# StratumIOps: Brand Strategy and Business Model

## Executive Summary

| Aspect | Decision |
|---------|----------|
| **Name** | StratumIOps |
| **Pronunciation** | "Stratum-I-Ops" |
| **Tagline** | "Intelligent layers. Automated operations." |
| **Model** | Open Core + Enterprise + Services |
| **Target** | Mid-market tech companies (50-500 devs) |
| **Differentiator** | Only Rust-native integrated platform with AI |
| **Domain** | stratumiops.dev

---

## 1. Name and Branding

### Selected Name: StratumIOps

```text
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                                 │
│   ███████╗████████╗██████╗  █████╗ ████████╗██╗   ██╗███╗   ███╗
│   ██╔════╝╚══██╔══╝██╔══██╗██╔══██╗╚══██╔══╝██║   ██║████╗ ████║
│   ███████╗   ██║   ██████╔╝███████║   ██║   ██║   ██║██╔████╔██║
│   ╚════██║   ██║   ██╔══██╗██╔══██║   ██║   ██║   ██║██║╚██╔╝██║
│   ███████║   ██║   ██║  ██║██║  ██║   ██║   ╚██████╔╝██║ ╚═╝ ██║
│   ╚══════╝   ╚═╝   ╚═╝  ╚═╝╚═╝  ╚═╝   ╚═╝    ╚═════╝ ╚═╝     ╚═╝
│                           ██████╗ ██████╗ ███████╗
│                          ██╔═══██╗██╔══██╗██╔════╝
│                          ██║   ██║██████╔╝███████╗
│                          ██║   ██║██╔═══╝ ╚════██║
│                          ╚██████╔╝██║     ███████║
│                           ╚═════╝ ╚═╝     ╚══════╝
│                                                                 │
│              "Intelligent layers. Automated operations."        │
│                                                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

### Rationale

| Criterion | Evaluation |
|----------|------------|
| **Tech-feel** | "-Ops" suffix immediately tech-recognizable (GitOps, DevOps, MLOps, AIOps) |
| **Metaphor** | "Stratum" = layers. Each project is a layer of the stack |
| **Market fit** | Connects with Platform Engineering / DevOps market |
| **Scalability** | Allows adding more "layers" in the future |
| **Bilingual** | Works equally well in English and Spanish |
| **Availability** | stratumiops.dev / stratumiops.io likely available |
| **Differentiation** | No direct competitors with that name |
| **Memorable** | Easy to remember, not too long |

### Alternatives Considered

| Name | Concept | Reason for Rejection |
|--------|----------|-------------------|
| STRATUMIOPS (alone) | Geological layers | Lacks tech-feel, stratum.dev unavailable |
| NEXUS | Connection point | Overused in tech |
| Layerix | Layers + tech suffix | Invented, less recognizable |
| Forgelayer | Forge + layers | Longer, less memorable |
| DevSTRATUMIOPS | Dev + layers | Sounds generic |

---

## 2. Brand Architecture

### Product Hierarchy

```text
                       StratumIOps
                "Intelligent layers.
                Automated operations."
                          │
         ┌────────────────┼────────────────┐
         │                │                │
         ▼                ▼                ▼
    ┌──────────┐    ┌──────────┐    ┌────────────┐
    │StratumIOps│    │StratumIOps│    │ StratumIOps │
    │   Core   │    │   Pro    │    │ Enterprise │
    │   (OSS)  │    │(License) │    │ (Support)  │
    └──────────┘    └──────────┘    └────────────┘
```

### Products Under the Umbrella

| Product | Origin | Public Name | Tagline |
|----------|--------|----------------|---------|
| Kogral | Knowledge Graph | StratumIOps/knowledge | "Capture and query team knowledge" |
| Vapora | Orchestration | StratumIOps/orchestrate | "Coordinate agents and workflows" |
| TypeDialog | Forms/Automation | StratumIOps/interact | "Universal forms and automation" |
| Provisioning | Infrastructure | StratumIOps/provision | "Infrastructure as typed code" |

### Visualization

