# CBB Project Brief: ScopeDOPE™ Label Design Marketplace
**Status:** Concept
**Destination:** ScopeDOPE feature (ecosystem/marketplace around the ScopeDOPE + Niimbot label workflow; stays in the `ScopeDOPE/` namespace)
**Tier:** 2 — Strong Candidate
**Classification:** Internal — Confidential
**Version and date:** see Revision Control Block at the end of this document

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## Summary

A marketplace where designers and community members can create and sell custom label templates for the ScopeDOPE + Niimbot scope correction sticker workflow. Cold Bore Ballistics™ takes a 30% commission on each sale. Designers keep 70%. The community creates the inventory — CBB creates the platform and collects margin. This is a razor/blade flywheel reinforcement: more label designs drive more Niimbot hardware sales (the razor), more consumable roll purchases, and more ScopeDOPE engagement. Development cost is essentially a storefront with file hosting.

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## Problem Statement

ScopeDOPE's scope correction label printing workflow is unique in the ballistic app market. The Niimbot B1 and B21 Pro produce professional-quality correction stickers that attach directly to a rifle scope. CBB supplies branded label roll consumables. What is missing is a creative ecosystem around the label design itself.

Today, the label format that ships with ScopeDOPE is a single CBB-designed template. Shooters who want a different layout, a different visual style, a different information hierarchy, or a match-specific design have no options. There is no mechanism for the community to contribute designs or for designers to monetize their work in this specific niche.

The Kestrel community has a similar pain point — the labels that ship with their system are functional but not customizable. CBB has an opportunity to build the creative community that Kestrel never did.

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## Product Concept

### Platform Features

**Designer-facing (content creation):**
- Template authoring: web-based label template editor with CBB's label dimensions and Niimbot format requirements pre-configured
- Preview: see exactly how the label will print on a Niimbot B1 / B21 Pro
- Variable fields: template authors define which data fields are dynamic (MV, come-up values, lot number, distance) and which are static (decorative elements, logos, fixed text)
- Upload: submit template for review
- Pricing: designer sets a price ($0.99–$4.99 per template) or offers for free
- Revenue: 70% to designer, 30% to CBB

**Buyer-facing (template discovery):**
- Browse library: filter by style (minimalist, tactical, custom, NRL22, hunting), by format (scope saddle, full DOPE card, per-distance sticker)
- Preview: see the template populated with sample data
- Purchase and download: template file downloads to device, appears in ScopeDOPE label settings
- Free tier: community-submitted free templates
- Featured/curated: CBB-highlighted templates on the front page

**Content categories:**
- Minimalist / clean: simple typography, maximum data density
- Tactical / military aesthetic: multicam-adjacent, muted colors, angular type
- Match-specific: NRL22 Ruger Precision Rimfire format, PRS format
- Custom branding: barrel maker logos, club logos, sponsor logos
- Seasonal: winter/summer color variants
- Custom cartridge: designs optimized for specific calibers (6.5 Creedmoor, .22LR, 6mm GT)

**CBB house templates:**
- Official CBB/ScopeDOPE branded templates included free with every ScopeDOPE purchase
- Premium CBB templates ($1.99–$2.99) as a secondary revenue stream

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## Target User

**Template buyers:** ScopeDOPE users who want a label that matches their aesthetic preferences, their club identity, or their sponsor's branding. A competition shooter who is sponsored by a barrel maker wants that maker's logo on their scope correction sticker. This is currently impossible.

**Template designers:** Graphic designers in the shooting sports community, NRL22 club graphic designers, small brand designers who want to monetize their work in a niche marketplace. Also: competitive shooters who are handy with design tools and want to offer their personal designs to the community.

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## Revenue Model

**Marketplace commission:** 30% of each template sale. At an average template price of $2.99 and 100 sales per template across a library of 50 templates: 50 × 100 × $2.99 × 30% = $4,485.

**CBB house template sales:** CBB's own premium templates at $1.99–2.99. 100% margin.

**Volume driver:** The marketplace reinforces consumable label roll sales. A user who buys 10 templates and experiments with label designs burns through more label rolls. The marketplace is a downstream flywheel for the highest-margin consumable product in the CBB portfolio (label rolls: ~80% margin at $9.99).

**Strategic note:** Revenue from the marketplace itself will likely be modest in the early years. The strategic value is in ecosystem lock-in (designers and users invested in the CBB label format are invested in ScopeDOPE), brand building (creative community around the label workflow is a differentiator no competitor can replicate quickly), and consumable sales amplification.

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## Strategic Fit with CBB / ScopeDOPE

The marketplace creates a moat around the printing workflow:

1. **Community-created content** is an asset that compounds without additional CBB engineering
2. **Designer investment** — a designer who has built and sold 20 templates on the CBB marketplace is not going to switch to a competitor platform
3. **User investment** — a user with a collection of templates they've purchased is not going to switch apps
4. **Niimbot flywheel** — more label designs drive more template purchases, more template purchases drive more printing, more printing drives more consumable roll sales

This is the creative community layer that transforms the label printing feature from a functional differentiator into a living ecosystem.

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## Competitive Landscape

No comparable marketplace exists for ballistic label templates. The Niimbot ecosystem has a basic template library (for general thermal label use) but nothing precision-rifle-specific. Applied Ballistics and Kestrel have no label printing workflow at all. CBB is building a category that doesn't exist yet.

