28 September 2026
a founder diary that only records when you press the button
Post on Xthe short version
underway never records without you pressing the button.
that is item 04 on the live list of things it will never do. the card next to it says it plainly: off, until you press.
no background capture. no clip it grabbed while you weren't looking. if there is footage, you started it.
why a founder diary needs this rule
a diary is only useful if you say true things in it.
you won't say true things to something you suspect is always on. you'll perform, or you'll say nothing.
so the button is the whole deal. press it, talk, tap done. the rest of the day is yours.
what happens when you press
it asks out loud, one question at a time. it follows up on what you said.
it stops about three minutes in. never past five.
then you tap done. a few minutes later the episode exists: your answers in the order you said them.
camera, voice or screen. you choose each time.
what happens when you don't
nothing gets recorded.
it can still read the day, if you connected things. github, your calendar, stripe and the rest are read-only. that is how it knows what to ask about. it is not footage, and you choose what the interview can see.
if something big happens, like a first £10k month, it asks once. "record a moment now", or "ask me at debrief time". ignore it and the interview still knows. it does not start filming on its own.
other people stay out
it can read your meeting recorder to learn what happened in a call.
other people's voices from meetings never go in an episode. the only voice that becomes footage without a guest is yours, after you pressed the button.
pressing record is not publishing
recording and posting are two separate choices.
every episode has its own switch. private until you post it. nothing goes out unless you send it.
plenty of founders never switch it. the archive is the point.
what it remembers, you can see
underway keeps a private memory of your series so the next questions make sense.
you can read, fix or delete anything it remembers. nobody else sees it.
what this is not
it is not a screen recorder running in the background. screen share is an answer mode you pick for one episode.
it is not a meeting bot that films the room.
it is not a promise about anything beyond the list. the list is six lines, and this is line four.
faqs
does underway ever record on its own?
no. it never records without you pressing the button.
if i connect my calendar and github, is that recording?
no. connections are read-only. they tell the interview what happened. they don't make footage.
what about the "record a moment now" prompt?
it's a prompt, not a recording. it asks the first time, once. you press, or you ignore it.
how long does a recording run?
about three minutes of you talking, never past five. then you tap done.
if i record something, does it go public?
no. every episode is private until you post it. nothing goes out unless you send it.
can people from my meetings end up in an episode?
no. other people's voices from meetings never go in an episode.
one line for the series
off, until you press. then about three minutes, then done.