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

# Passive: slow to start, cheap to run, and it keeps paying

> Search and AI answers: about $1.25 of data and 20 minutes a week, with your brand name found in days and signups from month 3.

I want to be passive: what do I do? Pick the terms worth winning, publish pages that answer them, get indexed on day one, earn first links and check the answer engines.

```text title="Your first three moves · Ask"
We would rather pay in months than cash. Get our first customers from search and AI answers.
Show me my first three moves.
```

```ts title="Your first three moves · SDK"
import { $ } from 'startup-builder'

const budget = await $.DemandBudget.create({ amount: 0, tier: '$0', target: 'first 10 paying customers', stopRule: 'week 6 readout' })   // what you would rather pay with: months
const terms = await $.Keyword.measure({ keyword: 'seo platform', locale: 'en-US', venue: 'google-search' })   // one of 20 seed terms, $0.0005 each
return await $.PlayMix.compile({ startup: 'leaseline.app' }, { mode: 'try' })   // kickstart running, engine gated on the approved terms
```

```json title="Your first three moves · Response · sample"
{
  "$type": "PlayMix",
  "from": "hypotheses/hypothesis_7",
  "approach": "Community answers, listings and one launch bring the first 10; search and AI answers keep them coming.",
  "firstMoves": [
    {
      "move": "Approve 20 to 40 terms worth winning",
      "who": "you",
      "minutes": 15,
      "cost": "$1.10"
    },
    {
      "move": "Connect your domain",
      "who": "you",
      "minutes": 5,
      "cost": "$0"
    },
    {
      "move": "Approve the product kit once",
      "who": "you",
      "minutes": 15,
      "cost": "$0"
    }
  ],
  "kickstart": [
    {
      "play": "community-answers",
      "status": "running"
    },
    {
      "play": "directory-listings",
      "status": "running"
    }
  ],
  "engine": [
    {
      "play": "editorial-seo",
      "status": "gated",
      "gate": "approved terms"
    },
    {
      "play": "aeo",
      "status": "gated",
      "gate": "approved terms"
    }
  ],
  "sample": {
    "term": "seo platform",
    "volume": 1300,
    "cpc": 6.01,
    "difficulty": 72,
    "captured": "catalog capture, US"
  }
}
```

| Fits when | You spend | First customer | Number to watch |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Buyers search for the problem, and the product sells self-serve or at a low price. | about 1 hour a week, $0 to $500 a month | Weeks 4 to 8 from the kickstart; organic signups from month 3 to 6 | Key pages indexed, on Google and on Bing; Referring domains; Impressions on your target terms |

## Week by week
**Start here:** [Connect your domain](/capabilities/get-indexed#add-site-to-google). Community answers, listings and one launch bring the first 10; search and AI answers keep them coming.

| When | Step | The job | Who | Your time · cost | Kind |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Monday, week 1 | Find the words buyers use | [Problem posts](/capabilities/research-demand#problem-posts) | Agent | none · under $0.01 | kickstart |
|  | Approve 20 to 40 terms worth winning | [Keyword volume](/capabilities/research-demand#keyword-volume) | ★ You approve | 15 min · about $1.10 | engine |
|  | Connect your domain | [Add site to Google](/capabilities/get-indexed#add-site-to-google) | You | 5 min · free | engine |
|  | Push every page you publish to Bing | [Submit to search engines](/capabilities/get-indexed#submit-to-search-engines) | Agent | none · free | engine |
|  | Ask Google for your five key pages | [Request indexing](/capabilities/get-indexed#request-indexing) | Agent | none · free | engine |
|  | Put the first followed links live | [Own-host links](/capabilities/earn-first-links#own-host-links) | Agent | none · free | kickstart |
|  | Approve the product kit once | [Product kit](/capabilities/earn-first-links/directory-submissions#product-kit) | ★ You approve | 15 min · free | kickstart |
|  | Answer 10 live threads | [Post by browser agent](/capabilities/publish-and-post#post-by-browser-agent) | ★ You approve | 10 min · free | kickstart |
| Week 2 | Publish the first five pages | [Draft](/capabilities/make-content#draft) | ★ You approve | 3 min a page · a few cents a page | engine |
|  | List the product, 5 to 10 places a day | [Submissions](/capabilities/earn-first-links/directory-submissions#submissions) | Agent | about 2 min a day, only when a step needs you · free on the free path | kickstart |
|  | Check what the answer engines say | [ChatGPT answer](/capabilities/check-ai-answers#chatgpt) | Agent | none · about $0.10 | engine |
| Week 4 | Launch on one main stop | [Main stop](/capabilities/earn-first-links/launch-circuit#main-stop) | ★ You approve | 20 min · free | kickstart |
|  | Ask the sites that link to your rivals | [Link asks](/capabilities/earn-first-links#link-asks) | ★ You approve | 10 min · about $0.15 | engine |
|  | Read which key pages are in | [Index check](/capabilities/get-indexed#index-check) | You | 10 min · free | engine |
| Week 6 | Rewrite the pages ranking 8 to 30 | [Draft](/capabilities/make-content#draft) | ★ You approve | 10 min · a few cents a page | engine |
| Week 12 | Turn a working page pattern into many | [Page audit](/capabilities/publish-and-post#page-audit) | ★ You approve | 20 min · a few dollars | engine |
| Switch | No first customer by week 6: keep the engine running and add Hands-on. | [Every strategy](/strategy#strategies) | The readout | — | switch |

★ marks the approvals. Everything else runs under the Mandates you grant once, and each Mandate you grant takes an approval off your week.

## Plays it runs
| Play | Role | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Community answers](/plays/community-answers) | Kickstart: the first 10 | Finds public questions about the problem you solve and your rivals, and gets a labeled, sourced answer posted within hours, fitted to each room. |
| [Directory listings](/plays/directory-listings) | Kickstart: the first 10 | Directory listings keeps one sourced listing on every directory and review site your buyers read, and fixes any field that drifts within a week. |
| [Launch sites](/plays/launch-sites) | Kickstart: the first 10 | 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. |
| [Editorial SEO](/plays/editorial-seo) | Engine: what keeps them coming | Editorial SEO writes the guides and honest comparisons your buyers search for, from your own records, then refreshes or prunes each Page that slips. |
| [Answer engine optimization](/plays/aeo) | Engine: what keeps them coming | 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. |
| [Programmatic SEO](/plays/programmatic-seo) | Engine: what keeps them coming | Turns each record only you hold into one search Page that leads with its fact, released in batches that stop when search ignores them. |

## Routes your agents add
| Route | The Play | Your agents add it when |
| --- | --- | --- |
| A store listing | [Marketplace listings](/plays/marketplace-listings) | the product extends a platform that has a store |
| Agent registries | [Agent registries](/plays/agent-registries) | the product is an API, an MCP server or a package |

## Reference
| Tool | Runs today |
| --- | --- |
| <Op verb="Keyword.measure" /> | Coming |
| <Op verb="Domain.connect" /> | Coming |
| <Op verb="Domain.verify" /> | Coming |
| <Op verb="Post.publish" /> | Coming |
| <Op verb="PlayMix.compile" /> | Coming |