Written references

# 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":"written-references"}'

 1import { $ } from 'startup-builder'
 2
 3return await $.Campaign.create({ play: 'written-references' }, { 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":"written-references"}' --try   # Not live yet (gaps #2)

{
  "name": "do",
  "arguments": {
    "code": "return await $.Campaign.create({ play: 'written-references' }, { 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": "written-references can’t start yet: 1 check fails and 2 warn.",
 6  "checks": [
 7    {
 8      "check": "use-when",
 9      "status": "fail",
10      "observed": "4 requests in 90 days; 0 Customers in the reference pool",
11      "doc": "/plays/written-references#check-use-when",
12      "fix": "Invite Customers past their first outcome to the reference pool; it passes at 5.",
13      "then": "Message.broadcast"
14    },
15  …

curl "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/events?where=name%20in%20(%22Action.asked%22%2C%20%22Customer.activated%22%2C%20%22Action.attested%22%2C%20%22Message.received%22%2C%20%22Consent.withdrawn%22%2C%20%22Monitor.checked%22%2C%20%22Deal.won%22)&limit=1" \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_1297"}'

# Not live yet (gaps #7)
curl "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/decisions?where=on%20%3D%20%22deal_9%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%22deal_9%22" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $STARTUP_BUILDER_API_KEY"

 1import { $ } from 'startup-builder'
 2
 3const { events: [last] } = await $.Event.list({ where: 'name in ("Action.asked", "Customer.activated", "Action.attested", "Message.received", "Consent.withdrawn", "Monitor.checked", "Deal.won")', limit: 1 })   // { play } compiled to this Play’s Trigger Events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 (\"Action.asked\", \"Customer.activated\", \"Action.attested\", \"Message.received\", \"Consent.withdrawn\", \"Monitor.checked\", \"Deal.won\")","limit":1}'
npx startup-builder do Trigger.fire --json '{"like":"event_1297"}' --try   # Not live yet (gaps #7)
npx startup-builder do Decision.list --json '{"where":"on = \"deal_9\""}'   # Not live yet (gaps #7)
npx startup-builder do Action.list --json '{"where":"on = \"deal_9\""}'   # Not live yet (gaps #7)

{
  "name": "do",
  "arguments": {
    "code": "const { events: [last] } = await $.Event.list({ where: 'name in (\"Action.asked\", \"Customer.activated\", \"Action.attested\", \"Message.received\", \"Consent.withdrawn\", \"Monitor.checked\", \"Deal.won\")', 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    "$id": "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/decisions/decision_349",
 4    "$type": "Decision",
 5    "choice": "match-and-ask",
 6    "reason": "Northgate manages 300 units for 3 owners; Fernhill Property Group (310 units, 3 owners) is in the pool with 1 of 2 references left this quarter",
 7    "stakes": "low",
 8    "options": [
 9      "match-and-ask",
10      "send-one-on-file",
11      "to-the-ae",
12      "grow-the-pool",
13      "after-the-first-call"
14    ],
15  …

action_2 is the ask to Fernhill’s ops lead, held 2 minutes. action_3 waits for their signed reference, then drafts the delivery into Priya’s queue, because she owns the Deal.

≈ +$480 ARR a month at 3

Worth

30 min week 1, then 10 a week

Your time

$79–$200 credit per reference, ~$360 a month at 3

Spend

Day 3: first reference delivered

First signal

2+ reference requests a month, 5+ Customers in the pool

Use it when

Under 5 Customers past their first outcome: review-requests · buyers want calls: customer-referrals

Not yet when

Worth’s formula: about +8 Deals won per 100 with a reference in 3 days (Other Startups’ results; no lift of your own yet) × 3 requests a month × $2,000 first order ARR ≈ +$480. Under First signal: At 3 requests a month, 90 days can tell only a 4-day drop or more, so your file starts at holdout: 0 and reads before-after.

