URL: /strategy/borrowed · Id: `page:/strategy/borrowed`

# Borrowed

> A store or a partner brings buyers you could not reach: build a small integration, list it well, earn 10 reviews in 30 days.

A store or a partner brings buyers you could not reach: build a small integration, list it well, earn 10 reviews in 30 days.

```text title="Your first month as one goal · Ask"
Find the store our buyers already use, write our listing for it and line up 10 reviews from design partners.
Spend up to $60, and show me the plan first.
```

```ts title="Your first month as one goal · SDK"
import { $ } from 'startup-builder'

const result = await $.try.Goal.pursue({
  objective: 'Pick the store most of our buyers use, write the listing and line up 10 reviews',
  budget: { amount: 60, currency: 'USD' },
  by: '2026-11-26',
  use: [
    'ICP.compare',
    'Domain.compare',
    'Content.compile',
    'Post.check',
    'Review.request',
  ],
})
console.log(result)
```

```json title="Your first month as one goal · Response"
{
  "$id": "https://api.sb/leaseline.app/goals/goal_PmaTA20MUI",
  "$type": "Goal",
  "mode": "try",
  "stored": false,
  "goal": {
    "objective": "Pick the store most of our buyers use, write the listing and line up 10 reviews",
    "keyResult": {
      "metric": "listing-signups",
      "target": 1,
      "by": "2026-11-26"
    }
  },
  "reads": [
    {
      "said": "our buyers",
      "means": "the 4,180 US property managers the customer sentence matches",
      "hard": true
    },
    {
      "said": "the store",
      "means": "the platform with the largest share of those accounts and a store that lists integrations",
      "hard": true
    },
    {
      "said": "10 reviews",
      "means": "asked of design partners the week their result lands, after the listing is live",
      "hard": false
    }
  ],
  "steps": [
    {
      "n": 1,
      "operation": "ICP.compare",
      "count": 1,
      "unit": "4,180 software reads",
      "usd": 37.2,
      "why": "the share of accounts on each platform"
    },
    {
      "n": 2,
      "operation": "Domain.compare",
      "count": 1,
      "unit": "3 rivals",
      "usd": 1.43,
      "why": "who lists in the store, and how they rank"
    },
    {
      "n": 3,
      "operation": "Content.compile",
      "count": 1,
      "unit": "listing",
      "usd": 0.01,
      "why": "title, screenshots, video script and price in text"
    },
    {
      "n": 4,
      "operation": "Post.check",
      "count": 4,
      "unit": "week",
      "usd": 0.08,
      "why": "live, rank and reviews, once you submit it"
    },
    {
      "n": 5,
      "operation": "Review.request",
      "count": 10,
      "unit": "ask",
      "usd": 0.01,
      "why": "one ask per design partner",
      "if": "the listing is live"
    }
  ],
  "estimate": {
    "usd": {
      "expected": 38.73,
      "max": 60
    },
    "minutes": 60,
    "fill": "the platform picked in week 1; the listing in review by week 4"
  },
  "budget": {
    "amount": 60,
    "currency": "USD",
    "left": 60
  }
}
```

- **Costs:** Your build hours
- **Fits when:** A platform with a store already serves a large share of your buyers, its store shows demand for your job, and an integration that delivers your core result takes 40 to 80 of your hours.
- **First customer:** Around day 60, after the build and the store review
- **Month one:** Calls $2.35 · Media none · Your hours 61
- **Number to watch:** Installs a week, by listing.

| Way | Time to first customer | Cash per customer | At scale, customers a month | Your hours a week | Loaded CAC |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Partnerships and marketplaces](/plays/marketplace-listings) | 60 days (35 to 120) | $300 ($5 to $600) | 5 (1 to 20) | 5 (1 to 20) | $490 |

Days are to the first paying customer; cash leaves out your hours, and loaded CAC adds them at $100 an hour. Planning estimate unless a source is named: [how each was set](/strategy/numbers#assumptions).

## The decision
Pick the platform whose store already reaches the most of your buyers. Three tests decide it. A large share of your approved accounts run it. Its store shows demand for your job. The integration takes 40 to 80 of your hours. [Find your first customers](/capabilities/find-customers) reads the share from your approved accounts.

