-welcome`: where they subscribed, the best archive issue and one question | nobody | the same |
| Hand the buying reply on `hand-on-the-buyer` | a reply or poll answer asks about buying | Agent’s call, with its reason | → | AE · Priya Shah, due 60 min (`response-60m`) · Take this one | you, within 60 min |
| Ask whether to keep it `ask-to-keep` | silent 75 days while issues kept sending | Your rule (line 8) | `re-permission`: Keep and Stop at equal size, once → at day 90, from this newsletter | nobody | the same |
| Add your other Startup’s slot `add-a-sister-slot` | a sister product’s Offer fits this issue’s readers | Agent’s call, with its reason | of one labeled Sponsored slot, below your own Offer | you approve it · Take this one | you |
| When they write back | Fixture reply | What happens | Who answers | By when | Call |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Interested | “Can we get this for our 3 offices?” | a Lead for the AE within 5 minutes, with the reply in the Brief (When it hands to you) | AE · Priya Shah (person) | 60 min | |
| Send me pricing | “What does Pro cost for 80 units?” | the Pricing Page’s list Price, read the same day | Content Lead · your agent | 5 min | |
| Not now | “Not buying this year, but keep the issues coming.” | no Lead opens; the issues keep coming | nobody | — | |
| Wrong person | “Our ops lead should get this, not me.” | a reply with the subscribe link to forward; it never adds an address from their text | Content Lead · your agent | 1 business day | |
| Out of office | an auto-reply until Oct 28 | nothing; an auto-reply never counts as engaged or as a reply | nobody | — | |
| Question it can’t answer | “You said 1,204 notices. Is that all your Customers or a sample?” | a fact question goes to you as editor; a wrong fact gets a correction in the next issue | you (Dana Okafor, person) | 1 business day | |
| Stop | “Unsubscribe me.” | this newsletter stops for them at once; one-click unsubscribe works the same | nobody | at once | |
## When it hands to you
Every issue comes to **you** as editor; buying replies go to **AE · Priya Shah (person)**, and before day 9 they came to you. One Brief per Role, as captured, then the Approval (`brief`, `draft` and `checks` are Not live yet, gaps #7).
```json title="What lands in each queue · sample"
[
{
"$id": "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/approvals/approval_88",
"$type": "Approval",
"verdict": null,
"deadline": "2026-10-21T22:00:00Z",
"draft": "In September, Leaseline Customers sent 1,204 renewal notices 60 days out. Dana, on owner statements: “The owners who call me are the ones who…”",
"route": "send-the-issue",
"checks": [
{
"check": "fact-check",
"status": "pass"
},
{
"check": "provenance-hold",
"status": "pass"
},
{
"check": "price-match",
"status": "pass"
}
]
},
{
"$id": "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/tasks/task_441",
"$type": "Task",
"assignee": "worker_3",
"due": "2026-10-15T14:05:00Z",
"on": "lead_47",
"brief": {
"who": "Mara Quinn, Northgate Rentals (3 offices, about 260 units)",
"said": "Can we get this for our 3 offices?",
"chose": "hand-on-the-buyer",
"why": "a buying question in a reply to issue 8",
"subscribed": "2026-06-02, from the pricing Page",
"never": [
"what she clicked",
"a price beyond the list"
]
}
}
]
```
You answer the issue with or ; an issue unpassed by its deadline never sends. The AE answers a buying reply with (Take this one), with a reason, or . Once a person claims a reply, the agent writes nothing more to that subscriber outside the issue (`claimedByPerson`, Not live yet, gaps #7). A Task nobody claims by its due time goes up a Role through , and `person-promise` fires.
**On time:** you, 7 of 8 issues passed by the deadline, median 26 min of editing, n 8 (issue 4 had no recording); AE · Priya Shah, 6 of 6 buying replies claimed within 60 min, median 14 min, n 6, ■□□□ Too early to tell beside Other Startups’ 93 % on time. **Your queue:** counted by kind: one issue to pass and one recording each week, plus about 1 buying reply a week for the AE.