Start it this weekCopy Anchor Link

npx startup-builder add play written-references   # 1 · writes plays/written-references.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":"written-references"}'

# 3 · keep it, at You approve each one
curl -X POST https://api.sb/leaseline.app/campaigns \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $STARTUP_BUILDER_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"play":"written-references"}'

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

# off: requests come to you; issued credits and delivered references stay
curl -X PATCH https://api.sb/leaseline.app/campaigns/written-references \
  -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": "written-references can’t start yet: 1 check fails and 2 warn.",
  "checks": [
    {
      "check": "use-when",
      "status": "fail",
      "observed": "4 requests in 90 days; 0 Customers in the reference pool",
      "doc": "/plays/written-references#check-use-when",
      "fix": "Invite Customers past their first outcome to the reference pool; it passes at 5.",
      "then": "Message.broadcast"
    },
    {
      "check": "baseline",
      "status": "warn",
      "observed": "median 7 days to a reference, n 4 in 90 days",
      "doc": "/plays/written-references#check-baseline",
      "fix": "n 4: it reads before-after, not proof, until volume allows a held-back half.",
      "then": "Metric.query"
    },
    {
      "check": "role-unstaffed",
      "status": "warn",
      "roles": [
        "sales-engineer",
        "sales-lead"
      ],
      "owned": 6,
      "doc": "/plays/written-references#check-role-unstaffed",
      "fix": "Staff the AE, or leave it: deliveries for your 6 open Deals go to your queue.",
      "then": "Role.staff"
    }
  ]
}

Each written reference costs its credit, the lesser of one month’s Price and $200 ($79 for a Team referee), under a $1,000 monthly Limit, plus $0.06 per ask from your Domain (Worker cost). That comes to about $360 a month at 3 requests.

When it startsCopy Anchor Link

{
  "$id": "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/events/event_1297",
  "$type": "Event",
  "name": "Action.asked",
  "at": "2026-10-19T15:31:08Z",
  "seq": 1297,
  "data": {
    "deal": "deal_9",
    "contact": "contact_14",
    "kind": "reference",
    "said": "Can we hear from a customer our size?",
    "units": 300,
    "owners": 3
  }
}

npx startup-builder trigger Action.asked --like event_1297   # replays the delivery
npx startup-builder clock advance --by 1d   # then runs the ask’s nudge, which ends when they accept
npx startup-builder listen Action.asked --forward-to http://localhost:3000/hook

Who runs itCopy Anchor Link

SE · your agent (role:sales-engineer, worker_6) holds the Key Result. Every delivery and every call request goes to the Deal’s owner, AE · Priya Shah (person) (role:sales-lead, worker_3, staffed on day 9); before day 9 they came to you (Dana Okafor, person, worker_1). Your number links to Did it work.

What it reads · What it may call. It reads the request, the pool’s Consent and capacity, and the referee’s own signed words. It never edits a reference, and the credit is the same whatever the reference says. Its tools are POST /{namespace}/credit-grants/issue, GET /{namespace}/consents/{id}, POST /{namespace}/conversations/{conversation}/escalate, POST /{namespace}/tasks/{task}/assign, POST /{namespace}/conversations/{conversation}/answer, and any other call becomes an Approval under the Role’s Mandate.

You hold the SE Key Result: references delivered in a median of 3 days or less by 2026-12-31. ← worker, metric
On each reference request, choose one option and say why.                        ← triggers, chooses
Match on units and owners within a third of the buyer’s, from Customers with capacity left. ← your file, line 4
Never change a word a referee signed; deliver it whole, with its credit line.    ← copyRules, Disclosure stop
Never write to a Deal a person owns: draft it into their queue.                  ← worker.owns, owned-by-a-person

The slow loop. The weekly Decisions kept a third as the size band, and no Change was merged in the window, so there is no replay or read-back to print.