```text
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  StratumIOps/knowledge  ←── Kogral                            │
│  "Capture and query team knowledge"                          │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  StratumIOps/orchestrate  ←── Vapora                          │
│  "Coordinate agents and development workflows"               │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  StratumIOps/interact  ←── TypeDialog                         │
│  "Universal forms and automation"                            │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  StratumIOps/provision  ←── Provisioning                      │
│  "Infrastructure as typed code"                              │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

---

## 3. Taglines

### Main Tagline

> **"Intelligent layers. Automated operations."**

### Context-Specific Variants

| Context | Tagline | Use |
|----------|---------|-----|
| **Main** | "Intelligent layers. Automated operations." | General branding |
| **Technical** | "Stack intelligence. Automate everything." | Developer marketing |
| **Flow** | "From knowledge to deployment. Automated." | Presentations |
| **Benefits** | "Build smarter. Deploy faster." | Marketing, ads |
| **Enterprise** | "The full-stack operations platform" | B2B sales |
| **Pain point** | "Development without friction" | Landing pages |
| **Kogral-centric** | "Where your team's knowledge becomes code" | Content marketing |

### Key Sales Message

> "StratumIOps is the only platform that unifies knowledge management, agent orchestration, universal forms, and infrastructure-as-code in a coherent Rust stack. No more 10 disconnected tools. No more lost knowledge. No more uncontrolled LLM costs. One ecosystem. Real integration."

---

## 4. Business Model

### 4.1 Open Core + Enterprise

#### FREE Tier (Open Source)

```text
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    StratumIOps FREE (OSS)                        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  • Kogral core (knowledge graph, CLI, MCP)                      │
│  • Vapora community (agents, basic routing)                     │
│  • TypeDialog core (6 backends, forms)                          │
│  • Provisioning community (AWS, basic orchestration)            │
│  • Single-tenant, self-hosted                                   │
│  • Community support (GitHub Issues)                            │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

#### PRO Tier (License)

```text
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                 StratumIOps PRO ($X/user/month)                  │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Everything in Free +                                           │
│  • Multi-tenant with SurrealDB scopes                           │
│  • Advanced budget enforcement (alerts, dashboards)             │
│  • All cloud providers (GCP, Azure, Hetzner, UpCloud)           │
│  • SSO (SAML, OIDC)                                             │
│  • Priority support (48h SLA)                                   │
│  • Automatic updates                                            │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

