Discovery Brief

Submitted April 13, 2026

Brief submitted · CE response below


The Business Moment

What are you actually trying to achieve in the next 6 months?

Not the marketing version — the business version.

- 20% Growth - Decrease Retention Rate - Away from single products, to productivity & profitability positioning - From feature led → to productivity & profitable outcomes - From roasting tool → to integrated workflow intelligence - APAC expansion (Focus on Korea and Japan) - Make clear that Cropster is not JUST a Roast profiler - Evaluate our Brand Positioning: what do we want to stand for?

What is the May launch, specifically?

What changes, what goes live, what's at stake if it doesn't land?

- New Pricing & Packaging model — away from single solutions like Roast & Commerce to offering a productivity platform and solutions. Pricing will be: solution packages with different features and additional add-ons. - New Customers: May 4th (new website launch there as well) - Existing Customers: try to upsell and put them into the new packages by the end of the year

Your Customers

Are these your segments — and which ones matter most for the new positioning?

New business: 1. ROAST (core revenue driver and platform anchor) L/XL/Enterprise with: High complexity, multi-machine, multi-location, integration & forecasting needs. Small/Nano: Firescope. 2. CAFE (selective lock-in): XL with: 100–400 locations, international footprint, retail-predominant roastery or F&B chain. In-house technicians. Uses semi-automatic espresso machines. The Cafe ICP is not a volume play. It is a control, consistency, and lock-in play — typically expanding from existing Roast customers. Explicit exclusions: Enterprise (future, not 2026), Micro and Small Cafe, Equipment resellers. Customer (upsell & cross-sell): 1. ROAST Mid/Large: reduce churn with procedures and value expansion: MRP, API. 2. CAFE: sell to medium/large/XL customers who run coffee shops.

What are the top 3 things customers misunderstand about Cropster?

1. It is only a roasting tool. While we are celebrated as the leading roast profiling software, many people do not realize the full breadth of our specialized capabilities. Cropster is actually a comprehensive, end-to-end platform that manages everything from green coffee inventory and automated fulfillment to retail cafe operations. 2. It is an expensive, fixed operational cost. Customers often expect rigid enterprise SaaS pricing, but Cropster is actually designed as an affordable, flexible production cost. Our pricing scales with your business — the more volume you roast or scale, the less it costs you per kilogram. 3. It is intimidating and difficult to learn. Because our software handles such complex operations, it can look intimidating at first glance. However, the platform is incredibly intuitive, making it extremely easy for any team member to navigate, learn, and master in a short period of time.

The 150-Slide Deck

Can you share the consultant deck with us?

Yes, I'll share it
Under NDA — I'll share the key slides
Not yet

What's the single most important thing the deck says that your current marketing doesn't reflect?

Hard to answer — we are completely repositioning our software and I am currently trying to include this in a marketing campaign — but there is no overall strategy or tone of voice, neither a brand positioning.

What's the biggest internal debate about the new positioning?

Will be delivered soon — no info today.

Brand & Constraints

Where do the current brand guidelines live? How old are they?

Not provided.

What are you explicitly NOT ready for right now?

Not provided — pending further input.

Anything Else

What's the thing you're most worried we'll miss or get wrong?

Not provided.

CE Response — April 13, 2026

The fire is
May 4th.

Website launches in 3 weeks. No brand positioning exists. Here's what the brief tells us and what we propose.

"There is no overall strategy or tone of voice, neither a brand positioning. Hard to answer — we are completely repositioning our software and I am currently trying to include this in a marketing campaign."

Tina — intake form, April 13
Critical — 3 weeks

Website + pricing launch May 4

New pricing, packaging, and website go live simultaneously with no unified message foundation behind any of it.

6-month goal

20% growth + churn reduction

Reposition to productivity platform. APAC expansion — Korea and Japan specifically.

Two ICPs (she defined these)

ROAST L/XL + CAFE XL only

ROAST: multi-machine, multi-location. CAFE: 100–400 locations, lock-in play. Micro/Small Cafe explicitly excluded.

What we can't see yet

150-slide deck is NDA

Can't share yet. We don't need it — she handed us the ICPs, goals, and misunderstandings. That's enough.

Three misunderstandings to demolish

Market believes

It's only a roasting tool — one-dimensional, doesn't scale beyond profiling.

Reality

End-to-end platform: green coffee inventory → automated fulfillment → retail cafe operations.

Market believes

Expensive and fixed — enterprise SaaS pricing, rigid, doesn't flex.

Reality

Scales with volume — the more you roast, the lower the cost per kg. A production cost, not a platform tax.

Market believes

Intimidating and hard to learn — complex software requiring months to master.

Reality

Intuitive enough for any team member to navigate and master quickly.

What we propose

Phase 1 Message Foundation
Now → May 4 · 3 weeks

She's launching a website in 3 weeks with no unified positioning. We build the message foundation before it goes live — ICP matrices, counter-narratives for the 3 misunderstandings, a living document her team uses immediately.

Brand Audit
Current brand state, gap analysis, misunderstanding profile.
1 week €4,000
Message Architecture
ROAST L/XL + CAFE XL matrices: positioning, key messages, proof points, objection handling. Counter-narratives for all 3 misunderstandings.
2 weeks €8,000
Phase 1 total €12,000
Phase 2 Signal Room
Post May 4 · 3 months

After the website launches, we watch how the repositioning lands. Weekly market intelligence across coffee industry channels, APAC signals (Korea/Japan), competitor tracking. The data that feeds Q3/Q4 brand strategy.

Signal Room — Setup
Coffee industry channels, Reddit, LinkedIn, competitor monitoring, Trustpilot/G2, APAC market signals.
1–2 weeks €8,000
Signal Room — Run
Weekly signal reports + monthly trend synthesis. 3-month minimum.
3 months €2,500/mo
Phase 2 total €15,500
Phase 3 Positioning Sprint
Q3 2026 — earned right

She doesn't want a brand strategy now — she wants the data that leads to one. We earn this after Phases 1 and 2 prove value. Built on 2+ months of market signal data.

Positioning Sprint + TOV
Full brand positioning, tone of voice. Led by Assaf. Built on signal data.
3 weeks €12,000
Phase 3 total €12,000
PhaseTimingCost
Brand Audit + Message Architecture Urgent Now → May 4 €12,000
Signal Room (Make + 3 months Run) May – July €15,500
Positioning Sprint Q3 — TBD Q3 2026 €12,000
Total committed (Phase 1 + 2) Through July €27,500

You're launching a website in 3 weeks with no positioning. We give you a message foundation before May 4 — built from the ICPs and misunderstandings you already defined — then watch how the market responds to the launch. Two phases. No long commitment. If it works, we build the brand strategy together in Q3.

Next steps

01
Assaf + Lukas approve scope
Adjust pricing, phase sequencing, or framing before sending to Tina.
02
Send Tina the proposal — today or tomorrow
Fast response signals we're paying attention. Lead with the May 4 urgency.
03
Schedule a 30-minute walk-through call
Don't send and wait. Get on a call. She needs to feel the partnership dynamic before she signs.
04
On the call: ask for the 150-slide deck or a summary
Frame it as "we'll protect it — just need the substance." Sharpens Message Architecture significantly.
05
Phase 1 kickoff — target April 15–17
3 weeks to May 4. Brand Audit + Message Architecture Week 1 can run in parallel. Tight but doable.