What it can do nextCopy Anchor Link

When it hands to youCopy Anchor Link

Every delivery and call request goes to the Deal’s owner, AE · Priya Shah (person); the first asks came to you to approve. One Brief per Role, then the Approval, as captured (brief, draft and checks are Not live yet, gaps #7).

[
  {
    "$id": "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/tasks/task_521",
    "$type": "Task",
    "assignee": "worker_3",
    "due": "2026-10-21T10:40:00Z",
    "on": "deal_9",
    "brief": {
      "who": "Northgate Rentals, open Deal on the $2,400 plan",
      "said": "Can we hear from a customer our size?",
      "chose": "match-and-ask",
      "why": "Fernhill: 310 units, 3 owners, signed Oct 21 09:40",
      "send": "the signed reference whole, with its credit line",
      "never": [
        "a word of the reference changed",
        "a price"
      ]
    }
  },
  {
    "$id": "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/approvals/approval_44",
    "$type": "Approval",
    "verdict": null,
    "deadline": "2026-08-31T12:00:00Z",
    "draft": "Hi Jo, a property manager your size asked to hear from a Leaseline customer…",
    "route": "match-and-ask",
    "checks": [
      {
        "check": "keep-first",
        "status": "pass"
      },
      {
        "check": "customer-ask-cap",
        "status": "pass"
      }
    ]
  }
]

Priya answers with POST /{namespace}/tasks/{task}/claim (Take this one), POST /{namespace}/tasks/{task}/return with a reason, or POST /{namespace}/actions/{action}/redirect, each a one-call window. Once she claims, the agent’s pending Actions on that Deal cancel with claimedByPerson (Not live yet, gaps #7), and every reply goes to her queue. A Task nobody claims by its due time goes up a Role through POST /{namespace}/tasks/{task}/escalate (AE to you), and person-promise fires.

On time: AE · Priya Shah, 5 of 5 claimed within 60 min, median 22 min, n 5, ■□□□ Too early to tell beside Other Startups’ 92 % on time. Your queue: in week 1, 3 approvals; after the promotion, about 1 delivery a week in Priya’s queue.

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 that sent is the Lakeside Lofts thread in Example.

{
  "type": "https://startupbuilder.dev/errors/refused",
  "title": "Refused",
  "status": 422,
  "detail": "The delivery to Lakeside Lofts did not send: it says Kestrel cut late renewals by 80 %, which Kestrel never wrote.",
  "checks": [
    {
      "check": "claim",
      "status": "fail",
      "doc": "/plays/written-references#check-claim",
      "fix": "Quote only the referee’s own words.",
      "then": "Conversation.answer"
    },
    {
      "check": "owned-by-a-person",
      "status": "pass"
    }
  ]
}

[
  {
    "reason": {
      "limit": "bounce",
      "observed": "2.6 %",
      "bound": "2 %",
      "window": "1 day"
    },
    "doc": "/plays/written-references#stop-bounce",
    "task": "task_433"
  }
]

Did it workCopy Anchor Link

At 3 requests a month, no held-back half reads within 90 days, and every request gets a reference, 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).

{
  "$id": "decisions/decision_349",
  "$type": "Decision",
  "choice": "match-and-ask",
  "reason": "Northgate manages 300 units for 3 owners; Fernhill Property Group (310 units, 3 owners) is in the pool with 1 of 2 references left this quarter",
  "stakes": "low",
  "options": [
    "match-and-ask",
    "send-one-on-file",
    "to-the-ae",
    "grow-the-pool",
    "after-the-first-call"
  ],
  "by": "worker_6",
  "on": "deal_9",
  "expected": "a signed reference delivered to deal_9 within 3d",
  "reopensWhen": "no Action.attested for deal_9 within 3d"
}

The leaf is the median days from a confirmed request to the delivered reference, with a request undelivered at day 7 counted as 7. Before against after reads one window against the 90 days before it; it is not proof, and Other Startups’ results print beside it.