**The fixed line:** 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 send
| Check (refuses one send) | Refuses | Fix | Then |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `owned-by-a-person` (rule j; Not live yet, gaps #8) | an agent reply to a subscriber whose Lead or open Deal a person owns | Leave it to the person who owns it: the draft waits in their queue. | |
| `editorial` (the record’s Editorial hold) | an issue with no editor pass by its deadline | Pass it before the deadline, or the week records checked, nothing to send. | |
| `provenance-hold` (the record’s Provenance hold) | a paragraph that links to no source cut or fact record, or a line its speaker never said | Cut the line, or cite its timestamp in the recording. | |
| `fact-check` (the record’s Fact hold) | an issue whose fact is past its refresh window or fails the check | Refresh the fact on the facts Page, or pick another. | |
| `price-match` (the record’s Price hold) | an Offer block whose Price differs from the Pricing Page on the send day | Fix the Offer block or the Pricing Page until both match the Price. | |
| `source-consent` (the record’s Source Consent hold) | a cut with a speaker other than you and no yes to reuse their words | Ask the speaker for a yes to reuse, or use another cut. | |
| `spam-brake` (gaps #1) | a broadcast past three times the trailing 7-day rate in an hour | Send in time-zone waves, or wait an hour for the rate to fall. | |
| Stop (pauses the Play) | Pauses when | Then |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `complaint` | spam complaints near 0.1 % of an issue’s delivered | the next issue and the welcome pause on the broadcast Mailbox |
| `shadow-complaint` | stop, remove-me and hostile replies, each weighted 5 times, over 0.05 % of delivered | the next issue pauses |
| `bounce` | hard bounces over 2 % of an issue’s sends | the list pauses until the rest are verified |
| `unsubscribe` | unsubscribes over 1 % of delivered on 2 issues in a row | issues return to review; a Decision opens |
| `slot-opt-out` | slot issues draw 0.5 points more unsubscribes than no-slot issues, over 4 | the slot drops for 8 weeks |
| `suppression-audit` | any send to an address under a covering Suppression | every Tactic pauses at once |
| `yield-floor` | under 0.5 subscriber-Customers per 100 at 90 days | a Decision on the Offer and the source mix |
| `kill-switch` | you press it | on `content-marketing`; nothing sends |
The captured refusal, then the Stop that fired as a `Campaign.paused` reason (Not live yet, gaps #2); the rewrite that sent is the issue 6 thread in Example.
```json title="The captured refusal · sample"
{
"type": "https://startupbuilder.dev/errors/refused",
"title": "Refused",
"status": 422,
"detail": "Issue 6 did not send: its take has a line Dana never said in the recording.",
"checks": [
{
"check": "provenance-hold",
"status": "fail",
"doc": "/plays/owned-newsletter#check-provenance-hold",
"fix": "Cut the line, or cite its timestamp in the transcript.",
"then": "Content.draft"
},
{
"check": "fact-check",
"status": "pass"
},
{
"check": "price-match",
"status": "pass"
}
]
}
```
```json title="The Stops that fired, as Campaign.paused reasons · sample"
[
{
"reason": {
"limit": "shadow-complaint",
"observed": "0.06 % (2 remove-me replies × 5 on 1,812 delivered)",
"bound": "0.05 %",
"window": "issue 5"
},
"doc": "/plays/owned-newsletter#stop-shadow-complaint",
"task": "task_398"
}
]
```
## Did it work
1 in 10 new subscribers who are not Customers is held back at random and gets every issue without the Offer block; both halves are read from that assignment, per 1,000 delivered to everyone assigned (rules m–o). Each figure’s call is by node and by arm; the parent field and every node above the leaf are Not live yet (gaps #4).
`+3.9 per 1,000 · ■□□□ Too early to tell · n 410 · path → arr`
| Node | With the Offer (agent half) | Without it (held back) | Added | Confidence | Basis |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `subscriber-leads` | 3.9 per 1,000 delivered (6 of 1,540) | 0 (0 of 170) | +3.9 [−3.8, +11.6] | ■□□□ Too early to tell | held back at random, 1 in 10 · n 410 subscribers · 160 still maturing · Other Startups +0.8, ■■■□ Likely, n 41 Startups |
| `new-leads` | 3.8 per 100 subscribers (14 of 369) | 2.4 (1 of 41) | +1.4 [−3.6, +6.4] | ■□□□ Too early to tell | the same assignment |
| `new-arr` ↑ | $1,041, 3 Customers · Booked across the whole list $2,082, 6 Customers: credited, not all caused by this Play | $0, 0 Customers | +$1,041 [−$600, +$2,700] · Worth about +$650 a month | ■□□□ Too early to tell (3 vs 0 Customers) | the same · 4 trials still deciding |
| `net-new-arr` · `arr` | +$1,041 | +$0 | +$1,041, carried: it moves no other bridge term | ■□□□ Too early to tell | carried from `new-arr` |
The leaf counts trials and checkouts started from a coded issue link per 1,000 delivered, from subscribers who were not Customers when they subscribed, each counted 90 days on (rule n). Subscribers from before day 0 read beside it, unassigned: 13 trials on 11,060 delivered, 1.2 per 1,000.
**How it moves it:** each issue carried one dated fact and one Offer at its send-day Price, where the monthly update before it carried 4 stories and no Offer (`subscriber-leads` by issue).
**Guardrails:** treated against held back: unsubscribes per issue, 0.4 % against 0.3 %, and spam complaints, 0.01 % against a Stop near 0.1 %.
