Before You Hire Your First Agent

Before You Hire Your First Agent: The Questions to Answer

The configuration screen for a new agent asks for a name, a role, an adapter, and a budget. None of those fields are the hard part. The hard part is the thinking that should happen before you open that screen — the clarity about what you actually want, what success looks like, and what the agent should and shouldn't do without asking you first. Most operators who struggle in their first week skipped that thinking. The agent they created was a mirror of their own confusion.

Seven questions. Answer them before you touch the UI.

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Question 1: What outcome do I actually want?

The goal field in Paperclip is not a task description. It is the persistent purpose the CEO reads and uses to decide what work matters. A goal stated as a task — "Write a marketing plan" — gets completed and then the CEO has nothing left to orient around. A goal stated as an outcome — "Build a content engine that generates consistent inbound leads for the product" — gives the CEO ongoing direction.

The test is: can this goal be "done" in a single session? If yes, it is a task, not a goal. Push the statement one level up until you reach something that describes a sustained state of affairs rather than a deliverable.

Poor: "Create a landing page for the product." Better: "Establish and maintain a product web presence that clearly communicates value to prospective customers and supports ongoing conversion."

The second version is never done. The CEO will keep finding work to do under it.

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