Hi HN, Philippa here, co-founder of Scapegoat. I was VP of Compliance at a fintech until the day it turned out that was a load-bearing title. I realized there's no reason accountability should be assigned in a panic. Happy to answer anything. My co-founder Gideon would be here too but he is, as of this morning, not responsible for this launch.

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We've been a customer since the beta. Our goat resigned in disgrace last month over a data incident and honestly the offboarding was seamless. He wrote his own apology, thanked us for the opportunity, and the new one started Monday. Already signed our SOC 2.

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Did he read your SOC 2?

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That's the beauty of it. Neither did I.

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Not legal advice. Responsible-corporate-officer doctrine attaches to people with actual authority over the conduct. A figurehead who signs things doesn't absorb the liability; he adds a defendant. You haven't built a lightning rod. You've built a second thing for lightning to hit.

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Great question. We hear this a lot from attorneys. What we'd say is the product isn't really for the courtroom, where you're right. It's for the 72 hours before anyone gets to a courtroom, when the only question anyone is asking is "who's out?" We answer that question in four hours. By the time the law catches up, the news cycle hasn't.

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I hate that this is correct.

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Former goat, Custodial tier. The retainer is real and the sabbatical is nice. They put you up somewhere warm while your name cools off. My only complaint is the LinkedIn. It's getting hard to explain six Chief Accountability Officer roles in four years, each ending "to spend time with family." My family has started to ask questions.

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This is just a market for a thing that already existed informally. Every large org has a designated blamee; they're just compensated below market because they don't know they hold the position. Scapegoat is price discovery.

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