The assumption to challenge

Base thesis: In high-stakes creative work, the limiting factor is context continuity; the winning layer is a cross-tool memory and ledger.

Contrarian thesis: The binding constraint is not context. It is persuasion throughput under deadline — turning fuzzy strategy into a sellable story, packaging it into client-ready artefacts, and iterating fast enough to reach confidence before the room. If this is right, "system-of-record" is a nice-to-have that increases friction. The wedge should be a pitch packaging engine, not a memory layer.

Alternative category

Pitch-ready concept generator and packaging platform. "From brief to three defensible routes to client-ready deck in two hours." The durable product is the packaging workflow (narrative, rationale, evidence, images, scripts), not memory.

Alternative job-to-be-done

"Help us produce two to four compelling, defensible creative routes, packaged into a deck that wins internal approval and stands up in the client room." This is distinct from "don't lose context." People tolerate context loss if the output wins.

The core bet

Agencies will pay for a repeatable, high-quality pitch packaging workflow that compresses the last-mile grind (rationale, deck, references, production approach) more than they will pay for cross-project memory.

Why this could be superior: immediate ROI (the output is the thing the buyer is measured on), lower behaviour change (drop FC into crunch time, no need to restructure decision capture), and easier proof (A/B time-to-deck and perceived quality this week).

Warning signs

• Users say: "Nice deck, but it's generic — doesn't reflect our point-of-view"
• Outputs can't be trusted without heavy manual editing
• The product becomes a pretty template tool with no defensible advantage

Confirmation signals

• Teams run FC on real pitches repeatedly, not just demos
• FC is used by new business leads, strategists and creative directors at the point of packaging
• Willingness to pay aligns with project deadlines

Wedge: do not start with top-tier indie agencies

Start where persuasion packaging is under-resourced and AI stigma is lower:

1. Mid-tier agencies and small studios with constant pitch load and thinner strategy benches
2. In-house brand creative teams that must sell work internally (stakeholder decks, rationale, options)
3. Freelance creative directors and pitch consultants who already productise their process and can become distribution channels

Why top-tier craft agencies are a trap

They judge outputs harshly, resist process tooling, and already have strong packaging craft. They may love the idea of a ledger but will not feed it. They are early-adopter talkers but not necessarily scalable, repeatable buyers.

Target customer

• Primary user: strategist, new business lead or creative director responsible for routes and deck
• Buyer: agency leadership, new business director or in-house head of brand
• Moment: 24 to 96 hours before internal review or client presentation

Moat: not memory, but packaging primitives

Model providers and platforms will ship memory. The ledger becomes table stakes. Build defensibility around:

• Pitch object model: route, promise, proof, tension, cultural hook, executional territories, production approach, risks
• Rationale engine: generates defensible reasoning (why this works for that audience, why now, why it is ownable)
• Evidence stitching: pulls in references, market data, brand constraints, outputs a coherent narrative
• House-style adaptation: a lightweight brand voice, deck style, agency POV layer that is learnable quickly

This is closer to craft automation than memory.

Business model: price per pitch

Seat pricing punishes expansion and creates margin risk with heavy generation. Alternative:

• Per-pitch bundles: £499–£1,999 per pitch pack depending on outputs
• Retainers: 10 pitch packs per quarter at a discount
• Add-ons: compliance and audit for those who need it; house-style tuning as a premium implementation SKU

This matches the economic unit (a pitch) and the deadline intensity, making usage predictable without meter anxiety.

Product strategy: build the deck factory

Prioritise (first 6-10 weeks)

1. Brief to routes pipeline — three to five distinct routes, each with insight, promise, reasons to believe, executional manifestations
2. Packaging outputs — auto-deck (storyline, slide copy, speaker notes), moodboards with reference rationale, production approach and next steps
3. Critique loop — "make it more X, less Y" feedback that updates route and deck consistently
4. Lightweight style layer — upload two or three example decks; infer formatting and tone

Deprioritise

• Cross-project institutional memory as a first-class system
• Heavy integrations and governance frameworks
• "Taste learning" narrative until you can show measurable improvement in pitch acceptance

Go-to-market: distribution via pitch operators

1. Sell the pitch pack (outcome sale), not workspace seats
2. Land via operators: pitch consultants, freelance CDs and strategists, production partners — they bring FC into multiple agencies (multi-tenant distribution)
3. Template-led virality: public route frameworks and deck templates that require FC to generate; shareable outputs that embed "made with FC" subtly

This beats agency-seat expansion because it has faster cycle times, less procurement friction, and leverages people who already hop between teams.

Three decisions for the next 90 days

1. Pick the unit of value: per-pitch outcome (deck and routes) as the atomic unit. Define a pitch-pack spec and measure time-to-pack plus acceptance rate.
2. Pick the distribution channel: over-invest in one or two of pitch consultants/freelancers, in-house brand teams, or mid-tier agencies.
3. Define minimum style adaptation: deck examples to style extraction to consistent outputs. Make it fast and safe — no "we learned your soul."

Failure modes

1. Quality ceiling: if routes feel generic, you become a template SaaS
2. Over-automation backlash: senior creatives reject "AI-generated strategy" — mitigate by positioning as a packaging assistant with human POV as input
3. Scope creep: trying to cover ideation, production, governance and memory at once. Pick packaging.
4. Channel conflict: freelancer distribution may make agencies fear dependency — mitigate by making outputs portable

Summary

1. Do not over-index on memory as the wedge. Your wedge can be pitch packaging — the last-mile grind teams hate.
2. Price and package per pitch. That is where urgency and willingness-to-pay live.
3. Start with mid-tier, in-house or pitch operators. Top-tier craft agencies are the hardest place to prove value.
4. Earn the right to be a ledger later. If you win the pitch moment repeatedly, you can back-fill memory and governance as expansion.
5. Keep "digital fingerprint" as a north-star, not a sales promise. The near-term product should be a house-style deck engine.