How it moves it: a signed reference from a Customer the buyer’s size in a median of 2.1 days, where the founder used to chase one by hand for a week.

Guardrails: before against after: Deals won per reference delivered, 3 of 5, and days to close on those Deals, 24 against 31; credits used, $358 of the $1,000 monthly Limit.

{
  "$id": "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/campaigns/written-references",
  "$type": "Campaign",
  "play": "play:written-references@1",
  "path": [
    "reference-turnaround",
    "new-paying-customers",
    "new-arr",
    "net-new-arr",
    "arr"
  ],
  "experiment": {
    "metric": "reference-turnaround",
    "unit": "days",
    "heldBack": 0,
    "decision": null
  },
  "readout": {
    "value": null,
    "n": 5,
    "maturing": 2,
    "interval": null,
    "readability": "inadmissible",
    "basis": "before-after",
    "pooled": true
  },
  "ledger": {
    "spend": 358,
    "workerCost": 1,
    "hours": 1.4,
    "pipelineArr": 4786,
    "wonArr": 5731,
    "projectedArr": 480,
    "paybackDays": 23
  }
}

Outside benchmark: 62 % of business software buyers ask for a customer reference before signing, and 1 in 4 waits over a week for it (a buyer survey of 1,100 companies, 2026-06-30).

Before it · After it. Before it: review-requests and customer-referrals fill the pool with Customers past their first outcome, and trust-pack answers the security half of the same review. After it: closer-handoff hears the Deals a reference moved, and sso-rung hears the Customers it asked; keep-first holds a referee while they are at risk.

ExampleCopy Anchor Link

Leaseline ran it from 2026-08-24 to 2026-10-19 (56 days): 6 reference requests on 6 Deals, 5 delivered, 1 handed to the AE for a call; 9 Customers joined the pool. Read every captured thread at ?threads=all; three follow the tables.

Leaseline → Fernhill’s ops lead, Oct 19, 15:44 · Hi Jo, a property manager with 300 units for 3 owners asked to hear from a Leaseline customer their size.¹ Would you write a few lines in your own words? Leaseline credits you one month, $200, whatever you write.² *Signed with the Role’s disclosure line.*³

Jo, Oct 21, 09:40 · signed 140 words on the form. Action.attested; the delivery reached Priya’s queue at 09:41 and Northgate at 10:02.

- Kestrel cut late renewals by 80 % in their first month with Leaseline.
+ Kestrel’s ops lead wrote: “Renewal notices go out on time now, and our owners stopped asking.”

Alder & Co, 2026-10-02 11:10 · “Can I call one of your customers?” · Leaseline, 11:11 · *Thanks. Priya, your account lead, replies by 12:10 to set up the call.*⁴ The Brief went to Priya (task_468); she booked the call at 11:35.

¹ The buyer’s size, never their name, before they agree. ² The credit is the same whatever the reference says. ³ The fixed signature line, compiled from the Role’s disclosure Setting. ⁴ The routed line, compiled from the Role’s Settings.

Your settingsCopy Anchor Link

---
holdout: 0        # every request gets a reference; it reads before-after
---
Match on units and owners within a third of the buyer’s. Credit the lesser of one month and $200, up to $1,000 a month.
Put every delivery in the Deal owner’s queue.

$ npx startup-builder show plays/written-references
holdout 0 · size band a third · credit cap $200, $1,000 a month     your file  plays/written-references.mdx:2,4,5 (Ask 2026-08-24)
family demand · worker role:sales-engineer, owns never · chooses 5 (2 rule, 3 read) · sequences reference-pool-invite-email, referee-ask-email, reference-delivery-email · checks owned-by-a-person, keep-first, customer-ask-cap, authorship, claim · stops 8 · placements gmail, outlook, yahoo-mail    catalog  play:written-references@1 (Not live yet, gaps #5)

Every key from the catalogCopy Anchor Link

Compiled, not written: edit the Play record written-references 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.