```json title="The Campaign card · sample"
{
"$id": "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/campaigns/owned-newsletter",
"$type": "Campaign",
"play": "play:owned-newsletter@1",
"path": [
"subscriber-leads",
"new-leads",
"new-arr",
"net-new-arr",
"arr"
],
"experiment": {
"metric": "subscriber-leads",
"unit": "per-1000",
"heldBack": 41,
"decision": null
},
"readout": {
"value": 3.9,
"n": 410,
"maturing": 160,
"interval": [
-3.8,
11.6
],
"readability": "inadmissible",
"basis": "held-back",
"pooled": false
},
"ledger": {
"spend": 5,
"workerCost": 1,
"hours": 6.1,
"pipelineArr": 2400,
"wonArr": 2082,
"projectedArr": 650,
"paybackDays": 2
}
}
```
Outside benchmark: the catalog holds none for this Play yet, so Other Startups’ results stand in: +0.8 trials per 1,000 delivered, ■■■□ Likely, n 41 Startups.
**Before it · After it.** Before it: `archive-repurposing`, `founder-voice`, `organic-social` and the search Plays feed it recordings, facts and subscribers. After it: buying replies reach the AE as `instant-response` hand-offs do, members of the list are invited to `owned-community`, and 90-day silent subscribers stop getting it.
## Example
Leaseline ran it from 2026-08-24 to 2026-10-19 (56 days): 8 weekly cycles, 7 issues sent and 1 week with nothing to send. 410 new subscribers were assigned at random, 369 with the Offer and 41 without; 250 have matured. Read every captured thread at `?threads=all`; three follow the tables.
| What happened, by option | Decisions | Sent or done | Won (credited, not all caused by this Play) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Send this week’s issue | 8 | 7 issues, 12,600 delivered; 19 trials from coded links | 6 on Pro (+$2,082 ARR), 3 of them new subscribers |
| Welcome the subscriber · Ask whether to keep it | 410 · 38 | 410 welcomed · 9 kept, 29 sunset at day 90 | — |
| Hand the buying reply on · Not now · Add your other Startup’s slot | 6 · 1 · 0 | 6 Leads, 2 Deals · issue 4 skipped · — | 1 Deal open on the $2,400 plan |
| At 500 subscribers (the Use it when volume) | about 3,400 delivered in 56 days | held back 1 in 10: Too early to tell at 90 days | Other Startups’ results: +0.8 per 1,000, ■■■□ Likely, n 41 Startups |
| Day | Event | What happened | Your time |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 0 | `event_118` Campaign.created | the three steps; the dry run fails `domain-authenticated` on news.leaseline.app | 20 min |
| 0 | `event_121` Domain.authenticated | news.leaseline.app resolves in 35 min | 10 min |
| 3 | `event_160` Offer.trialed | the first trial from an issue link, on issue 1 | — |
| 9 | `event_301` Role.staffed | AE · Priya Shah (person) takes `role:sales-lead` | — |
| 24 | `event_470` Decision.created | issue 4: no recording that week; checked, nothing to send | — |
| 28 · 52 | `event_560` Change.merged · `event_880` Readout.created | fact, take, Offer, poll: replayed at 1.7 per 1,000, read back over 3 issues at 1.6 | 5 min |
| 31 | `event_611` Campaign.paused | `shadow-complaint` on issue 5: 2 remove-me replies; issue 6 sent after your review | 15 min |
| 1–56 | `event_140` Approval.created, first of 8 | you recorded 7 times and passed 7 issues; weekly reviews, from the log | 5 h 10 min · **total 6.1 h measured, 6 h asked** |
> **The Renewal Desk, issue 8, Oct 15, 08:00** · Subject: 1,204 notices went out 60 days early in September.¹ The fact, with its source link. Dana, from Oct 9’s recording: “The owners who call me angry never got the first notice. The ones who got it at 60 days don’t call at all.”² This week’s Offer: Pro, $29 a month, with renewal notices per owner.³
>
> **Mara Quinn, Northgate Rentals, 09:05** · “Can we get this for our 3 offices?” A Lead for Priya at 09:06; she claimed it at 09:20 and booked a call for Oct 17 (When it hands to you).
```diff title="Issue 6, 2026-10-01 · the take provenance-hold refused, then the rewrite that sent"
- We built Leaseline because property managers deserve better tools.
+ “I built the first version for my mom’s 12 units, because her renewals lived on sticky notes.” (Dana, recording of Sep 25, 03:12)
```
> **A reply to issue 7, 2026-10-08 10:40** · “You said 1,204 notices. Is that all your Customers or a sample?” · **Leaseline (agent), 10:41** · *Thanks for asking. Dana, our editor, answers fact questions and replies by tomorrow 10:40.*⁴ The Brief went to Dana (`task_436`); she replied at 15:10: all Customers, from the facts Page’s September record.