Estimate the demand before you build. Read the store’s own search for your job with [`Keyword.search`](/code/data/keywords/search), and count the installs of the listings that rank: where a store hides installs, reviews × 20 to 50 is a fair estimate, so a rival with 40 reviews has about 800 to 2,000 installs. A category whose top three together show under 1,000 installs will not fill a funnel of 5 customers a month.

Build the smallest integration that delivers your core result inside the platform. List it with the job in the title and the result in the first screenshot; [Make content](/capabilities/make-content) drafts it. Ten reviews in the first 30 days set its rank, so line them up with [Review requests](/capabilities/keep-and-grow/review-requests) before it goes live.

Partners shorten deals and keep integrated customers longer. Treat that as the reason to try, never as a forecast: your own store numbers replace every planning number here by week 12. [Integration partners](/plays/integration-partners) runs the partner side, and [Weekly readout](/capabilities/measure/weekly-readout) reads both.

## The math
`customers a month = listing views × view to install × install to active × active to paid`

| Input | Value | Basis |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Accounts that fit | 4,180 | Leaseline’s market count |
| Share that run the platform | 40% | The software read on your approved accounts |
| Category page views a month | 2,400 | The store’s listing analytics |
| View to install | 5%; measure your own | A listing whose first screenshot shows the result |
| Install to active | 30% | Set up on install, with no separate account |
| Active to paid | 15% | A trial that ends on a card |
| Installs per review | 20 to 50 | Stores that show both counts |
| The store’s share | 20% of revenue | The store’s published partner terms; 0% to 25% across stores |
| Listing fee | about $1,000 a year | A listing or security-review fee, where the store charges one |
| The build | 40 to 80 of your hours over 3 to 4 weeks | The smallest integration that delivers the core result |

Planning estimate unless a source is named: [how each was set](/strategy/numbers#assumptions).

Reachable accounts = 4,180 × 40% = 1,672, read by [Pick who to sell to](/capabilities/find-customers/pick-who-to-sell-to) from the software each account's site runs.

Customers = 2,400 × 5% = 120 installs; × 30% = 36 active; × 15% = 5 paying. That is about 5 customers a month at scale from one store category, at about $300 cash a customer.

[Cash CAC](/strategy/numbers#payback) counts what the store takes: its 20% of a $149 customer's first 12 months after churn is $149 × 20% × 9.19 = $274, and the listing fee over a year's 60 paying customers adds $17. With $5 of data that is about $300 cash a customer.

The build is priced too: 40 to 80 of your hours is $4,000 to $8,000 loaded, spread over the first 12 months of installs: $100 a customer at 60 hours, plus an hour a week of upkeep. That is 1.9 hours a customer and $490 loaded, paid back in 4.5 months at $149, inside the $795 the price can afford. Across the first quarter that averages about 5 hours a week of yours. [Marketplace listings](/plays/marketplace-listings) runs the listing, and [Competitor gap](/capabilities/size-up-competitors/competitor-gap) shows who already ranks in the store.

## Playbook
| Step | Move on when |
| --- | --- |
| 1. Read the software your approved accounts run, and rank platforms by share | Lead with a platform 30% or more of them run |
| 2. Read the store’s search for your job and the installs of who ranks, before you build | The top three show 1,000 installs or more together, counting reviews × 20 to 50 where installs are hidden |
| 3. Read the store’s share, fees, publishing rules and review time | Review under 4 weeks; cash CAC with the share under half of what your price can afford |
| 4. Build the smallest integration that delivers your core result | 40 to 80 of your hours, and set up on install with no separate account |
| 5. Write the listing: the job in the title, the result in the first screenshot, a 30-second video, the price in text | Listing submitted by week 4 |
| 6. Ask each design partner for a review the week their result lands | 10 reviews within 30 days of going live |
| 7. Pitch the partner’s team one co-marketing item after 5 shared customers | One joint guide, template or directory feature by week 12 |
| 8. Read installs, activation and partner revenue by listing every week | 3% or more of views install by week 12 |

## Worked example
Leaseline integrates with a property-accounting platform that 38% of its approved accounts run, read by [Pick who to sell to](/capabilities/find-customers/pick-who-to-sell-to). The store’s search for rent tracking ranks three listings with 25, 40 and 60 reviews, about 2,500 to 6,250 installs between them, and the category page shows 2,400 views a month. The build takes the founder 60 hours over 3 weeks. With no store at 30% of its accounts, it would lead with [Hands-on](/strategy/hands-on).