#### ENTERPRISE Tier (Custom)

```text
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│             StratumIOps ENTERPRISE (Custom pricing)              │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Everything in Pro +                                            │
│  • Complete security layer (39K lines)                          │
│  • Audit logging (7 years, 5 export formats)                   │
│  • Advanced MFA (WebAuthn/FIDO2)                                │
│  • 5 KMS backends                                               │
│  • Custom Cedar policies                                        │
│  • Multi-party break-glass                                      │
│  • Compliance packs (SOC2, HIPAA, GDPR)                         │
│  • Dedicated support (4h SLA)                                   │
│  • Custom integrations                                          │
│  • On-premise deployment assistance                             │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

### 4.2 Professional Services

#### Implementation

| Service | Duration | Reference Rate |
|----------|----------|-------------------|
| Initial assessment | 1-2 days | €2,000 - €4,000 |
| Basic implementation | 1 week | €8,000 - €15,000 |
| Enterprise implementation | 1 month | €30,000 - €60,000 |
| Migration from other tools | Variable | Custom |

#### Consulting

| Specialty | Rate/Day |
|--------------|------------|
| AI agent architecture | €1,500 |
| Knowledge management strategy | €1,500 |
| IaC modernization (Nickel) | €1,500 |
| Security audit | €2,000 |

#### Premium Support

| Modality | Monthly Rate |
|-----------|----------------|
| Dedicated engineer | €5,000 - €10,000 |
| 24/7 on-call support | €3,000 additional |
| Quarterly business reviews | Included in Enterprise |

### 4.3 Training and Certification

#### StratumIOps Academy - Courses

| Course | Format | Price |
|-------|---------|--------|
| StratumIOps Fundamentals | Online, self-paced | €500 |
| StratumIOps for DevOps | 2 days, in-person | €1,200 |
| AI Agent Development with Vapora | 3 days | €1,800 |
| Nickel IaC Masterclass | 2 days | €1,200 |
| Enterprise Security Workshop | 1 day | €800 |

#### Certifications

| Certification | Exam |
|---------------|--------|
| StratumIOps Certified Developer (SOCD) | €300 |
| StratumIOps Certified Architect (SOCA) | €500 |
| StratumIOps Certified Administrator (SOCAD) | €400 |

#### Corporate Training

| Modality | Price |
|-----------|--------|
| Team training (up to 10 people) | €8,000/day |

---

## 5. Reputation Strategy

### 5.1 Thought Leadership

| Channel | Content |
|-------|-----------|
| **Tech blog** (stratumiops.dev/blog) | Rust architecture deep dives, comparisons vs Terraform/LangChain, case studies |
| **YouTube** | Product demos, technical tutorials, conference talks |
| **Newsletter** | Release notes, industry insights, tips & tricks |
| **GitHub** | OSS contributions, example repos, community engagement |

### 5.2 Community Building

| Initiative | Purpose |
|------------|-----------|
| Discord/Slack community | Peer-to-peer support, feedback |
| GitHub Discussions | Technical Q&A, public RFCs |
| Virtual meetups (monthly) | Demos, AMA sessions |
| Conference presence | RustConf, KubeCon, local meetups |
| Open source contributions | Plugins, integrations, examples |

### 5.3 Technical Credibility

**Differentiators to communicate**:

| Metric | Message |
|---------|---------|
| 195K lines of Rust | Performance and type-safety |
| 4,310+ tests | Quality and reliability |
| 39K lines of security | Enterprise-ready |
| Zero unsafe code | Security by design |
| 100% documented APIs | Developer experience |
| Full stack Rust | Technological consistency |

---

## 6. Competitive Positioning

### Positioning Map

```text
                    ENTERPRISE FEATURES
                           ▲
                           │
          Terraform/Pulumi │    ┌───────────┐
                    ●      │    │StratumIOps │
                           │    │  (here)   │
                           │    └───────────┘
                           │
    ───────────────────────┼───────────────────────▶
    SINGLE TOOL            │            INTEGRATED PLATFORM
                           │
              LangChain ●  │
                           │
              Notion ●     │  ● Obsidian
                           │
                           │
                           ▼
                    BASIC FEATURES
```

### Positioning Statement

> "The only platform that integrates knowledge management, agent orchestration, forms automation, and IaC in a coherent Rust stack."

### Comparison with Alternatives

| Aspect | StratumIOps | Competition |
|---------|------------|-------------|
| **Stack** | End-to-end Rust | Python/JS/Go mix |
| **Config** | Nickel (typed) | YAML/JSON (runtime errors) |
| **Multi-tenant** | Native SurrealDB scopes | DIY isolation |
| **AI** | Native in all products | Retrofitted |
| **Self-hosted** | Complete | SaaS lock-in |
| **Agents** | Learning-based, budget control | Static chains |

---

## 7. Financial Projection

### Conservative Scenario

#### Year 1: Establishment

| Source | Calculation | Revenue |
|--------|---------|----------|
| Enterprise (5 customers) | 5 × €50K avg | €250,000 |
| Pro (50 customers) | 50 × €500/month × 12 | €300,000 |
| Consulting | 200 days × €1,500 | €300,000 |
| Training | 20 courses × €5K avg | €100,000 |
| **TOTAL YEAR 1** | | **€950,000** |

#### Year 2: Growth

| Source | Calculation | Revenue |
|--------|---------|----------|
| Enterprise (15 customers) | 15 × €50K avg | €750,000 |
| Pro (200 customers) | 200 × €500/month × 12 | €1,200,000 |
| Consulting | 300 days × €1,500 | €450,000 |
| Training + Certs | | €200,000 |
| **TOTAL YEAR 2** | | **€2,600,000** |

#### Year 3: Scale

| Source | Calculation | Revenue |
|--------|---------|----------|
| Enterprise (40 customers) | 40 × €50K avg | €2,000,000 |
| Pro (500 customers) | 500 × €500/month × 12 | €3,000,000 |
| Professional services | | €800,000 |
| Academy | | €400,000 |
| **TOTAL YEAR 3** | | **€6,200,000** |

### Projection Summary