¹ The subject names the fact; no fake reply prefix and no countdown. ² The take: Dana’s own sentences from the cited cut, trimmed and ordered, never rewritten. ³ One Offer, with the Price read from the Pricing Page on the send day. ⁴ The routed line, compiled from the Role’s Settings.
## Your settings
```mdx title="plays/owned-newsletter.mdx"
---
holdout: 0.1 # 1 in 10 new non-Customer subscribers gets no Offer block for 90 days
send: thursday 08:00 reader time
---
Order: fact, take, Offer, poll.
No recording that week, no issue.
Buying replies go to our AE within 5 minutes.
Silent 75 days: ask once; at 90, stop.
```
```text
$ npx startup-builder show plays/owned-newsletter
holdout 0.1 · send Thursday 08:00 · fact, take, Offer, poll · skip without a recording · buying replies to the AE · sunset at 90 days your file plays/owned-newsletter.mdx:2,3,5,6,7,8 (Ask 2026-08-24; line 5 by change_26, 2026-09-21)
family owned-audience · process content-marketing · worker role:content-lead, owns never · chooses 6 (4 rule, 2 read) · sequences newsletter-welcome, re-permission · approval every-send · checks owned-by-a-person, editorial, provenance-hold, fact-check, price-match, source-consent, spam-brake · stops 8 · placements gmail, outlook + the archive site catalog play:owned-newsletter@1 (Not live yet, gaps #5)
```
### Every key from the catalog
| Key | Id | What it is |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Tactic | `archive-ingest` | Archive ingest turns a consented first-party recording, call or Thread into indexed source cuts with speaker, timestamps, claims, advice class and audience. Starts at Sends nothing. |
| Tactic | `issue-draft` | Issue draft assembles one weekly issue from one fact record, one human source cut and one live Offer, with every paragraph linked to its source. Starts at Sends nothing. |
| Tactic | `editorial-pass` | Editorial pass: Puts a human editor on every issue to check its fact and its take against their sources, cut generic lines, and approve or hold it. Starts at You approve each one. |
| Tactic | `issue-send` | Issue send delivers an approved issue to every consented, unsuppressed subscriber from the broadcast Mailbox, and publishes it as an archive Page. Starts at You approve each one. |
| Tactic | `subscribe-growth` | Subscribe growth: Puts the newsletter on every Page and at sign-up, records one Consent per box ticked, and grows the list through referrals and sibling boxes. Starts at You approve the first wave. |
| Tactic | `reply-loop` | Reply loop reads every subscriber reply and poll answer, routes buying questions to sales, fixes reported errors, and turns repliers into recorded calls. Starts at You approve each one. |
| Tactic | `silence-sunset` | Silence sunset asks a subscriber silent for 75 days whether to keep the newsletter, and suppresses this Startup’s newsletter to them at day 90. Starts at You approve the first wave. |
| Tactic | `sibling-slot-host` | Sibling slot host: Opens at most one labeled slot per issue for a same-pool sibling’s Offer, below the Startup’s own Offer, with the Startup as sender. Starts at Sends nothing. |
| Tactic | `newsletter-readout` | Newsletter readout: Reads each week how many new subscribers who were not Customers at subscribe become Customers within 90 days, against the Offer holdout. Starts at Sends nothing. |
| Trigger | `issue-due` | Issue due: `at` on `Message.scheduled`, window 3d. |
| Trigger | `source-added` | Source added: `event` on `Source.added`, window 30d. |
| Trigger | `fact-changed` | Fact changed: `event` on `Change.merged`, window 24h. |
| Trigger | `subscriber-joined` | Subscriber joined: `event` on `Contact.subscribed`, window 1d. |
| Trigger | `subscriber-engaged` | Subscriber engaged: `event` on `Contact.engaged`, window 90d. |
| Trigger | `subscriber-silent` | Subscriber silent: `state` on `Message.broadcasted`, window 15d. |
| Trigger | `buying-reply` | Buying reply: `event` on `Conversation.labeled`, window 1d. |
| Trigger | `host-issue-scheduled` | Host issue scheduled: `event` on `Message.scheduled`, window 2d. |
| Sequence | `newsletter-welcome` | Newsletter welcome: 2 steps; it ends on The subscriber becomes a Customer.; The subscriber unsubscribes.; A Suppression covers the address.; The first regular issue sends.. |
| Sequence | `re-permission` | Re-permission: 2 steps; it ends on The subscriber presses Keep.; The subscriber presses Stop.; Any engagement event.; Day 90 of silence, when the inactive Suppression is recorded.. |