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## Technical Overview

**Platform:** Web application

**Stack:**
- Frontend: React + Tailwind, consistent with CBB web properties
- Backend: Python/FastAPI
- File storage: S3 or equivalent object storage (label template files, preview images)
- Payments: Stripe Connect — designers receive payouts, CBB takes commission automatically
- Template format: .json descriptor + SVG layout components + Niimbot-compatible print instructions

**Template authoring tool:**
- The web-based editor is the most complex engineering component
- Canvas-based layout editor (Fabric.js or Konva.js) with constraint to label dimensions
- Variable field mapping UI (drag a data field from the right panel onto the label canvas)
- Real-time print preview with sample data populated

**ScopeDOPE integration:**
- Templates are referenced by ID in the .dope session record (optional field)
- When user prints from ScopeDOPE, the app pulls the user's selected template from the marketplace (cached locally after first download)
- Template updates: versioned, user can choose when to update their installed templates

**Complexity estimate:** Medium-High. The marketplace infrastructure is straightforward; the template authoring tool is the engineering challenge. A simplified v1.0 could accept pre-built template files (ZIP with specs) submitted by designers without a web editor, reducing v1.0 complexity to Medium.

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## Go-to-Market

**Seeded launch:** CBB designs 10 initial templates across the major categories before launch. The marketplace should not launch with zero templates.

**Community designer outreach:** Post on Sniper's Hide and NRL22 communities: "Looking for designers to seed the ScopeDOPE template marketplace — 100% revenue for the first 30 days."

**Barrel maker partnership templates:** Offer Krieger, Bartlein, and Proof Research co-branded templates in the marketplace. "Print your Krieger-branded scope correction sticker." A barrel maker whose brand is on ScopeDOPE correction stickers at NRL22 matches is getting match-day visibility. They'll want this.

**Club templates:** NRL22 clubs can have official club-branded templates for their members. A club director who distributes a custom label template to all members is doing CBB's marketing for them.

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## Success Metrics

| Metric | 6-month | 12-month |
|---|---|---|
| Templates in library | 25 | 100 |
| Monthly template purchases | 50 | 500 |
| Monthly marketplace revenue (CBB's 30%) | $45 | $450 |
| Monthly label roll sales attributed to marketplace engagement | Measurable uplift | 20%+ of label roll sales |
| Designer accounts | 10 | 40 |

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## Risks & Mitigations

| Risk | Likelihood | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|
| Template library too thin at launch to generate interest | High | Seed with 10 CBB-designed templates; don't launch empty |
| Designer tooling too complex — few designers submit templates | Medium | v1.0 accepts pre-built files; web editor is a v2.0 feature |
| Copyright infringement: designers upload unlicensed logos (firearm brands, manufacturer logos) | Medium | DMCA policy, moderating template submissions before publication |
| Niimbot template format changes in firmware update | Low | Version templates to Niimbot firmware version; maintain compatibility library |

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## Resource Requirements

- 1 developer (Jason) — 4–6 weeks for marketplace storefront (without web editor)
- 6–10 weeks if web-based template editor is included in v1.0
- Stripe Connect account: already needed for club management SaaS
- S3 storage: minimal cost at early stage
- 10 initial templates: 8–16 hours of design work by Jason or a contractor

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## Recommended Timing

**Post-launch, at ~2,000 ScopeDOPE installs.** The marketplace only has value if there are ScopeDOPE users to buy templates. Don't build before there's an audience. Begin with v1.0 (file upload, no web editor) and add the authoring tool in v2.0 based on designer demand.

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## Open Questions

- Should the marketplace allow free templates? Recommendation: yes — free templates drive engagement, discovery, and CBB credit system redemption. Not everything needs to be paid.
- Should designer payouts be in cash (Stripe) or CBB credits (merchandise)? Recommendation: both options — designers choose. Some will prefer cash; others (competitive shooters who are also designers) will prefer merchandise credit.
- Does CBB own copyright to templates created with the CBB template authoring tool? Recommendation: no — designers retain copyright; CBB has a non-exclusive license to host and distribute. Standard marketplace terms.

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## Document Control

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| **Document owner** | `jschwefel@coldboreballisticsllc.com` |
| **Classification** | Confidential (03_-_Confidential/) |
| **Location** | `OneDrive/ScopeDOPE/03_-_Confidential/Product_Strategy/CBB_BRIEF_11_LABEL_MARKETPLACE.md` |
| **Cross-references** | `CBB_PROJECT_BRIEFS_TOC.md` |
| **Created** | 2026-06-02 |
| **Last updated** | 2026-06-09 |
| **Next full review due** | 2027-06-02 |

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## Revision Control Block

| Rev | Date | Changed By | Reviewed By | Approved By | Summary |
|-----|------|------------|-------------|-------------|-------|
| 0.9 | 2026-06-02 | jschwefel | — | — | Initial release |
| DRAFT | 2026-06-09 | Claude (Opus 4.8) | — | — | Removed header version number (→ Status/Destination + revision-block pointer); added Destination tag (ScopeDOPE feature); applied ™ to first use of ScopeDOPE/Cold Bore Ballistics. NOTE (not changed): the template-category list includes "tactical/military aesthetic" and "hunting" styles — these describe user-generated marketplace inventory, not CBB's own brand output, so the brand guide's camo/military restrictions on CBB marketing don't directly apply; moderation policy should still set taste bounds. |