[Launch kit](/capabilities/make-content/launch-kit) writes the listing, and the founder submits it in the store’s own console. [Listing check](/capabilities/earn-first-links/listing-check) reads it daily until it is live.

At 5% view to install, the listing brings 120 installs a month, and [Silence watch](/capabilities/keep-and-grow/silence-watch) follows each one to activation. 36 activate and about 5 pay, at $149 a month. [Review requests](/capabilities/keep-and-grow/review-requests) asks ten design partners in its first 30 days, and its rank rises with their reviews.

**About 5 customers a month from one store category, $745 of new monthly revenue, at $300 cash and $490 loaded a customer once the store's share, the listing fee and 60 build hours are counted.**

## When it breaks
| Symptom | Cause | Fix | Fix with |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Listing views that install (under 1%, a month after approval) | The first screenshot does not show the result. | Lead with the result screen and a 30-second video. | `Content.update` |
| Installs that activate (under 20%, at 50 installs) | Setup needs an account in your app first. | Create the account on install, signed in through the platform. | `Customer.activate` |
| Reviews on the listing (under 10 reviews, 60 days after going live) | No ask at the moment the result lands. | Ask each design partner the week their result lands. | [`Review.request`](/capabilities/keep-and-grow/review-requests) |
| Partner replies (under 1 reply, after 5 asks) | No shared customer yet. | Ask again after 5 shared customers, and name them. | [`Message.schedule`](/code/apps/mailboxes/schedule) |
| Store review time (over 28 days, per submission) | The listing breaks a store rule. | Read the rules before building, and fix the rule the store cites. | `Post.update` |

## How your agents run it
| Week | Play and move | Goal | Your time | Calls |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Week 1 | [Marketplace listings](/plays/marketplace-listings): [Pick who to sell to first](/capabilities/find-customers/pick-who-to-sell-to) (Workflow) | Rank the platforms your approved accounts run, and pick the store with the largest share. | 15 min | About 91¢ |
| Week 1 | [Marketplace listings](/plays/marketplace-listings): [Competitor gap](/capabilities/size-up-competitors/competitor-gap) (Workflow) | See which rivals list in that store, how they rank and what reviewers praise. | 5 min | About $1.44 |
| Week 4 | [Marketplace listings](/plays/marketplace-listings): [Launch kit](/capabilities/make-content/launch-kit) (Workflow) | Write the listing: the job in the title and the result in the first screenshot. | 20 min | About 0.16¢ |
| Week 5 | [Marketplace listings](/plays/marketplace-listings): [Listing check](/capabilities/earn-first-links/listing-check) (Workflow) | Check the submitted listing daily until it is live, then its rank and reviews. | 10 min | About 0.8¢ |
| Week 6 | [Review requests](/plays/review-requests): [Review requests](/capabilities/keep-and-grow/review-requests) (Workflow) | Ask each design partner for a review the week their result lands. | 10 min | About 0.5¢ |
| Week 8 | [Integration partners](/plays/integration-partners): [Personal first touch](/capabilities/reach-out/personal-first-touch) (agent task) | Pitch the partner’s team one joint guide or template. | 15 min | About $1.33 |
| Week 12 | [Marketplace listings](/plays/marketplace-listings): [Weekly readout](/capabilities/measure/weekly-readout) (Workflow) | Read installs, activation and partner revenue by listing. | 10 min | Free |

Each call is priced from [its composition](/capabilities/how-calls-compose). Week 1: about 20 minutes of yours and $2.35 in calls. Week 4: about 20 minutes of yours and 1¢ in calls. Week 5: about 10 minutes of yours and 1¢ in calls. Week 6: about 10 minutes of yours and 1¢ in calls. Week 8: about 15 minutes of yours and $1.33 in calls. Week 12: about 10 minutes of yours and nothing in calls.

