Start a sequence

The trigger at the top of a sequence decides who enters it and when. Click it and choose under Starts when.

Trigger	A person enters when
An event happens	They do something your product reports, such as signing up
Enters a segment	They start to match a segment
Leaves a segment	They stop matching a segment
A date arrives	A date stored on them comes up, such as a renewal date
A repeating schedule	The day comes round, for everyone in a segment
A webhook is called	Another system calls an address FounderHQ gives you
Manual only	You enroll them yourself

An event happens

Enter the Event name, exactly as your product sends it. See Getting started for sending events.

Filter by event property narrows it: only purchase events where plan is pro. Every filter must match.

An event older than 7 days does not start a sequence.

Enters or leaves a segment

Pick the segment. You build segments in Sequences → Segments, from rules about a person's attributes, events, visits, devices, and consent.

A date arrives

Setting	Choices
Date attribute	The date on the person to use
Repeats	Exact date, or Every year for a birthday or an anniversary
When	Days before, On the day, or Days after

Then set the time of day and the time zone.

A repeating schedule

Choose Who, a segment, and Every day, week, or month.

Set the sequence's Re-entry policy to something other than Never. Otherwise each person enters once and gets nothing on the later dates. FounderHQ stops you from publishing until you do.

A webhook is called

Use this to start a sequence from a tool that can call an address: a form builder, a CRM, an automation tool.

Choose how to find the person under Match contacts by: Email, Phone, or External ID.
Under Field in the payload, name the field of the request that holds it.
Turn on Create unknown contacts to add people FounderHQ has not seen.
Copy the request FounderHQ shows, and give its address to the other tool.

The address works once the sequence is published. Set an Auth secret so that only your tool can call it.

Manual only

Nobody enters by themselves. Press Enroll at the top of a published sequence, then choose a whole segment or pick people one by one.

People already in the sequence are skipped, not added twice.

From your own server

Your backend can enroll a person in any published sequence with one request. Use it when your code already knows the moment.

Create a secret key with Add people to sequences: see API keys.

curl https://app.getfounderhq.com/api/enrollments \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer fhq_sk_XXXX" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "sequenceId": "SEQUENCE_ID",
    "contact": { "externalId": "user_8421", "email": "jane@acme.com" },
    "variables": { "plan": "pro" }
  }'

Field	What it is
`sequenceId`	The sequence to enter. It is the last part of the builder's address.
`contact`	Who to enroll: `externalId`, `email`, or `phone`. FounderHQ creates the contact if it is new.
`contactIds`	Instead of `contact`: up to 1,000 FounderHQ contact IDs
`variables`	Values for the sequence's variables

A successful request answers 201.

In a message, a variable reads {{ vars.plan }}.

Verify

After you publish, cause the trigger once with your own account. Open Sequences → Message log: the first message of the sequence is in the log.

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