```text
Year 1: €950K    ████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░
Year 2: €2.6M    ██████████████████████░░░░░░░░
Year 3: €6.2M    ██████████████████████████████████████████████████
```

---

## 8. Go-to-Market Plan

### Phase 1: Foundations (Months 1-3)

- [ ] Register stratumiops.dev / stratumiops.io domain
- [ ] Create landing page with waitlist
- [ ] Publish StratumIOps/knowledge (Kogral) as OSS
- [ ] Write 5 technical blog posts
- [ ] Create Discord channel

### Phase 2: Community (Months 4-6)

- [ ] Publish StratumIOps/orchestrate (Vapora) as OSS
- [ ] Launch newsletter
- [ ] Participate in 2 conferences
- [ ] Reach 500 GitHub stars
- [ ] First 10 active users

### Phase 3: Monetization (Months 7-12)

- [ ] Launch StratumIOps Pro
- [ ] Close 3 Enterprise pilot customers
- [ ] Launch StratumIOps Academy
- [ ] Reach €500K ARR
- [ ] Hire first Customer Success

---

## 9. Key Metrics (KPIs)

### Product

| Metric | Year 1 Target |
|---------|--------------|
| GitHub stars | 2,000 |
| Monthly active users (free) | 500 |
| Pro subscribers | 50 |
| Enterprise customers | 5 |

### Revenue

| Metric | Year 1 Target |
|---------|--------------|
| ARR | €950K |
| MRR growth | 15% month |
| Net Revenue Retention | 110% |
| CAC payback | < 12 months |

### Community

| Metric | Year 1 Target |
|---------|--------------|
| Discord members | 1,000 |
| Newsletter subscribers | 3,000 |
| Blog monthly visitors | 10,000 |
| Conference talks | 5 |

---

## 10. Risks and Mitigation

| Risk | Probability | Impact | Mitigation |
|--------|--------------|---------|------------|
| Better-funded competitor | High | High | Technical differentiation (Rust), OSS community |
| Slow Nickel adoption | Medium | Medium | Excellent documentation, migration paths |
| LLM provider dependency | High | Medium | Multi-provider support, local Ollama |
| Enterprise sales complexity | Medium | High | Initial mid-market focus, case studies |

---

## 11. Visual Identity (Proposal)

### Colors

| Color | Hex | Use |
|-------|-----|-----|
| **Primary** | `#6366F1` (Indigo) | Logo, CTAs, accents |
| **Secondary** | `#22D3EE` (Cyan) | Highlights, gradients |
| **Dark** | `#0F172A` (Slate 900) | Backgrounds, text |
| **Light** | `#F8FAFC` (Slate 50) | Light backgrounds |

### Logo Concept

```text
    ╔═══╗
    ║ S ║  ← Stacked layers (stratum)
    ╠═══╣
    ║ O ║  ← Ops = gear/automation
    ╚═══╝
```

### Typography

| Use | Font |
|-----|------|
| **Headings** | Inter (bold, clean, tech) |
| **Body** | Inter (regular) |
| **Code** | JetBrains Mono |

---

*Document generated: 2026-01-22*
*Updated: 2026-01-22 (STRATUMIOPS → StratumIOps)*
*Type: info (brand and business strategy)*
*Project: StratumIOps (portfolio name)*