The month runs as a [Play Mix](https://startupbuilder.dev/business/nouns/play-mix): `PlayMix.compile` plans it from your hours and budget, `Play.apply` runs each Play, and each Play runs the compositions in its rows above. `Goal.pursue` is the shortcut that takes the month as [one goal](/code/goal-mode) and records which Play each step served.

```ts title="Month one as a Play Mix"
import { $ } from 'startup-builder'

const mix = await $.PlayMix.compile({ strategy: 'borrowed', hours: 4 })
for (const play of mix.plays) await $.Play.apply({ play: play.id, hours: play.hours })

// Each Play runs its compositions in weeks 1 to 4:
// marketplace-listings  pick-who-to-sell-to, competitor-gap, launch-kit
```

You see the plan and its price before anything runs. Sends and posts go out within the limits you set; one approval rule on a class such as `send` makes every action in it wait for you, and going over a limit always asks. [How your agents act](/capabilities/agents) names every class.

## Good looks like
| When | The number | Target | Below this, do |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Week 1 | Share of your approved accounts that run the chosen platform | 30% | Under 30%: no store fits yet; lead with Hands-on. |
| Week 4 | Integration built and the listing submitted | 1 listing in review | Not submitted by week 6: cut the integration to its one core result. |
| Week 12 | Listing views that install, with 10 reviews or more | 3% | Under 3%: rewrite the first screenshot, then ask for more reviews. |

## Connect these first
| Account | What your agents do there | Connect |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Gmail](/code/integrations/gmail) | Your agents send from your own Gmail address, read every reply, and stop on any unsubscribe, with each thread filed to its Lead. | Call `Integration.connect` with `system: 'mailboxes'` and `venue: 'gmail'`, then open the `connectUrl` it returns and sign in as the Google account you send from. |
| [Stripe](/code/integrations/stripe) | Your agents put a checkout on every Offer, take a pilot’s first payment and refund when asked; each payment credits the Play that earned it. | Nothing to connect: your Startup’s own Stripe connected account opens with your first paid Offer (hub [Stripe](https://startupbuilder.dev/systems/integrations/stripe)). |
| [Google Analytics](/code/integrations/google-analytics) | Your agents read where visitors came from and what they did, count each Play’s visitors next to its signups, and build audiences to retarget. | Call `Integration.connect` with `system: 'analytics-and-experiments'`, then open the `connectUrl` it returns and sign in as a Google account with access to your property. |

## Plays it runs
| Play | Your time | What it costs | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Marketplace listings](/plays/marketplace-listings) | 26 minutes in week 1, then 17 more minutes by week 4 | Calls about $13 a month | Lists your product in each app store on what that store ranks by, tests every change, and asks each customer for one review. |
| [Review requests](/plays/review-requests) | 8 minutes in week 1, then 8 more minutes by week 4 | Calls about 1¢ a month | Asks every customer for an honest review when their result lands, on the one site you need most, and answers every review within a day. |
| [Integration partners](/plays/integration-partners) | 25 minutes in week 1, then 11 more minutes by week 4 | Calls about $14 a month | 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. |

## Reference
| Call | What it does | Path | Price |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [`Organization.enrich`](/code/data/organizations/enrich) |  | `POST /organizations/enrich` | Free |
| [`Content.draft`](/code/reference#content-draft) | Drafts a page, post, email or kit in your voice, for your approval. | `POST /content/draft` | About 3¢ a draft |
| [`Post.publish`](/code/apps/social/publish) | Publish sends a Post from your account once every claim it states resolves to a live record. | `POST /posts/{post}/publish` | Free, and 1.5¢ a post on X |
| [`Review.publish`](/code/reference#review-publish) | Publish shows a Review on the startup’s Pages with its rating counted, whatever the rating. | `POST /reviews/{review}/publish` | Free |
| [`Message.schedule`](/code/apps/mailboxes/schedule) | Sends an email or message from your own inbox at the hour you set. | `POST /messages/{message}/schedule` | Free from your inbox |
| [`PlayMix.compile`](/code/reference#play-mix-compile) | Plans next week’s Plays from your budget and what worked last week. | `POST /play-mixes/compile` | Free |